In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill-will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow-men, not knowing what they do. 2
This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe, For Freedom only deals the deadly blow; Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in Freedom's hallowed shade. 3
"Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable."
"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;we shall never surrender."
"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."
"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."
"I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod."
"Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
"Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong."
"If Hitler were to invade Hell, I would find occasion to make a favorable reference to the devil."
"When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty."
"The standardized American is largely a myth created not least by Americans themselves."
"The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitudes."
"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem."
"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."
"Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being."
No arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
"I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me."
"A camel is a horse designed by committee."
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God 1 entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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; 2 that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property. 5
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace."
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhwre. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it.
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 1
"I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."
"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."
"To be successful, a woman has to be much better at her job than a man."
"Live free or die."
"If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together."
"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."
"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
"Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox here in America -- that we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement."