Potent Quotables

Stupidity in Politics

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte

The World Suffers

“The world suffers a lot. Not because the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of the good people.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte

“The decay of decency in the modern age, the rebellion against law and good faith, the treatment of human beings as things, as the mere instruments of power and ambition, is without a doubt the consequence of the decay of the belief in man as something more than an animal animated by highly conditioned reflexes and chemical reactions. For, unless man is something more than that, he has no rights that anyone is bound to respect, and there are no limitations upon his conduct which he is bound to obey.”
--Walter Lippmann

Victory over Ignorance

“The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.”
--Napoleon Bonaparte

Call for Censorship

“Those who call for censorship in the name of the oppressed ought to recognize it is never the oppressed who determine the bounds of censorship.”
--Aryeh Neier

Insanity Rule

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
--Friedrich Nietzsche

Few Men Think

“Few men think, yet all will have opinions. Hence men’s opinions are superficial and confused.”
--John Locke

Educating Men

“Educating a free man consists of teaching him how to think, whereas educating a slave consists in teaching him what to think.”
--Marcus Tullius Cicero

The Sea is Dangerous

“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore. Unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible. It is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors, to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.”
--Ferdinand Magellan

Man With A Plan

“In times of great chaos, people tend to follow a man with a plan.”
--Jeffrey Fry

The High Road

“The high road is always easy to find, just not always easy to take.”
--Patricia Potyka

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Reason and Inquiry

“Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.”
--Thomas Jefferson

Dislike in Others

“The things we dislike most in others are the characteristics we like least in ourselves.”
--Marian Keys

Freedom Will Not Survive

"What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long.”
--Thomas Sowell

Criticisms

"Criticisms are like homing pigeons. They always return home."
--Dale Carnegie

Point the Way

“The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way.”
--Henry Miller

Learn the Fool

“To learn, sometimes you have to feel the fool.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Be The Change

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
--Mahatma Gandhi

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Reputation versus Honor

“Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.”
--Lois McMaster Bujold

Drive for Power

“The drive for power is potentially endless and boundless. Some people in search of power cannot conceive any limitation to it.”
--Silvano Arieti

Quality of Leadership

“Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.”
--Brian Tracy

No Kings, No Wars

“In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion.”
--Thomas Paine

My Mother

“All I am I owe to my mother.”
--George Washington

Cruel Unrelenting Enemy

"Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance or the most abject submission."
--George Washington

Sharp Wit

“What's the point of having a rapier wit if I can't use it to stab people?”
--Jeph Jacques

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Hollow Popularity

“Popularity is a form of success that is seldom worth the things you have to do in order to attain it.”
--Unknown

Free and Fair Judiciary

“All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.”
--Andrew Jackson

Blessings of Freedom

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”
--Thomas Paine

Continue the Discussion

“Conversation means being able to disagree and still continue the discussion.”
--Dwight Macdonald

Moral Society

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Citizen Subjects

“But to the extent that government is strong, the individual is weak, with the result that even if his title is citizen, his position is that of subject.”
--Leopold Kohr

Give Your Best

“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.”
--George Halas

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Nature of Crowds

“Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate use of freedom, which is the middle course, or of keeping it.”
--Titus Livius (Livy)

Generate Wealth

There are three ways you can generate wealth. You can grow it, you can build it, or you can mine it, but you cannot print it.”
--Gordon Long

Bill of Rights

“The Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes from the nature of things. It declares the inalienable rights of man not only against all government but also against the people collectively.”
--Walter Lippmann

More is Less

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”
--Thomas Jefferson

Anger Conquers

“He who angers you conquers you.”
--Elizabeth Kenny

Religious Fascism

“Fascism does not so much aim to govern people as to monopolize the control of their consciences. The possession of power is not enough for fascism: it needs to possess the private conscience of all its citizens, it demands the “conversion” of a country. Fascism makes the same claims as a religion. It does not promise happiness to those who do not convert.” 
--Giovanni Amendola

Lay Lowest

“All rivers pay homage to the ocean for it lies lowest.”
--Jeffrey Fry

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Courage over Doubt

“Courage is the ability to take action even when storms of doubt rage within.”
--Claire Fox

Freedom of Speech

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”
--Benjamin Franklin

Time Scale

“Time does not scale, that is why it is worth so much.”
--Seth Godin

Do Not Fear Death

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
--Mark Twain

Shield of the Law

“The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.”
--Andrew Jackson

Stoop To Conquer

“In wishing to be above men, put yourself by words below them, and, wishing to be before them, place yourself behind them.”
--Lao Tzu

