Quotes—Founders and Other Notable Leaders
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Action—It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority
keen to set brush fires in people's minds... [Samuel Adams]
Action—An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. [Friedrich Engels, father of
communism]
Action—When you are in any contest you should work as if there were--to the very
last minute--a chance to lose it. [Dwight D. Eisenhower]
Action/Battle—"We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won Country's
Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully
fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the
goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is,
to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions." --George Washington
Action/Battle—We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the
God of Nature has placed in our power... The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is
to the vigilant, the active, the brave. [Patrick Henry]
Advocacy/Action—“God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always
ready to guard and defend it.” [Daniel Webster]
Advocacy/Action—“The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national
capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.... It should be the highest
ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind
that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity;
but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political
happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.” [George Washington]
Apathy/Lethargy—The nation which reposes on the pillow of political confidence,
will sooner or later end its political existence in a deadly lethargy. [James Madison]
Banks—If the American people ever allow the banks to control issuance of their
currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that
grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will
wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied. [Thomas Jefferson]
Battle OR die—The time is now near at hand which must probably determine
whether Americans are to be free men or slaves, whether they are to have any
property they can call their own, whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged
and destroyed and themselves confined to a state of wretchedness from which no
human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under
God, on the courage of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only
the choice of brave resistance or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to
resolve to conquer or die. [General George Washington in an address to the
Continental Army]
Bible—The Bible is the foundation upon which our republic rests. [Andrew Jackson]
Bible—From what sources did our Founders choose the ideas that formed our
government? After reviewing 15,000 writings from our Nation’s Founders (in a
University of Houston study that spanned ten years), the researchers isolated 3,154
direct quotes made by the Founders and identified the sources of those quotes. It was
found that 8.3% of the Founders' quotes were taken from Montesquieu, 7.9% came
from William Blackstone, and 2.9% came from John Locke. Amazingly, 34% of the
Founders' quotes came directly out of the Bible! Yet another 60% of the Founders'
quotes were taken from men (including Montesquieu, Blackstone, and Locke) who
used the Bible to arrive at their own conclusions. So, 94% of all of the quotes of the
Founding Fathers were derived, either directly or indirectly, from the Holy Bible.
[David Barton, Wallbuilders]
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Character—Character is much easier kept than recovered. [Thomas Paine]
Character—If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of
patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of
manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the
commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill
the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and
permanent foundation. [Samuel Adams]
Christian RootsHistory will also afford the frequent opportunities of showing the
necessity of a public religion.... and the excellency of the Christian religion above all
others, ancient or modern. [Benjamin Franklin] confirmed
Christian RootsHe who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of
primitive [basic] Christianity will change the face of the world.” [Benjamin Franklin]
Christian RootsProvidence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it
is the duty—as well as the privilege and interest—of our Christian nation to select
and prefer Christians for their rulers.” [John Jay, First Chief Justice of the US
Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution]
Christian Roots—The religion that has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ
and His apostles… to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government. …No truth
is more evident to my mind than that Christian religion must be the basis of any
government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. [Noah
Webster, Founding Father, Author of Webster’s Dictionary, educator, he was largely
responsible for Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution]
Christian RootsIt cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great
nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the
gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded
asylum, prosperity and freedom of worship here. [Patrick Henry]
Christian Roots“In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the
loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of
Great Britaine, France, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c., having undertaken,
for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith…mutually in ye
presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather in to
civill body politick…” (sic) [Mayflower Compact, November 20, 1620 – the FIRST
civil government document containing the Christian principle of Self-Government!]
