Quotes CategoryAllQuotes - Benjamin FranklinQuotes - George WashingtonQuotes - James MadisonQuotes - John AdamsQuotes - Thomas Jefferson “Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.†“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.†“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.†“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.†“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.†“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.†“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.†“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.†“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.†“Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.†“Fear is the foundation of most governments.†“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.†“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.†“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.†“He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.†“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.†“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.†“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.†“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.†“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.†“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.†“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.†“In politics the middle way is none at all.†“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.†“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.†“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.†“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.†“Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.†“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.†“Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.†“Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.†“Never spend your money before you have earned it.†“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.†“Philosophy is common sense with big words.†“Power always thinks… that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.†“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.†“The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.†“The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.†“The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.†“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.†“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.†“Well done is better than well said.†“When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.†“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.†“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.†“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.†“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.†“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.â€