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Rule of Law

“Only the middle class cares about the rule of law. The poor are indifferent to the law, and the rich think it should not apply to them. So, when the middle class disappears, so do Republics.”
--Aristotle

Restart

“No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.”
--Buddha

Preparation for Success

“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”
--Henry Ford

Resolute

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.”
-- Cavett Robert

Kind to the Cruel

“Those who are kind to the cruel, in the end will be cruel to the kind.”
--Talmud

Power over Others

“The essence of politics is not the pursuit of the good society, nor for the maximization of social welfare, it is the realm where people compete in open and concealed ways for power and control over others.”
--Niccolo Machiavelli

Better Yourself

“Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
--William Faulkner

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Through Science

“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.”
--Henri Poincaré

Elite Indifference

“Elites are always indifferent and unconcerned to the plight of common people.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Honest Mistake

“Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.”
--James Altucher

Mindless Tools

“Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Conscience is Felt

“Conscience is a felt state, it is an intuitive form of knowledge about the rightness or wrongness of an action.”
--Claire Fox

Bamboozled

“If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
--Carl Sagan

Move Mountains

“Those who remove mountains begin by carrying away small stones.”
--Chinese Proverb

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Blind Obedience

“The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism.”
--Sarah & Angelina Grimke

Live as you Wish

“Freedom is the right to live as we wish. Nothing else.”
--Epictetus

End of the World

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”
--Richard Bach

More Speech

“If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.” --Louis Brandeis

Hope's Gift

“Hope is a gift we give ourselves in our darkest despair.”
--Jeffrey Fry

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Be Just

“Man’s greatness lies in his decision to be greater than his condition. And if his condition is unjust, he has only one way of overcoming it, which is to be just himself.”
--Albert Camus

Heaven Born Captain

“Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactic in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.”
--Sun Tzu

Persuade the Stupid

“Never again should we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Danger Force

“Danger alone acquaints us with our own resources: our virtues, our armor and weapons, our spirit, and forces us to be strong.”
-- Fredrick Nietzsche

Immature Anytime

“You can only be young once, but you can always be immature.”
--John Kennedy

When to Fight

"If you will not fight for right when you can win easily without bloodshed you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
--Winston Churchill

Spiritual Beings

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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More Safe, Less Free

“To be more safe they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”
--Alexander Hamilton

Society and Government

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.”
--Thomas Paine

Not Boring

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”
--David Bowie

Rigidity's Result

“Rigidity in thought or action, almost guarantees failure in life.”
--Claire Fox

Hard Times

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
--G. Michael Hopf

Life's Success

“No man is a failure who is enjoying life.”
--William Feather

Love Is Freedom

“Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.”
--Rabindranath Tagore

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Tyranny Conquered

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
--Thomas Paine

Accept Challenges

“Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”
--George S. Patton

World War IV

“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with stones and spears.”
--Unknown (misattributed to Albert Einstein and Omar Bradley)

Industrious

“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.”
--Johann Sebastian Bach

No Tax For Prosperity

“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
--Winston Churchill

Heaven on Earth

“The attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell.”
--Karl Popper

Miracles Happen

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
--Albert Einstein

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Home Runs

“Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games.”
--Babe Ruth

Mass Psychosis

“The totalitarian systems represent a kind of collective psychosis. Whether gradually or suddenly, reason and common human decency are no longer possible in such a system: there is only a pervasive atmosphere of terror, and a projection of “the enemy,” imagined to be “in our midst.” Thus society turns on itself, urged on by the ruling authorities.”
--Joost Meerloo

Monsters Exist

“Monsters exist, but they are far too few in number to be truly dangerous; the most dangerous monsters are ordinary people ready to believe and obey without asking questions.”
--Primo Levi

Beginnings

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca

External Happiness

“The ordinary man places his life’s happiness in things external to him, so that when he loses them or finds them disappointing, the foundation of his happiness is destroyed. In other words, his center of gravity is not himself.”
--Arthur Schopenhauer

Fortify Democracy

“Authoritarianism cannot be harnessed to fortify democracy any more than wolves can be taught to guard sheep.”
---John Hayward

Our Point of View

“We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
--Anais Nin

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Just Cause

“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
--Mahatma Gandhi

Equal Rights and Laws

“The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer form the great body of the people of the United States; they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.”
--Andrew Jackson

Run by Idiots

“Our country was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots.”
--John Kennedy

