"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."
Martin Luther King, from “I Have a Dream†speech at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963, Washington, D.C.
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.â€
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
The free market punishes irresponsibility. Government rewards it.
Harry Browne, American libertarian writer, politician and free-market analyst.
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God cannot retain it.â€
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States.
“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.â€
James Madison, Fourth President of the United States and “Father of the Constitutionâ€
PS: “chimerical†= wildly fanciful; highly unrealistic
The following “Ten Cannots†are often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. William John Henry Boetcker (1873–1962), American religious leader and influential public speaker. From a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots. Originally published in 1916.
“A great destiny lies before the United States. The question is, is she competent for the task? She has out ridden the fiery test of revolution, hurled defiance at a despot’s power, and grasped the sceptre of liberty with a nervous, powerful grip. She has, out of the chaotic, confused mass of material associated with corrupt governments, organized a system of government and framed a constitution that while it is honorable to its founders, guarantees to all to the fullest extent, "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite." … Liberty here is more than a name. Here man is free to speak, free to think, free to write, free to act, free to do good. The very genius of our Constitution and institutions is freedom.â€
John Taylor, Third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Mormon, Oct 6, 1855, 1:33; quoted in The Gospel Kingdom, p.312.
"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, Sixth President of the United States
“The first and most serious duty of the President of the United States, indeed of any patriot, is to advance the great American experiment; to prove that people who are free to act in their own interests will perceive those interests in an enlightened way, and will gratefully accept the obligation of freedom to make of our wealth and power a civilization for the ages. America’s global leadership is indispensable to the accomplishment of a civilization in which all people share in the promise of freedom.â€
John McCain, US Senator. From "Remarks by Senator John McCain at the National Press Club," Washington, D.C., May 20, 1999.
"The end of the law is not to abolish or restrain but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others; which cannot be where there is no law."
John Locke, English physician and philosopher. Quoted by John Harmer in A War We Must Win, Bookcraft 1999, pp. 124-125.