Christian Roots“Laws of Nature and Nature’s God…” “WE hold these Truths to
be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness…” “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance of the
Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” [Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776]
Christian Roots“No King but King Jesus” [Motto of the American Revolution]
Christian Roots“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World,
your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [i.e., on the Fourth
of July]? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is
indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in
the progress of the gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of
Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s
mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the
precepts of Christianity?…” [John Quincy Adams’ quote July 4, 1837]
Christmas. [Benjamin Franklin]
ChristmasThe Christmas spirit of Peace, hope, and love is the spirit Americans
carry with them all year round, everywhere we go. ... The tree that lights up our
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country must be seen all the way to heaven...its lights fill the air with a spirit of hope,
and joy from the heart of America. [Ronald Reagan]
Citizen Soldier—Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks
and Romans, and must be that of every free state. [Thomas Jefferson]
Christian conduct—Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the
gospel of Christ. (Philippians 1:27)
Conduct—It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views
beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his
country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with
the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn. [George
Washington]
ConscienceLet no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt
thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee to do anything which thou
knowest to be evil; so thou shalt live jollily, for a good conscience is a continual
ConstitutionLet me hear no more of the goodness of man; let us tie the tyrants
down with the chains of the Constitution. [Thomas Jefferson]
Dedication to ChristLord Jesus Christ, take all my freedom, my memory,
understanding, and my will. All that I have and cherish you have given me. Give me
these, Lord Jesus, and I ask for nothing more. Amen. [Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)]
Democracy—A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can
only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public
treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates
promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a
democracy always collapses over a loss of fiscal responsibility, always followed by a
dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has
been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to
spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from
liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to
complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from
dependency back again to bondage. [Alexander Fraser Tytler]
Democracy—Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the issue! [Benjamin Franklin 1759]
Despotic Government—An elected despotism is not the government we fought for.
[Thomas Jefferson]
Differences—Differences are not damaging but separation is fatal. [Abraham
Lincoln]
Europe— "...Commerce, which if properly managed, will be a better instrument for
obliging the interested nations of Europe to treat us with justice." --Thomas Jefferson
(1797)
Evil—All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
[Edmund Burke]
Example—Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
[Edmund Burke]
Facts—Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. [Aldous Huxley]
Faith—Sometimes when I'm faced with an unbeliever, an atheist, I am tempted to
invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we
finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there's a cook.
[Ronald Reagan]
Family responsibility—There was a time in this land when family was more
important than government, when children honored their parents and when their
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parents grew old they helped where they could. Sometimes this meant money.
Sometimes it meant a place to live. Sometimes it meant just being there to do for
their parents what they could no longer do for themselves. Not any more. Today
parents and children alike turn their responsibilities over to the federal nanny that
extorts taxes from the haves so the haves can avoid their responsibilities to their
families and communities. [Lyn Nofziger]
Freedom—Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become
corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. [Benjamin Franklin]
Freedom—I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with
himself and the fruit of his labor so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man’s
rights. [Abraham Lincoln]
Freedom—Those who would give up a little freedom I exchange for additional
security will end up with less of both. [Abraham Lincoln]
Freedom—If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your
counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains
set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. [Samuel
Adams]
Free Markets—The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition
is so powerful that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of
carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred
impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its
operations. [Adam Smith]
Freedom/slavery—Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong
impulse to see it tried on him personally. [Abraham Lincoln]
Future Generations—We are now in the midst of a war, not for conquest, not for
vengeance, but for a world in which this nation, and all that this nation represents,
will be safe for our children. [President Franklin Delano Roosevelt]
God—God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be
thought secure if we have removed their only firm basis: a conviction in the minds of
men that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with
His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His
justice cannot sleep forever. [Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)]
God—…the longer I live the more convinced I become that God governs in the
affairs of men… [Benjamin Franklin]
Godly Living—Adore God. ... Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of
Providence. [Thomas Jefferson, 1825]
Good citizenship—There is no patent recipe for getting good citizenship. You get it
by applying the old, old rules of decent conduct, the rules in accordance with which
decent men have had to shape their lives from the beginning... fundamental precepts,
put forth in the Bible and embodied consciously or unconsciously in the code of
morals of every great and successful nation from antiquity to modern times.
[Theodore Roosevelt]
Good Government—Wherefore governments depend rather upon men than men upon
governments… If you let the men be good, then the government cannot be bad; but if
the men be bad, the government will never be good… Though good laws do well,
good men do better. Good laws may lack good men, but good men will never lack
good laws and they will never allow bad laws.” [William Penn]
Good Government—A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from
injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of
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industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has
earned. This is the sum of good government. [Thomas Jefferson]
Government—“The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the
philosophy of government in the next.” (President Abraham Lincoln)
GovernmentBeware the greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every
corner and crevice of industry. [Thomas Paine]
GovernmentAn elected despotism is not the government we fought for. [Thomas
Jefferson]
GovernmentWhat I do say is that no man is good enough to govern another man
without that other’s consent. [Abraham Lincoln]
Government (Limited)A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men
from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own
pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the
bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. [Thomas Jefferson, First
Inaugural address, 1801]
GovernmentGovernment is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is force! Like fire it is
a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to
irresponsible action. [George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796]
Government—[A]ll men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights ... whenever ... Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right
of the People ... it is their Duty, to throw off such Government...." [Declaration of
Independence]
Government—Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people
alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories…
[Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia]
Government—Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst
state, an intolerable one. [Thomas Paine]
Government funding—When you hold out your hands for government money, the
clinking you hear is the shackles being snapped onto your wrists. [unknown]
Government Spending—The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense
beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the
employment of the pruning knife. –Thomas Jefferson
Gradualism—Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more
instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent
encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. [James
Madison]
Great Law of Pennsylvania, the very first legislative act in Pennsylvania, April 25,
1682: "Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason
and the end of government, and, therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance
of God ... [there shall be established] laws as shall best preserve true Christian and
civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby
God may have his due, and Caesar his due, and the people their due, from tyranny
and oppression."
