Civil Liberties Quotes | |
Walking Liberty | |
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"It is seldom that any liberty is lost all at once." ~ David Hume "If our democracy is devolving into a manipulated nation of inattentive spectators, we have the responsibility to speak honestly about our national choices, and to do so even if we feel hesitant or scared." -Paul Loeb, "Reclaiming our Courage" |
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"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
-George Orwell "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin "What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry "Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience... Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem." - Howard Zinn, "Failure to Quit", p. 455 "Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -Goering, Hitler's #2 Man "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." - President Dwight D Eisenhower, 34th UUS President (and 5 Star General) "All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void." --Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (2 Cranch)) 137 (1803) "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." -- Patrick Henry "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing." -- Theodore Roosevelt "You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in their struggle for independence." - Charles A. Beard "Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind is intolerable, and so the evidence has to be internally denied." -Arthur Miller "Reason obeys itself; and ignorance does whatever is dictated to it." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man ("Conclussion") "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush during a photo-op with Congreessional leaders on 12/18/2000. "There ought to be limits to freedom."- George W. Bush, May 21, 1999 "...They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --George W. Bush "Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire: a dangerous servant and a terrible master." -George Washington |
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