"The tree of liberty could not grow
were it not watered with the blood of tyrants"
by:
Bertrand Barere de Vieuzac
(1755-1841) French politician and journalist, member of the National Convention during the French Revolution
Source:
Speech in the Convention Nationale, 1872
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Reader comments about this quote:
The tree of liberty is being hacked to pieces and dried up. It's time to care for liberty and water the tree.
 -- Joe, Rochester, MI     
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     -- Lisa, Wichita, KS      
    Great quote, but America no longer has men with balls big enough to act. They've been neutered.
     -- Aug, Bronx     
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    Which is why I say we should mandate a public hanging of a public official at least once a year.
     -- Logan, Memphis, TN     
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    Oh, yeah...and the French revolutionaries, like the author of this quote, did a great job of reorganizing French government and society. Didn't they?
     -- David L. Rosenthal     
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    Hey Logan."Right On"Your comment made me giggle.That's a great idea.Anyway,about the quote....I like it.
     -- Anonymous     
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     -- Mike, Norwalk      
    This quote was echoed by Jefferson - "And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms....The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants" --Thomas Jefferson in a letter to William S. Smith in 1787. Taken from Jefferson, On Democracy p. 20, S. Padover ed., 1939
     -- Mike, Mount Holly, NC     
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    David has a good point though. You can't have a revolution without a good plan to replace the current government. I believe our SYSTEM of government and our Constitution is good. We just need people with principle who will foolow it. What do you think this country would look like if every law which didn't meet Constitutional muster was erased?
     -- Mike, Mount Holly, NC     
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    I really like this website and these quotes, and I like the comments by the regular readers. They encourage me to see there are others out there who believe like I do, and they challenge me and make me think. I only wish some of the discussions could be continued like in a bulletin board or forum format. After a few days the qoutes and comments just disappear into cyberspace.
     -- Mike, Mount Holly, NC     
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    Henry David Thoreau said, "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." Unfortunately, there sometimes seems to be thousands striking at the root of the tree of Liberty. Maybe to them, liberty is evil.
     -- Anonymous     
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    Logan is right. But the legislators have protected themselves from the kinds of punishments they dish out to the common people. The big thieves hang the little ones.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Murder is not the answer to all problems...
     -- Anonymous, Reston, VA US     
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    Reston, Tyrants are nothing more than murderous pirates that refuse to use their power to rule justly. To eliminate a tyrant is hardly murder, in the legal sense. Have you not heard of justifiable homicide? Although not a Christian's duty, it is a logical legal standard that those who murder, extort, oppress, enslave, and otherwise criminally abuse, should be severely punished, which often requires the execution of such people as commit acts that characterize a tyrant's routine. Of course, it is always more complicated than that; tyrants are surrounded by armed henchmen and others that do their bidding, forming a central body of tyranny that may number in the thousands, who oppress millions of others. An attempt to overthrow them easily results in the deaths of thousands of innocent victims. So murder may be the outcome, in any case.
     -- David L Rosenthal     
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    Reston, you're right, not all problems, just Bush's problems.
     -- Logan, Memphis     
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    One man's Tyrant is another man's Staunch Defender of the Righteous Way. Murder is murder: taking a life is taking a life. If you feel justified in taking someone's life, I guarantee that I could find someone who feels equally justified in taking yours.
     -- firefly, Milwaukee     
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    Here, here, Reston!
     -- O. Delusional Liberal     
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     -- Vera, CT      
    Reston, you missed the point of the quote. Or maybe you didn't.
     -- jim k, Austin     
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    A swing set on every lawn !
     -- Ronw13, Yachats Or     
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    Primitive statement for with the release of education from it's restraints less and less blood will be drawn in violence and the tyrant will no longer reign or even exist. Adults are never tyrants and Marx's Communism, the social system of adults, will makes it's long awaited appearance in the future, however without Marxism. The peaceful path will be the guide and foundation to liberation and liberty.
     -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown     
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    lololol, hahahaha ! ! !  Sillik, it is almost comical that a mentally ill liar, such as yourself — continues to vomit erroneous word salad as you do here, on a blog concerning liberty. Your god Marx's theocratic diatribe has proven to be the bane of the world's destruction ever since his malfeasance of existence (by extremely terse example = the 10 planks of the communist manifesto). All of Marx's socialism attempts (communism, fascism, wokecomism, etc.) have only caused pain, destruction and removal of individual sovereignty, inalienable rights, freedom / liberty, peace, prosperity, integrity, personal responsibility and the laws of nature.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    Mike, Norwalk: No Socialist has ever enslaved anyone, never stole other's land, never nuclear annihilated anyone, your cause has proven the reverse of these circumstances. The Socialist says end slavery, one world nation, dismantle nuclear weapons.
     -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown     
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    Additionally Mike, Hoodlum Norwalk,  the Socialist never snuck out the back door to "hang out with my hoodlum friends". The Socialist went out the front door to teach the world civilized behavior.
     -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown     
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    Sillik, see my immediately above comment, thank you for proving my point once again. By definition and design, socialism enslaves through its very nature with a destructive implementation (again, to start with, view what Marx's 10 plank manifesto has done to the world). Your incoherent word salad, misdirection and off topic rhetoric demonstrates socialists are incapable of coherently uttering the truth, answering a direct question, reasoning or use history and facts to string together a recognizable accuracy
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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