Guns—Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the issue! [Benjamin Franklin 1759]
Guns—When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. [Unknown]
Guns—Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the
American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. The church, the
plow, the prairie wagon and citizen’s firearms are indelibly related. From the hour
the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that
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to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable.
Every corner of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 and 99/100 percent of
them by their silence indicate they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere
of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference—they deserve a
place of honor with all that’s good. When firearms go, all goes—we need them every
hour. [President George Washington, Address to the Second Session, First United
States Congress]
Guns—The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government. [Thomas
Jefferson]
Guns—No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. [Thomas Jefferson]
Americans have the right and advantage of being armed—unlike the citizens of other
countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. [James
Madison]
Heritage—Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity! [John Quincy
Adams. 1767-1848 Info: Speech at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1802]
Ignorance—When people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their manners,
they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders. [Samuel
Adams]
Justice (lack of)—No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity.
They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to
evil... The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They
have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace. So
justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all
is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows... So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty
cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. (Isaiah 59:4, 8-9, 1415)
Knowledge—Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their
own government; whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may
be relied upon to set them to rights. [Thomas Jefferson]
Law—The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral order which
overarches rulers and ruled alike. We and our rulers are of one kind only so long as
we are subject to one law. [C. S. Lewis]
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. –Thomas
Jefferson
Liberty—Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to liberty, and few
nations, if any, have found it. [John Adams]
Liberty—Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. [George
Washington]
Liberty—Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men,
undergo the fatigue of supporting it. [Thomas Paine]
Liberty—God grants liberty ONLY to those who love it and are always ready to
guard and defend it. [Daniel Webster]
Liberty—Posterity--you will never know how much it has cost my generation to
preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. [John Quincy Adams]
Liberty—Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals. [Samuel
Adams]
Liberty—Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. [Thomas Jefferson]
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Liberty—Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the issue! [Benjamin Franklin 1759]
Liberty—It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from
you. [Dick Cheney]
Liberty—Liberty is an individual responsibility… [Samuel Adams]
Liberty—Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away
from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended
constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have
known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again. [Ronald Reagan]
Liberty—If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your
counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains
set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. [Samuel
Adams]
Liberty—They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety. [Benjamin Franklin]
Liberty—Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are
invincible… There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations… Is life
so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God, I know not what course others may take, but as for me—
give me liberty or give me death! [Patrick Henry on March 23, 1773, before the
House of Burgesses]
Liberty—Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their
only firm basis, a conviction… that these liberties are the gift of God? [Thomas
Jefferson]
LibertyLiberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. [George
Bernard Shaw]
LibertyThe liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make
himself a nuisance to other people. [John Stuart Mill, English philosopher]
LibertyWhat is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? [Edmund Burke]
Life (Sanctity of)—I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion,
because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by
the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how
can we tell other people not to kill one another? [Mother Teresa, spoken at National
Day of Prayer breakfast in Feb. ’94 before then-President Clinton, Al Gore and their
wives]
Light on a Hill— The eyes of the world being thus on our Country, it is put the more
on its good behavior, and under the greater obligation also, to do justice to the Tree of
Liberty by an exhibition of the fine fruits we gather from it. [James Madison]
Majority—The fundamental principle of our Constitution enjoins that the will of the
majority shall prevail. [George Washington]
Media—The hold of major media has been reduced by the competing utensils of the
rising information age. [R. Emmett Tyrrell]
Morality—Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. It is impossible to rightly govern
the world without God and the Bible. [George Washington]
National Security—In time of peace, prepare for war. [George Washington]
National Security—To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of
preserving peace. [George Washington]
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National Security—National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.
