Quotes

John Adams Portrait

“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.”

James Madison Portrait

“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.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.”

George Washington Portrait

“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

John Adams Portrait

“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”

George Washington Portrait

“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.”

John Adams Portrait

“Fear is the foundation of most governments.”

John Adams Portrait

“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”

George Washington Portrait

“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.”

James Madison Portrait

“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.”

George Washington Portrait

“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.”

John Adams Portrait

“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”

James Madison Portrait

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

James Madison Portrait

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”

John Adams Portrait

“In politics the middle way is none at all.”

George Washington Portrait

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”

James Madison Portrait

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

George Washington Portrait

“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”

John Adams Portrait

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”

George Washington Portrait

“Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.”

John Adams Portrait

“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”

John Adams Portrait

“Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“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.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“Never spend your money before you have earned it.”

James Madison Portrait

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

James Madison Portrait

“Philosophy is common sense with big words.”

John Adams Portrait

“Power always thinks… that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

James Madison Portrait

“The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.”

James Madison Portrait

“The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.”

George Washington Portrait

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”

Benjamin Franklin Portrait

“Well done is better than well said.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”

George Washington Portrait

“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”

Thomas Jefferson Portrait

“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

James Madison Portrait

“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.”

George Washington Portrait

“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”