QuotesCategoryAllQuotes - 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.â€â€œAmericans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.â€â€œAn investment in knowledge pays the best interest.â€â€œAny fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.â€â€œAssociate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.â€â€œBecause power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.â€â€œBy failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.â€â€œDo not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.â€â€œEducate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.â€â€œExperience 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.â€â€œFear is the foundation of most governments.â€â€œGreat is the guilt of an unnecessary war.â€â€œHappiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.â€â€œHe that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.â€â€œHe who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.â€â€œHonesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.â€â€œI believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.â€â€œI 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.â€â€œI 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.â€â€œI must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.â€â€œIf men were angels, no government would be necessary.â€â€œIf Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.â€â€œIn politics the middle way is none at all.â€â€œIt is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.â€â€œKnowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.â€â€œLabor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.â€â€œLet us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.â€â€œLet your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.â€â€œLiberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.â€â€œLiberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.â€â€œMoney 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.â€â€œNever spend your money before you have earned it.â€â€œNo nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.â€â€œPhilosophy is common sense with big words.â€â€œPower always thinks… that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.â€â€œTell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.â€â€œThe circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.â€â€œThe means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.â€â€œThe U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.â€â€œTo be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.â€â€œWe are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.â€â€œWell done is better than well said.â€â€œWhen angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.â€â€œWhen we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.â€â€œWhen we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.â€â€œWhenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.â€â€œWhere 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.â€â€œWorry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.â€