Hand Over Freedom

“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. Man is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over that gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creature is born.”
--Fyodor Dostoevsky

Love, Hate and Fear

“I used to think love and hate were the two most powerful human emotions, but I was wrong. They are not even within the same galaxy of fear.”
--Unknown

Define Slavery

“There is no difference between political and chattel slavery. The former, no less than the latter, denies a man’s ownership of himself and the products of his labor; and asserts that other men may own him, and dispose of him and his property, for their uses, and at their pleasure.”
--Lysander Spooner

Code of Ethics

“A strong code of ethics is as reliable as a compass.”
--H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

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Foundation of Liberty

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
--Henry David Thoreau

Time to Understand

“Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less.”
--Marie Curie

System of Lies

“If the main pillar of the totalitarian system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth. This is why the truth must be suppressed more severely than anything else.”
--Václav Havel

Destined to Become

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bring Sunshine

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
--Anthony J. D’Angelo

A Lie's Velocity

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
--Winston Churchill

Mind Power

“The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.”
--Colin Wilson

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Biggest Fear

“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive – the risk to be alive and express what we really are.”
--Don Miguel Ruiz

Intelligence v. Wisdom

“Intelligence is when you spot a flaw in your boss's reasoning. Wisdom is when you refrain from pointing it out.”
--James Dent

Rule of Law

“A society can only remain great when its rulers obey the laws so its people can obey the rulers.”
--Solon

Euthusiasm Rises

"Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas."
--Henry Ford

Action Alone

“Your authority is in action alone, and never in its fruits; motive should never be in the fruits of action, nor should you cling to inaction.”
--Krishna

Moral Responsibility

"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

Winners Sacrifice

“Winners make sacrifices, losers make excuses.”
--Dan Cotter

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Make You Stupid

“Fear and hatred make you stupid. And stupid people are easy to manipulate.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Discovered Self

“Resiliency comes from a discovered self, not a constructed self. It comes from the gradual emergence of your unique, inborn abilities in a process called individuation. The better you become, the more unique you become as an individual, and it never ends.”
--Al Siebert

You Get Better

“I wish I could tell you it gets better. But, it doesn't get better. You get better.”
--Joan Rivers

Great Opportunities

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
--Charles Swindoll

Biased Man

“Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.”
--Francis Bacon

Memes Matter

“We must learn to treat the demagogue and aspirant dictators in our midst with the weapon of ridicule. Both are almost incapable of humor of any sort, and if we treat them with humor, they will begin to collapse.”
--Joost Meerloo

Life Happens

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”
--John Lennon

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Forget to be Afraid

“Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.”
--Lady Bird Johnson

Freedom is Air

“Freedom is the air we cannot do without, that we breathe without even noticing it until the time comes when, deprived of it, we feel we are dying.”
--Albert Camus

Height of Heroism

“The greatest height of heroism to which an individual can attain is to know how to face ridicule; better still, to know how to make oneself ridiculous and not shrink for the ridicule.”
--Miguel de Unamuno

Postpoining

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Absolute Power

“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.”
--Barry Goldwater

News and Truth

“The news and the truth are not the same thing.”
--Walter Lippmann

Cynical Truth

“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.”
--Lillian Hellman

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Felt Grief

“Grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed.”
--Pericles

Stupidity is More Dangerous

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

State Best Ordered

“That state is best ordered when the wicked have no command, and the good have.”
--Pittacus

Prefer a Loss

“Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; for the one is painful but once, but the other for one’s whole life.”
--Chilon

Burden of Freedom

“Relieving people of the burden of freedom in order to make them feel safe is a recurring theme in the history of authoritarianism.”
--Frank Furedi

Dwarf Men

“A state which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.”
--John Stuart Mill

Reunited

“It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.”
--Lewis B. Smedes

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Thristed Truth

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduces them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”
--Gustave Le Bon

Weep for Liberty

“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.”
--Andrew Jackson

Desire for Safety

“The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”
--Tacitus

Persistant Fear Mongering

“Persistent fear mongering in conjunction with promises that compliance to the regime will bring the citizens salvation creates true believers who will do whatever the regime commands, even if these commands require them to go to an early grave.”
--Claire Fox

Psychic Epidemics

“It is not famine, not earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer but man himself who is man’s greatest danger to man, for the simple reason that there is no adequate protection against psychic epidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of natural catastrophes.”
--Carl Jung

Govern Myself

“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and if they will not adapt to me, I adapt to them.”
--Michel de Montaigne