[John Adams]
National Security—Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace. [Thomas
Jefferson]
National Sin—When people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their
manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders.
[Samuel Adams]
Nature of ManLet me hear no more of the goodness of man; let us tie the
tyrants down with the chains of the Constitution. [Thomas Jefferson]
Parents—No one is poor who has a Godly mother. [Abraham Lincoln]
Peace—To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving
peace. [George Washington]
Peace—We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit
violence on those who would do us harm. [George Orwell]
The People—Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character
of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the
people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and
pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the
national legislature... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation... it will be
because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation
do not aid in controlling the political forces. [James Garfield (twentieth president of
the United States), 1877]
Politics—Theology teaches us what ends are desirable and what means are lawful,
while politics teaches what means are effective. [C.S. Lewis]
Politics—Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being
governed by those who are dumber." [Plato]
Politics—Those who are too righteous to engage in politics are punished by being
governed by the wicked." [Mark Matta, takeoff on Plato quote]
Power—Human nature will never part with power. Look for an example of
voluntary relinquishment of power from one end of the globe to another--you will
find none. [Patrick Henry]
Power—The Truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. [James
Madison]
Prayer—Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray. [Bishop Charles H. Brent]
Prayer—“Do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? ... if a sparrow cannot
fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without
His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord
build the House, they labor in vain that build it'.” [Benjamin Franklin]
Prayer—“Mr. President, I have lived, sir, a long time. And the longer I live, the more
convincing proof I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a
sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can
rise without His aid? Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it. I
therefore move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven be held
in this assembly every morning.” [Statement made by Benjamin Franklin to the First
Continental Congress resulting in the adoption of prayer to precede every session of
Congress]
Principle—Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is
always a vice. [Thomas Paine]
Principle—…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality
can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. [George Washington]
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Providence—The belief in a God All Powerful, wise and good, is so essential to the
moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it
cannot be drawn from too many sources. [James Madison]
Re-distribution of Wealth—But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite
simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to
other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the
expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a
crime. [Frederic Bastiat, Author of The Law]
Religion—Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. It is impossible to rightly govern
the world without God and the Bible. [George Washington]
Religion—…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality
can prevail I exclusion of religious principle. [George Washington]
Religion—…it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles
upon which freedom can securely stand. [John Adams]
Religion—Statesmen... may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is religion and
morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which Freedom can securely
stand. [John Adams]
Rights—All men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ...
whenever ... Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the
People ... it is their Duty, to throw off such Government...." [Declaration of
Independence]
Righteousness—It is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be
on the Lord's side. [Abraham Lincoln]
Sacrifice—“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your
bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the
solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of
freedom.” [Abraham Lincoln quote from a letter of his written to the parents of a
family that had lost several sons in the civil war]
Sacrifice—“You are about to embark upon a great crusade… good luck! And let us
all beseech the blessing of the almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”
[Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower addressing U.S. troops before the D-Day invasion, June
6, 1944]
Safety / Security—“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the
night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” [George Orwell]
School Room—“The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the
philosophy of government in the next.” (President Abraham Lincoln)
Security—"It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble
acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence." [John Adams,
2nd President of the United States]
Self-Government—…Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law. [from
America The Beautiful, by Katherine Lee Bates]
Separation—Differences are not damaging but separation is fatal. [Abraham Lincoln]
Separation of Church and State—The liberal understanding of 'the separation of
church and state means that as the area of politics expands, the area of private
freedom -- religious and otherwise -- shrinks. [Joseph Sobran]
Serving God—Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest:
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest;
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To labor and not ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that we do Thy will. [St. Ignatius Loyola]
Sin—When people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their manners, they
will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders. [Samuel
Adams]
Sin—Sin takes you where you do not want to go. It makes you stay longer than you
want. It costs you more than you can afford. [author unknown]
Slavery—Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see
it tried on him personally. [Abraham Lincoln]
Truth—Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. [Aldous Huxley]
Unity—There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.... A
hyphenated American is not an American at all....' Are you saying this is your
belief, that the melting pot must totally melt, mostly melt,... or else we cannot survive
as Americans? [Theodore Roosevelt]
Virtue—Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt
and vicious, they have more need of masters. [Benjamin Franklin]
Vote—Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide
everything. [Joseph Stalin]
War—"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it
now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." – Thomas Paine
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