Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2004-02-03 Feb 3, 2004There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches, and the like... But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safeguard which is the common possession of all, and this applies especially to the dealings of democracies. What is this safeguard? Skepticism. This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this, you need fear no harm.~ DemosthenesAll bad precedents began as justifiable measures.~ Gaius Julius CaesarThe first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.~ Georges Bernanos Feb 2, 2004Another source of power in government is a military force. But this, to be efficient, must be superior to any force that exists among the people, or which they can command; for otherwise this force would be annihilated, on the first exercise of acts of oppression. Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in 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 pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.~ Noah WebsterThe patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth.~ Thomas J. Jackson Jan 30, 2004The possession of unlimited power will make a despot of almost any man. There is a possible Nero in the gentlest human creature that walks.~ Thomas Bailey AldrichThe law, unfortunately, has always been retained on the side of power; laws have uniformly been enacted for the protection and perpetuation of power.~ Thomas CooperStroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool.~ Paul Begala Jan 29, 2004All forms of tampering with human beings, getting at them, shaping them against their will to your own pattern, all thought control and conditioning is, therefore, a denial of that in men which makes them men and their values ultimate.~ Isaiah BerlinThe first step in saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose it unless fundamental political changes occur.~ James BovardBeware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master.~ Demosthenes Jan 28, 2004In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.~ Desiderius ErasmusHere is the Golden Rule of sound citizenship, the first and greatest lesson in the study of politics: You get the same order of criminality from any State to which you give power to exercise it; and whatever power you give the State to do things FOR you carries with it the equivalent power to do things TO you.~ Albert Jay Nock Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print