Don't Ask, Do

“It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”
--Jewish Proverb

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Great Citiznes

“The great citizens of a country are not those who bend the knee before authority but rather those who, against authority if need be, are adamant as to the honor and freedom of that country.” 
--Albert Camus

Not in the Stars

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
--William Shakespeare

Do Not Live Same Year

“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”
--Robin Sharma

New Year Brings

“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.”
--Vern McLellan

Any Period

“If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of revolution, when the old and the new stand side by side and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Disastrous Year

“Sometimes a year has been so disastrous and so terrible that entering a new year will automatically mean entering a wonderful year.”
--Mehmet Murat Ildan

Excellence Is Habitual

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
--Will Durant (misattributed to Aristotle)

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Leaders' Balance

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”
--Arnold Glasow

Insubordinate Person

“Every insubordinate person, when he rises up against oppression, reaffirms thereby the solidarity of all men.”
--Albert Camus

Ideal Conduct

“He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.”
--Walter Lippmann

Political Unity

“When political unity is preached by a ruling class, it is not a path that will lead to increased freedom, but is a path to a despotic hell.”
--Niccolo Machiavelli

Hurt by Truth

“Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.”
--Khaled Hosseini

An Honest Man

“The main trouble with being an honest man was that it lost you all your illusions.”
--James Jones

Ah, Women

“Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.”
--Fredrick Nietzsche

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Simple Truth

“There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.”
--Charles Dickens

Terrible Things

“Historically, the most terrible things; war, genocide, and slavery, have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.”
--Howard Zinn

Fear and Hatred

“Through the lens of fear and hatred, normal people will do things they otherwise never would.”
--Derek Hunter

Hurt by Truth

“Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.”
--Khaled Hosseini

Blessings of Freedom

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”
--Thomas Paine

No Hopeless Situations

“There are no hopeless situations, only individuals who have gone hopeless about them.”
--Ferdinand Foch

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Anti-American

“America was the first country ever founded on freedom, so anything that comes along that inhibits your freedom by definition is anti-American.”
--Joe Rogan

Mind Made Up

“When one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
--Rosa Parks

What is Luck?

“There is no thing known as bad luck. There is luck, or no luck at all.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Deprive Arms

“Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.”
--Aristotle

Integrity Values

“Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.”
--Chris Karcher

American Fascist

“The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.”
--Henry A. Wallace

Commitment's Magic

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”
--William Hutchinson Murray
(often mistakenly attributed to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)

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Die Free

"I would rather die a free man fighting to stay free than live in a world with no freedom.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Good Friend

“A good friend speaks truly and from the heart, the one whose speech is always pleasant cannot be trusted.”
--Viking Proverb

Secure Liberty

“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression.”
--Thomas Paine

Love Oneself

“As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health - food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is love of oneself.”
--Charlie Chaplin

With Chaos

“With chaos there is no growth.”
--Barry Thornton

Wretched Countries

“In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a thing terrible to public traitors.”
--Benjamin Franklin

The Happiest Life

“For the happiest life, rigorously plan your days, leave your nights open to chance.”
--Mignon McLaughlin

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Evils of Tyranny

“The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resist it.”
--John Hay

More Dangerous

“There is nothing more dangerous than a person who wants to be left alone but is forced to get involved.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Generosity Unlocks

“Generosity unlocks doors inside of us.”
--Seth Godin

Face Your Fears

“Face your fears, pursue your ambitions, and become the hero you are destined to be.”
--Josh Kaufman

Happiness Butterfly

“Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”
--Henry David Thoreau

Popular Government

“A popular government, without popular information, or the mean of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
--James Madison

Give Forward

“Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present.”
--Albert Camus

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Thankgiving Blessings

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
--W. T. Purkiser

Eternal Vigilance

“But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.”
--Andrew Jackson

Path of Truth

“Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it.”
--Robert F. Kennedy

Judging a Person

“Judging a person does not define who they are. It defines who you are.”
--Kristen Stewart

Life Laughs

“Life laughs at you when you are unhappy; life smiles at you when you are happy; but life salutes you when you make others happy.”
--Charlie Chaplin

Real Magic

“There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.”
--Norman Vincent Peale

Dream's Pursuit

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
--Walt Disney

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Escape Anxiety

“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions, not outside.”
--Marcus Aurelius

Give Thanks

“Give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.”
--Brian Tracy

Essential Integrity

“Integrity is essential and irreplaceable. It is the most valuable asset for a person, a company, or a society seeking to build and progress.”
--Rex Tillerson

