QUOTATIONS


Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. ~Leviticus 25:10 (inscribed on The Liberty Bell)

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~Robert J. McCracken

You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe. ~John Adams

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ~The Declaration of Independence

I am going to bear my testimony to this assembly, if I never do it again in my life, that those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord. ~Wilford Woodruff (1898)

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. ~Patrick Henry

I've lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs 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? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that except the Lord build the House they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, — and I also believe that without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our Projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a Reproach and Bye word down to future Ages. ~Benjamin Franklin (at the 1787 Constitutional Convention)

We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of America. ~The Preamble to the Constitution

Study the constitution! Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in the legislatures, and enforced by the courts of justice. ~Abraham Lincoln

Christians, above all people, should desire that their elected representatives submit to the Constitution, because it is constitutional government that has done more to protect Christian liberty than any governing document ever devised by man. ~Chuck Baldwin

Of all the supervised conditions for life offered man, those under USA’s constitution have proved the best. Wherefore, be sure when you start modifying, corrupting or abrogating it. ~Martin H. Fischer

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. ~Patrick Henry

Miracles do not cluster. Hold on to the Constitution of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands—what has happened once in six thousand years may never happen again. Hold on to your Constitution, for if the American Constitution shall fail there will be anarchy throughout the world. ~Daniel Webster

The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. ~Samuel Adams

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. ~Alexander Hamilton

God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it. ~Daniel Webster

Those people who are not governed by GOD will be ruled by tyrants. ~William Penn

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

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

No free government, or the blessings of liberty can be preserved to any people, but by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. ~George Mason

A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. ~George William Curtis

It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism. ~J. Horace McFarland

When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect. ~Adlai Stevenson

Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to Him. ~Giuseppe Mazzini

America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality. ~Adlai Stevenson

Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea. ~John Gunther

The skies of happiness shine upon these United States of America. ~Mirakel Reves

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! ~Thomas Jefferson

How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy. ~Paul Sweeney

Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world. ~Woodrow Wilson

There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream. ~Archibald MacLeish

I believe in America because we have great dreams – and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true. ~Wendell L. Wilkie

America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country! ~Daniel Webster

This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it. ~Hubert H. Humphrey

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~Abraham Lincoln

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. ~Hamilton Fish

Patriotism is easy to understand in America - it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country. ~Calvin Coolidge

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war. ~Thucydides

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. ~George Orwell

Our great modern Republic. May those who seek the blessings of its institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations they impose. ~Ulysses S. Grant

It is sweet to serve one’s country by deeds, and it is not absurd to serve her by words. ~Sallust

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ~The Pledge of Allegiance

It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the men whose people have been here many generations. ~Henry Cabot Lodge

Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. ~James Bryce

If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag. ~Author Unknown

I believe in the United States of America as a Government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a Republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies. ~William Tyler Page

National honor is national property of the highest value. ~James Monroe

The stern hand of fate has scourged us to an elevation where we can see the great everlasting things that matter for a nation; the great peaks of honour we had forgotten - duty and patriotism, clad in glittering white; the great pinnacle of sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to heaven. ~David Lloyd George

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. ~Thomas Jefferson

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. ~Louis D. Brandeis

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin

Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable! ~Daniel Webster

The cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American. ~Thomas Jefferson

America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos. ~Max Lerner

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom ‘to’ and freedom ‘from.’ ~Marilyn vos Savant

Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. ~Mark Twain

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. ~Theodore Roosevelt

He loves his country best who strives to make it best. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. ~Gary Hart

We can’t all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots. ~Charles F. Browne

We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution. ~John F. Kennedy

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past. ~Patrick Henry

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~George Santayana

Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country. ~Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America

A primary object...should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing…than…communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country? ~George Washington

The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth. ~Desiderius Erasmus

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. ~John Adams

In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. ~Noah Webster

I don’t want my children fed or clothed by the state, but I would prefer that to their being educated by the state. ~Max Victor Belz

The school cannot be deprived of its political character as long as it remains a public and compulsory institution. ~Ludwig von Mises

You can't make Socialists out of individualists – children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society. ~John Dewey

The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next. ~Abraham Lincoln

To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains. ~ Mary Pettibone Poole

He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself. ~C.S. Lewis

A nation may be ever so civilized and yet lack wisdom. ~Henry David Thoreau

Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms under our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us.... Have we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our only defence, the militia, is put in the hands of Congress?....The great object is that every man be armed. ~Patrick Henry

We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit. ~Hubert H. Humphrey

[P]atriotism... is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. ~Adlai Stevenson

Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed...so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger. ~Patrick Henry

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. ~ Edmund Burke

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