George Washington wrote: Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.
If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.
It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.
Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.
Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.
The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.
The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.
The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.
Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth.
Alexander Hamilton wrote: Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
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.
In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.
In the usual progress of things, the necessities of a nation in every stage of its existence will be found at least equal to its resources.
It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
Why dont people talk and think this way anymore? Now all we get is stuff likeBenjamin Franklin wrote: A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.
A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.
All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
Harry Reid wrote: The American people do not like privatization. They are afraid of the debt the president's willing to do. And they don't like benefit cuts. And everyone here should understand all 45 Senate Democrats are united. We are not going to let this happen.
This 21st century economy holds great promise for our people. But unless we give all Americans the skills they need to succeed, countries like India and China will take good-paying jobs that should be ours.
Nancy Pelosi wrote: But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.
My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive. We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow.
Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.
