Favorite Quotes

Edward Abby:

• “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”

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Abraham Lincoln:

• “To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards of men.”
• “Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.”
• “You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”

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Tracy Byrd:

• (A Good Way To Get On My Bad Side)
  “Politician on my TV,
  Says he’s only lookin’ out for me
  Says he knows what the poor man needs in the long run

  But every year he gives himself a raise,
  Gets a chunk with every buck I make
  Now he’s talkin’ like he wants to take my shotgun”

• (A Good Way To Get On My Bad Side)
  “There oughtta be a law against cowboy rap,
  And all that boy band crap,
  A little sissy in a cowboy hat ain’t country”

Favorite Quotes

George Washington:

• “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence, it is force; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
• “A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.”
• “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”
• “Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
• “Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.”
• “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
• “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
• “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
• “It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.” (Guns, anyone?)
• “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”
• “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”
• “The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.” (*cough* Biden *cough*)
• “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.”
• “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”

Favorite Quotes

Ronald Reagan:

• “Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.”
• “Trust, but verify.”
• “Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.”
• “We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”
• “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
• “We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.”
• “We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.”
• “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”
• “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.”
• “Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”
• “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”
• “You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
• “Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process.”
• “We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.”
• “I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.”

Favorite Quotes

Ronald Reagan:

• “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.”
• “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”
• “Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
• “One picture is worth 1,000 denials.”
• “One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.”
• “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.”
• “Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.”
• “Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.”
• “Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.”
• “Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”
• “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
• “The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.”
• “The thought of being President frightens me and I do not think I want the job.”
• “They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.”
• “Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.”
• “To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world’s strongest economy.”
• “To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last – but eat you he will.”

Favorite Quotes

Ronald Reagan:

• “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”
• “I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.”
• “I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.”
• “I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.”
• “I’ve never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a ‘fat cat’ and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a ‘public-spirited philanthropist’.”
• “If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.”
• “If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.”
• “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
• “Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.”
• “Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.”
• “Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.”
• “Man is not free unless government is limited.”
• “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

Favorite Quotes

Ronald Reagan:

• “Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
• “Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.”
• “Facts are stubborn things.”
• “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
• “Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years.”
• “Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.”
• “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”
• “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
• “Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”
• “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
• “Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.”
• “Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.”
• “How can a president not be an actor?”
• “How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”

Favorite Quotes

Ronald Reagan:

• “Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.”
• “Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.”
• “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”
• “The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.”
• “Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.”
• “I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.”
• “The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
• “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”
• “All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.”
• “Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.”
• “Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.”
• “But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.”
• “Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”
• “Don’t be afraid to see what you see.”

Favorite Quotes

Thomas Jefferson:

• “Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.”
• “The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that… it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”
• “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
• “The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.”
• “The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.”
• “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
• “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
• “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”
• “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
• “When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred. ”
• “When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”
• “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.”
• “Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.”
• “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
• “A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.”
• “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

Favorite Quotes

Thomas Jefferson:

• “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”
• “If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?”
• “It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.”
• “It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
• “It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”
• “Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.”
• “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
• “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”
• “Never spend your money before you have earned it.”
• “No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.”
• “No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.” (although I think there are exceptions; Reagan, for one)
• “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
• “One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.”
• “Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”
• “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.”
• “Power is not alluring to pure minds.”
• “Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us.” (i.e. “teabaggers”)
• “Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.”

Favorite Quotes

Thomas Jefferson:

• “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. ”
• “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. ”
• “Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.”
• “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
• “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security. ”
• “He who knows best knows how little he knows.”
• “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”
• “History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is. ”
• “I cannot live without books.”
• “I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.”
• “I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.”
• “I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”
• “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”