Liberty Quotes - Daily Email History

"Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
[Fr., Les republiques finissent par le luxe; les monarchies, par la pauvrete.]"

~ Charles de Montesquieu  

"Republics, like individuals, who are benefited by personal sacrifices, are proverbially ungrateful."

~ Epes Sargent  

"The same fact that Boccaccio offers in support of religion
might be adduced in behalf of a republic:
"It exists in spite of its ministers." "

~ Heinrich Heine  

"Our founding fathers detested the idea of a democracy and labored long to prevent America becoming one.  Once again -- the word 'democracy' does not appear in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, or the constitution of any of the fifty states.  Not once. Furthermore, take a look at State of the Union speeches.  You won’t find the 'D' word uttered once until the Wilson years."

~ Neal Boortz  

"The mobs of the great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution."

~ Thomas Jefferson  

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government..."

~ U. S. Constitution  

"Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state.
They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone."

~ Frederic Bastiat  

"Men ... should do their actual living and working in communities ... small enough to permit of genuine self-government and the assumption of personal responsibilities, federated into larger units in such a way that the temptation to abuse great power should not arise. The larger (structurally) a democracy grows, the less becomes the rule of the people and the smaller is the say of individuals and localised groups in dealing with their own destinies. Moreover, love and affection, are essentially personal relationships. Consequently, it is only in small groups that Charity, in the Pauline sense of the word, can manifest itself. Needless to say, the smallness of the group, in no way guarantees the emergence of Charity. In a large undifferentiated group, the possibility does not even exist, for the simple reason that most of its members cannot, in the nature of things, have personal relations with one another."

~ Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi  

"It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties.
We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens,
and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution.
The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened
itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents.
They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided
the consequences by denying the principle."

~ James Madison  

"Government of the self was the original basis for republican
government, reflecting the view that civil society was much
more than politics. Society was made up of men and women
who gave order to their lives by entering into associations
on a voluntary basis, quite apart from government, for all
the various reasons of fellowship, philanthrophy,
faith and commerce."

~ Hans L. Eicholz  

"The nearer the power to enact laws and control public servants lies with the great body of the people, the more nearly does a government take unto itself the form of a republic -- not in name alone, but in fact."

~ Oregon Supreme Court  

"Every private citizen has a public responsibility."

~ Myra Janco Daniels  

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

~ Sir Winston Churchill  

"Our job [journalism] is to monitor the centres of power."

~ Amira Hass