If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.
— Benjamin Franklin
Astounding Founding Fathers quotations
The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms .
. . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He's sufficient for all of our needs. When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped.
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.
When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.
Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.
In the United States, the Constitution is a health chart left by the Founding Fathers which shows whether or not the body politic is in good health. If the national body is found to be in poor health, the Founding Fathers also left a prescription for the restoration of health called the Declaration of Independence.
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed;
as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.
A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother.
Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be.
Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual… Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.
Nil desperandum, -- Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.
My answer to the racial problem in America is to not deal with it at all.
The founding fathers dealt with it when they made the Constitution.
Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
Those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy - the most sublime and benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man - endeavored to crush your well-earned & well-deserved fame.
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote.
..that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest.
They always did...they always will. They will have the same effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by the power of government, keep them in their proper spheres.
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.
The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.
I was born an only child in Vienna, Austria.
My father found hours to sit by me by the library fire and tell fairy stories.
The government of the United States of America has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.
My dad was a complicated man. He was a huge racist, my dad, but he still tried to be a good father, you know? Like, he would tell me that Santa Claus was black - that way, when I found out he didn't exist, it wouldn't be that big a let down.
What was silent in the father speaks in the son, and often I found in the son the unveiled secret of the father.
Let us by wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties.
Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.
The path of progress is seldom smooth.
New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them so. But are we not made better for the effort and scarifice?
He that cannot obey, cannot command.
The Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.
All might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they should.
A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
The Law found more than it lost when Christ said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:44-45). This most important commandment summarizes in a word the universal discipline of patience, since it does not allow us to do evil even to people who deserve it.
