The Liberty of the Individual is the Greatest Thing of All

QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND JUSTICE, TRUTH AND DUTY:

 

 

“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

 

“The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.”

-John F. Kennedy

 

“The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. Under this Republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them.” Foundations of the Republic Inaugural Address March 4, 1925

-Calvin Coolidge

 

“Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded.”

– Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.

 

“Two flags fly above my land that really sum up how I feel. One is the colors that fly high and proud, the Red, the White, the Blue. The other ones got a rattlesnake with a simple statement made, “Don’t tread on me” is what it says and I’ll take that to my grave
Because this is me, I’m proud to be American and strong in my beliefs.”

-Aaron Lewis

 

“Americans never quit.”

-Douglas MacArthur

 

“My failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent.”

-Ulysses S. Grant

 

“At the start of this nation‘s unique experiment with individual sovereignty and limited government, ―Taxation without representation is tyranny‖ was the watchword of the American Revolution. For our Founding Fathers, a level of taxation of only a few cents on a dollar, siphoned off to a faraway and arrogant bureaucracy, was enough to ignite a revolution enough to grab the trusty musket off the wall. Today, in contrast, if we dare to startle the more panicky among us by buying a good rabbit gun, the government‘s there at the cash register to check our papers and seize $46 on every $100.  Taxed to Death

-Ralph Reiland

 

“The probabilities are, that the next few years will witness the most momentous developments in the history of the continent. Of one result we feel assured, and that is of the final success of our great and glorious cause, and of the eventual defeat and humiliation of our vaunting enemies.” June 19, 1861

-Cherokee Chieftain John Ross

 

“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”

-Maximilien Robespierre

 

“I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.”

-Anne Frank

 

“The Founders barred the establishment of religion by the federal government — in no small part because they remembered the repression of minority sects under the state church of England. But they saw no problem with the various American states establishing their own official churches. And they certainly had no objection to official displays of religiosity. One of the first acts by the new Congress was to hire a chaplain. Until well into the nineteenth century, the largest weekly church service in the United States took place in the U.S. Capitol building. At the request of President Jefferson, music was provided at federal expense by the United States Marine Band.”

-Jonah Goldberg

 

“It seems that my path to the grave will be smoothed by the Knowledge that I did all I could to gain Liberty – a question presents itself – Did I do all I could? Did any one of us do all we could? Alas! how few, how very few can answer in the affirmative. May He who knoweth all hearts – so guide us that where our summons comes we go “like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams – and what then – is the grave our final resting place as we are won’t to believe? ”

-W.O. Connor

 

“Only in totalitarian societies does the state purport to express the views of every last citizen. Indeed, the history of totalitarianism is a history of snuffing out all dissenting views with tactics ranging from censorship to mass murder. To this list should be added the rewriting of history…”

-Thomas DiLorenzo

 

“The rifle is the weapon of democracy… If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government—and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.”

-Edward Abbey

 

“The liberty of the individual is the greatest thing of all, it is on this and this alone that the true will of the people can develop.” From the Other Shore, 1849

-Alexander Ivanovich Herzen 

 

“A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.”

-Granville Hicks

 

“When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don’t deal drugs. When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I’m innocent. When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don’t own a gun. Now they’ve come for the first amendment, and I can’t say anything at all.”

-Tim Freeman

 

“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.” On Liberty 1859

-John Stuart Mill

 

“We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.  We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon.

At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.  The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machineguns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up.

When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.  Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.  These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.

These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.  Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender’s poem. You are men who in your, quote, “lives fought for life … and left the vivid air signed with your honor.”  I think I know what you may be thinking right now — thinking “we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day.” Well, everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming.

Well, they weren’t.

They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.  Lord Lovat was with him — Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, “Sorry I’m a few minutes late,” as if he’d been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he’d just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.  There was the impossible valor of the Poles who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold, and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast.

They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.  All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore: the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland’s 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England’s armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard’s “Matchbox Fleet” — and you, the American Rangers.  Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here.

Why?

Why did you do it?

What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.  The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.  Fortieth  Commemoration of D-Day, June 6, 1984

-Ronald Reagan

 

“The Holocaust also shows us how a combination of events and attitudes can erode a society’s democratic values.”

-Tim Holden

 

“History has taught us over and over again that freedom is not free. When push comes to shove, the ultimate protectors of freedom and liberty are the brave men and women in our armed forces. Throughout our history, they’ve answered the call in bravery and sacrifice.”

-Tim Pawlenty

 

“My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed.  God has fixed the time for my death.  I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it overtake me”

-Thomas Jackson

 

“Thousands of years ago, civilizations flourished in Africa which suffer not at all by comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries, Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.”

-Haile Selassie, Egyptian Emperor

 

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