Natural State

“Fear is not the natural state of civilized people.“
--Aung San Suu Kyi

Lie to Yourself

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
--Fyodor Dostoevsky

Step Forward

“If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.”
--Nora Roberts

Love Drives

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Clutches of Old Age

“No matter how cautiously you live there is no escaping the fatal clutches of old age. So then, better to join the fray and fight proudly for something worth obtaining.”
--Viking Proverb

Meaningless Liberty

“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down.”
--Frederick Douglass

Universal Truth

“Whenever one discovers a universal truth, it unifies rather than divides. Truth is thus the very enemy of tyranny, for it offers clarity, and one can no longer be ruled over when they can see a superior alternative to their oppression.”
--Cynthia Chung

Scared to Death

“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”
--John Wayne

Healthy Joy

“The healthiest response to life is joy."
--Deepak Chopra

No Profit In the Cure

“There is no profit in curing a disease, only in treating its symptoms.”
--Steven Gundry

Thanksgiving Frequency

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.”
--Edward Sandford Martin

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Kill a Tyrant

“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.”
--John Adams

Voices from the Past

“When we stop listening to the voices from the past, when we plug our ears against their advice and their injunctions, we make ourselves children, lost boys and girls without a map or compass.”
--Jeff Minick

Bodly Decisive

“It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late.”
--Marilyn Moats Kennedy

Born for a Storm

“I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.”
--Andrew Jackson

Have a Heart

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
--Charles Dickens

National Survival

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.”
--Cicero

Mediocrity Sucks

“Beware the lollipop of mediocrity; lick it once and you’ll suck forever.”
--Brian Wilson

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Judge a Man

“Judge a man not by how he treats his equals but by how he treats his inferiors.”
--Charlie Chaplin

Political Correctness

“Political correctness is tyranny; just tyranny with manners.”
--Charlton Heston

Interest of Tyrants

“It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail.”
--Samuel Adams

Move On

“When ignorance screams, intelligence moves on.”
--Donald Jackson

Invest in Good

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”
--Henry David Thoreau

Beware Tyranny

“We must beware of a tyranny of opinion which tries to make only one side of a question the one which may be heard.”
--Winston Churchill

Keep Going

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. The desire and ability to press on has and always will solve the problems of the human race and divide those who achieve from those who might have been.”
--Jeffrey Fry

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Diplomacy

“A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.”
--Caskie Stinnett

Liberty's Responsibility

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
--George Bernard Shaw

Fraud and Force

“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.”
--George Orwell

Pain of Evil

“Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.”
--Aristotle

Share Riches

“Joyous is he who shares in his riches. The coward hoards and lives in fear, rarely delighting in the fortune that seldom comes his way.”
--Viking Proverb

Different View

“Every person has a different view of another person’s image. That’s all perception. The character of a man, the integrity, that’s who you are.”
--Steve Alford

Reach Perfection

“No one is perfect until you fall in love with them.”
--Andy Rooney

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Permeated with Hypocrisy

“Life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics.”
--Vaclav Havel

Leadership Matters

“Every endeavor, large or small, rises and falls on leadership.”
--Jeffrey Fry

Cannot Stand

“If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand.”
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Strenght of Character

“Strength of character can defeat strength in numbers.”
--Unknown

Strange Medicine

“Forgiveness is a strange medicine. If you give it to others, it heals the wounds in your heart.” --Unknown

Believe in People

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
--Abraham Lincoln

Fraudulent Fact

“There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept."
--Scottish Proverb

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Freedom of Others

“People came to realize that not standing up for the freedom of others meant surrendering one’s own freedom.”
--Václav Havel

World of Small Men

“The world is full of men who despise you, fear your ambition, and jealously guard their shrinking realms of power.”
--Robert Greene

Representative Government

“In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions.”
--Andrew Jackson

Death and Pain

"Death and pain are not frightening, it’s the fear of pain and death we need to fear."
--Epictetus

Stand For

“Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.”
--Alexander Hamilton

The Oxygen

“The oxygen of capitalism is cooperation. The oxygen of totalitarians is hatred for differences.”
--Barry Brownstein

Sum Of Success

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”
--Robert Collier

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Never Changes

“Who we are never changes. Who we think we are does.”
--Mary Almanac

True Soldier

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
--G.K. Chesterton

Danger from Within

“From the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been a people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad. It is from within, among yourselves - from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power.”
--Andrew Jackson