Founding father quotes “Don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war let it begin here.” —Captain John Parker at the Battle of Lexington _____________________________ “We know the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the Strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?” —John Page _____________________________ “The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.” “Patriotism itself is a necessary link in the golden chains of our affections and virtue.” —Stephen Decatur _____________________________ “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 “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 _____________________________ “War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice.” —Alexander Hamilton _____________________________ "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." --Thomas Paine “The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.” —Thomas Paine _____________________________ “Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington “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 "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is power. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." ---George Washington “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” ---George Washington ______________________ “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” —Thomas Jefferson "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be." --- Thomas Jefferson. “Newspapers... serve as chimneys to carry off noxious vapors and smoke.” —Thomas Jefferson “Excessive taxation... will carry reason and reflection to every man’s door, and particularly in the hour of election.” — Thomas Jefferson “The God, who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.” “The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” --- Thomas Jefferson “Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck.” —Thomas Jefferson ______________________ “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 _____________________________ "It does not take a majority to prevail...but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." ---Samuel Adams “Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, ‘What should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!” —Samuel Adams ____________________________ “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” -- John Adams ____________________________ “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 “The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any.” – James Madison, Federalist #46 _____________________________ "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." ---President Abraham Lincoln "This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men -- to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose existence we contend." --- Abraham Lincoln, message to Congress, July 4, 1861 “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety on my country…. corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow. And the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is abrogated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed.” ---President Abraham Lincoln Nov 21 1864 _____________________________ “If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind loves and admires better than another, it is a brave man—it is the man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.” —James A. Garfield ___________________________ "Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... [W]e have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." —Theodore Roosevelt "To sit home, read one's favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men doing." — Theodore Roosevelt “I have always been fond of the West African proverb: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far’.” —Theodore Roosevelt “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” —Theodore Roosevelt _____________________________ "Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty." —Calvin Coolidge _____________________________ "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for your country." —John F. Kennedy "Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life." —John F. Kennedy “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.” —John F. Kennedy "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” —John F. Kennedy __________________________ "You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right. Well I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course." —-Ronald Reagan "[W]e are told we've been following a wrong track, we should turn back and pay heed to those of the 19th century who stressed collective humanity, minimizing the individual... We are faced with a choice; either we go back to this collective 'we' as the supreme power with the 'state' it's agent...or we continue on the high road accepting man as a unique individual, a creature of the spirit...” —-Ronald Reagan “The time has come to reclaim our inalienable rights to human dignity, self respect, self reliance to once again be the kind of people who once made this nation great." —-Ronald Reagan “While America’s military strength is important, let me add here that I’ve always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.” —Ronald Reagan