I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can reestablish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very severe and distinct curtailment of our liberty. |
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. |
No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped. |
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. |
It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. |
The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful. |
A wholesome regard for the memory of the great men of long ago is the best assurance to a people of a continuation of great men to come, who shall be able to instruct, to lead, and to inspire. A people who worship at the shrine of true greatness will themselves be truly great. |
It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. |
Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty. |
No matter what anyone may say about making the rich and the corporations pay taxes, in the end they come out of the people who toil. |
Government price-fixing once started, has alike no justice and no end. It is an economic folly from which this country has every right to be spared. |
Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody. |
We do not need more intellectual power, we need more moral power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government, we need more culture. We do not need more law, we need more religion. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.... If the foundation is firm, the superstructure will stand. |
As I went about with my father, when he collected taxes, I knew that when taxes were laid someone had to work hard to earn the money to pay them. |
I have never been hurt by anything I didn't say. |
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement. |
When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results. |
We demand entire freedom of action and then expect the government in
some miraculous way to save us from the consequences of our own acts....
Self-government means self-reliance. |
After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. |
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery. |
