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Famous Quotes about Liberty
 
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It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.
-- Edmund Burke		 
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded.
-- Edmund Burke		 
In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed and the boldest staggered.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
-- Edmund Burke		 
People crushed by law have no hope but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous...
-- Edmund Burke		 
Tell me what are the prevailing sentiments that occupy the minds of your young peoples, and I will tell you what is to be the character of the next generation.
-- Edmund Burke		 
There never was a bad man that had ability for good service.
-- Edmund Burke		 
I dread our own power and our own ambition; I dread our being too much dreaded. ... We may say that we shall not abuse this astonishing and hitherto unheard-of-power. But every other nation will think we shall abuse it. It is impossible but that, sooner or later, this state of things must produce a combination against us which may end in our ruin.
-- Edmund Burke		 
In a free country every man thinks he has a concern in all public matters,--that he has a right to form and a right to deliver an opinion on them. This it is that fills countries with men of ability in all stations.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Power gradually extirpates for the mind every humane and gentle virtue.
-- Edmund Burke		 
We must not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noise of the acclamation.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.
-- Edmund Burke		 
There are three estates in Parliament but in the Reporters' Gallery yonder there sits a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech or witty saying, it is a literal fact, very momentous to us in these times.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Liberty, without wisdom, is license.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The greater the power the more dangerous the abuse.
-- Edmund Burke		 
All men have equal rights, but not to equal things.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The people never give up their liberties, but under some delusion.
-- Edmund Burke		 
There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity -- the law of nature, and of nations.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness of another.
-- Edmund Burke		 
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.
-- Edmund Burke		 
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Those who have been intoxicated with power... can never willingly abandon it.
-- Edmund Burke		 
To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to deprecate the value of freedom itself.
-- Edmund Burke		 
People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The only liberty that is valuable is a liberty connected with order; that not only exists along with order and virtue, but which cannot exist at all without them. It inheres in good and steady government, as in its substance and vital principle.
-- Edmund Burke		 
It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.
-- Edmund Burke		 
My vigour relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.
-- Edmund Burke		 
The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.
-- Edmund Burke		 
Guns are used for self-defense somewhere between 800,000 and 3.6 million times per year .... Using firearm crime and defensive gun use figures most favorable to advocates for stricter gun control, ... the benefits from defensive gun uses exceed the cost of violent firearm crimes ... by between $90 million and $3.5 billion. Using the most credible estimate for defensive gun uses, the benefits range from $1 billion to $38 billion. Putting these dollar figures in more human terms: Guns save lives. The fact is that the best defense against violence is an armed response. For example, women faced with assault are 2.5 times less likely to suffer serious injury if they defend themselves with a gun rather than responding with other weapons or by offering no resistance. ... [P]ersons defending themselves with guns during an assault are injured only 12 percent of the time, compared to 25 percent for those using other weapons, 27 percent for those offering no resistance and nearly 26 percent of those who flee. ... [F]irearms are the safest, most effective way to protect oneself against criminal activity -- which is why American police officers carry guns rather than going unarmed or merely carrying knives.
-- H. Sterling Burnett		 
Too bad all the people who know how to run this country are busy running taxicabs or cutting hair.
-- George Burns		 
Dare to be honest and fear no labor.
-- Robert Burns		 
Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die.
-- Robert Burns		 
Once the law starts asking questions, there's no stopping them.
-- William S. Burroughs		 
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.
-- William S. Burroughs		 
Do what thy manhood bids thee do, From none but self expect applause: He noblest lives and noblest dies Who makes and keeps his self-made laws.
-- Sir Richard Francis Burton		 
The dearest ambition of a slave is not liberty, but to have a slave of his own.
-- Sir Richard Francis Burton		 
As compared with impulsive commitment to the first idea which dawns, that is, with intuitive action, reasoning is patient, exploratory of other possibilities, and deliberative.
-- Edwin Arthur Burtt		 
Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but what happens inside your house.
-- Barbara Bush		 
[The war in Iraq is] a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times...a new world order can emerge.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
You know what's interesting about Washington? It's the kind of place where second-guessing has become second nature.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
If we do not follow the dictates of our moral compass and stand up for human life, then this lawlessness will threaten the peace and democracy of the emerging new world order we now see, this long dreamed-of vision we’ve all worked toward for so long.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
Freedom and the power to choose should not be the privilege of wealth. They are the birthright of every American.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
It was just one year ago that the world saw this new, invigorated United Nations in action as this Council stood fast against aggression and stood for the sacred principles enshrined in the U.N. Charter. And now it's time to step forward again, make the internal reforms, accelerate the revitalization, accept the responsibilities necessary for a vigorous and effective United Nations. I want to assure the members of this Council and the Secretary-General, the United Nations can count on our full support in this task.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
For two centuries we’ve done the hard work of freedom. And tonight we lead the world in facing down a threat to decency and humanity. What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea—a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle, and worthy of our children’s future.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
My vision of a 'new world order' foresees a United Nations with a revitalized peacekeeping function.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
We will succeed in the Gulf. And when we do, the world community will have sent an enduring warning to any dictator or despot, present or future, who contemplates outlaw aggression. The world can therefore seize this opportunity to fulfill the long-held promise of a new world order—where brutality will go unrewarded, and aggression will meet collective resistance.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
Ultimately, our objective is to welcome the Soviet Union back into the world order. Perhaps the world order of the future will truly be a family of nations.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order, a world where the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the UN’s founders.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
It is the sacred principles enshrined in the UN Charter to which we will henceforth pledge our allegiance.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush (False)		 
If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched.
-- George Herbert Walker Bush		 
Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty.
-- George W. Bush		 
We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge.
-- George W. Bush		 
We have every reason to assume the worst.
-- George W. Bush		 
Today the Justice Department did issue a blanket alert. It was in recognition of a general threat we received. This is not the first time the Justice Department have acted like this. I hope it is the last. But given the attitude of the evildoers, it may not be.
-- George W. Bush		 
The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today.
-- George W. Bush		 
I don’t give a goddamn. I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way. ... Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!
-- George W. Bush		 
We will fight with full force and might of the United States military.
-- George W. Bush		 
Saddam Hussein's regime is a gray and gathering danger.
-- George W. Bush		 
We need an energy bill that encourages consumption.
-- George W. Bush		 
I want him [Saddam Hussein]. I want -- I want justice. There is an old poster seen out west. As I recall, it said, Wanted Dead or Alive.
-- George W. Bush		 
The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda.
-- George W. Bush		 
There is no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the homeland.
-- George W. Bush		 
The choice is his [Saddam Hussein's], and if he does not disarm, the United States of America will lead a coalition and disarm him in the name of Peace.
-- George W. Bush		 
I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office and foreign policy matters with war on my mind.
-- George W. Bush		 
And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for pre-emptive action.
-- George W. Bush		 
If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.
-- George W. Bush		 
There will be no going back to the era before September 11th, 2001, to false comfort in a dangerous world.
-- George W. Bush		 
There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there [in Iraq]. My answer is, 'Bring 'em on.'
-- George W. Bush		 
We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th.
-- George W. Bush		 
Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.
-- George W. Bush		 
During my senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society, so secret I can’t say anything more.
-- George W. Bush		 
Our enemies are a radical network of terrorists -- and every government that supports them.
-- George W. Bush		 
They misunderestimated me.
-- George W. Bush		 
We're too great a nation to allow the evildoers to affect our soul.
-- George W. Bush		 
Presumably man's spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems.
-- Vannevar Bush		 
My liberty is not for sale.
-- Edward Bushell		 
The love of liberty that is not a real principle of dutiful behavior to authority is as hypocritical as the religion that is not productive of a good life.
-- Bishop Joseph Butler		 
The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
-- Nicholas Murray Butler		 
The old world order died with the setting of that day’s sun and a new world order is being born while I speak, with birth-pangs so terrible that it seems almost incredible that life could come out of such fearful suffering and such overwhelming sorrow.
-- Nicholas Murray Butler		 
Politics is the art of the possible.
-- R. A. Butler		 
He that complies against his will, Is of his own opinion still.
-- Samuel Butler		 
The more unpopular an opinion is, the more necessary it is that the holder should be somewhat punctilious in his observance of conventionalities generally.
-- Samuel Butler		 
The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to approach printed matter with distrust.
-- Samuel Butler		 
Authority intoxicates,\\ And makes mere sots of magistrates;\\ The fumes of it invade the brain,\\ And make men giddy, proud and vain.
-- Samuel Butler		 
There should be some schools called deformatories to which people are sent if they are too good to be practical.
-- Samuel Butler		 
I don't mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
-- Samuel Butler		 
I spent 33 years in the Marines. Most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half-a-dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street...
-- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler		 
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
-- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler		 
My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military.
-- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler		 
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
-- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler		 

-- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler		 
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
-- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler		 
No legal tender law is ever needed to make men take good money; its only use is to make them take bad money.
-- Stephen T. Byington		 


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