Doug's Thought Collection
I think that most Christians would be better pleased if the Lord did not inquire into their personal affairs too closely. They want Him to save them, to keep them happy, and to take them off to heaven at last, but not to be too inquisitive about their conduct or services.
You can't achieve anything without getting in someone's way.
The safety needs can become very urgent on the social scene whenever there are real threats to law, to order, to authority of society. The threat of chaos or if nihilism can be expected in most human beings to produce a regression from any higher needs to the more prepotent safety needs. A common, almost an expectable reaction, is the easier acceptance of dictatorship or of military rule. This tends to be true for all human beings, including healthy ones, since they too will respond to danger with realistic regression to the safety need level and will prepare to defend themselves. (Motivation and Personality, 3rd ed. (1970), p. 19)
I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend.
There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite."
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our . . sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
(John Wesley Hill, Abraham Lincoln, Man of God, 4th ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, p. 391.)
(Marion G. Romney, "Gratitude and Thanksgiving," Ensign, Nov. 1982, 50)
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
Aesop, The Fox and the Cat
Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.
Rules cannot substitute for character.
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.
Being a lover of freedom, when the (Nazi) revolution came, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly. (From Kampi und Zeugnis der bekennenden Kirche)
All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded to the individual.
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never
tried anything new.
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most are incapable of even forming such opinions
It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.
It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.
The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books—a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.
-- (Federalist No. 34, 4 January 1788)
To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the
world and has established laws to regulate the actions of his
creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of nature,
may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law
and government, appears to a common understanding altogether
irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced
a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity,
from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has
constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably
obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution
whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this
law depend the natural rights of mankind. (The Farmer Refuted, 1775)
To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to
conclude that the fiery and destructive passions of war reign in
the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and
beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political
systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity would be to
calculate on the weaker springs of human character. (Federalist No. 34, 4 January 1788)
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint." (Federalist No. 15)
Wise politicians will be cautious about fettering the governmentwith restrictions that cannot be observed, because they know that every break of the fundamental laws, though dictated by necessity, impairs that sacred reverence which ought to be maintained in the breast of rulers towards the constitution of a country. "
(Federalist No. 25, 21 December 1787)
A man who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself the first person to be convinced of it.
Alexis de Tocqueville in 'Democracy In America'
In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.... Religion in America...must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it....There is no country in the whole world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility...than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.
True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.
Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
To apologize is to lay the foundation for a future offense.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
The first virtue of all really great men is that they are sincere. They eradicate hypocrisy from their hearts.
In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Individualism, private property, the law of accumulation of wealth, and the law of competition; these are the highest results of human experience. The soil in which society so far has produced the best fruit.
Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence.
If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.
All our talents increase in the using, and every faculty... strengthens by exercise.
If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers.
He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made
glorious.
Each step we take, on the mountain or off, must be taken with respect and appreciation for the preciousness of our human birth.
(Apa currently holds the world record for ascending Mount Everest 16 times. He now lives in Utah to educate his family.)
.... Alabama complied ... and moved the Ten Commandments from the court lobby to a closet just off the lunchroom. It's insane. In the space of three months, the federal courts have put the Ten Commandments in the closet and let the sodomy laws out.
Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.
It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious.
Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power, that is not easy.
Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actor, on the possibility of a California gubernatorial campaign in 2006
[A run for governor] could be very intimidating. But I said to myself: ‘Hey, which of those guys ever won Mr. Universe? Who had Danny DeVito as a twin brother? Who did a movie with Sharon Stone? Who is married to Maria Shriver?’ Me, so there you go.
Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.
When fate throws a dagger at you, there are only two ways to catch it, either by the blade or by the handle. (adversity)
How should it happen that the individual should be without rights, but the combination of individuals should possess unlimited rights?
Nothing costs so little, goes so far, and accomplishes so much as a single act of merciful service.
Morality has perished through poverty of great men; a poverty for which we must not only assign a reason, but for the guilt of which we must answer as criminals charged with a capital crime. For it is through our vices, and not by any mishap, that we retain only the name of a republic, and have long since lost the reality.
It is easy to want things from the Lord and yet not want the Lord Himself, as though the gift could ever be preferable to the Giver.
It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavors and make success impossible.
Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
Have you something to do to-morrow; do it to-day.
Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
Human Felicity is produced not so much by great Pieces of good
Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur
every Day.
Human Felicity is produced not so much by great Pieces of good
Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day.
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?
In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself.
Necessity never made a good bargain.
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
Remember, that Time is Money."
-- (Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748)
Reference: Franklin: Writings, Lemay, Library of America (1198)
Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve. ( Autobiography, 1771)
Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
The doors of wisdom are never shut.
There never was a good war, or a bad peace.
Where liberty dwells, there is my country.
[T]he best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.
Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families.
'Anger ... is primarily one's personal responsibility. The reasons to become angry exist in our heads. ... The few times anger worked for you pale in comparison to the multitude of times it made things worse. It is far better not to produce the anger than to experience it.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.
As government grows bigger, expectations concerning its performance grow smaller.
We have failed our children if we have not passed on to them a realistic perspective of government. We must insure that they know that it is not okay to raid people’s paychecks and steal their property, even if doing so seems to be in the best interest of society. We must not take it for granted that our children know the importance of spiritual things and understand the foundations of traditional morality. We must insure that they do. Walt Disney would not know the company he founded only a generation ago. He would roll over in his grave at what those at the helm of Disney today have made of his dream. Henry Ford would turn away in disgust at what the Ford Foundation is doing with his fortune. I am certain that the Founding Fathers would be distressed at the way we have allowed their carefully constructed, much debated words...twisted so as to kick God and the Bible out of our schools and to protect the purveyors of obscenity. They would wonder in disbelief at the income taxes we allow to be confiscated from our paychecks today and the property that is stolen without compensation by means of egregious land use regulations. In their day, they would have hung the government official who told them that they could not build a deck on the back of their house without a government permit or could not own a gun without the government’s consent.... Today, 'church going' Walt [Disney] would not even be welcome to sit on the board of directors of his own company. Today, neither George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, nor James Madison could be elected to Congress in any of the states from which they hailed two centuries ago. That’s what happens when a generation or two fails to pass on to their children and those who work under them the values and traditions that form the very underpinnings of their society. Precious things slip away, for the price of liberty really is eternal vigilance.
Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
Faith declares what the senses do not see, but not the contrary of what they see. It is above them, not contrary to them.
he strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.
Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. There will immediately rise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom, sadness, fretfulness, vexation, despair.
One must know oneself. Even if that does not help in finding truth, at least it helps in running one's life.
Bob Lewis, Survival Guide columnist
Leaders aren't supposed to have all the good ideas themselves. Far from it, they seek out great ideas, and then help develop both the ideas and the people who brought them forward.
Gratitude is a Spirit-filled principle. It opens our minds to a
universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become
spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our
hearts with their messages of God's love. This grateful awareness
heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate
gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around
us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine
influence.
Any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.
Character is power.
Learn all you can, but learn to do something, or your learning will be useless and your vision will depart.
Never chasten beyond the balm you have to bind up.
A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready.
Buckminster Fuller, Inventor
Man knows so much and does so little.
If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.
When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.
We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were not concern of the present speaker's, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ.
If you do not specify and confront real issues, what you will do will surely obscure them. If you do not alarm anyone morally, you will yourself remain morally asleep. If you do not embody controversy, what you say will be an acceptance of the drift to the coming human hell.
...[By] the advance, and increasing application, of science ... we shall grow able to cure, and to produce, more diseases — bacterial war, not bombs, might ring down the curtain — to alleviate, and to inflict, more pains, to husband, or to waste, the resources of the planet more extensively. We can become either more beneficent or more mischievous. My guess is we shall do both; mending one thing and marring another, removing old miseries and producing new ones, safeguarding ourselves here and endangering ourselves there.
Do not let us mistake necessary evils for good.
Nothing can deceive unless it bears a plausible resemblance to reality.
When I was ten I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown-up.
…to banish the knight does not [always] alleviate the suffering of the peasant.
I believe in God as I believe the sun has risen, not because I can see it, but because by way of it I can see everything else.
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.
The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.
We must not suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world -- and might even be more difficult to save. For mere improvement is no redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine.
C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia The Silver Chair, Chapter 2
Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.
Evil cannot be accommodated. It must be defeated.
Forced belief does not persuade people to love God with their hearts, any more than a forced marriage creates love for another human being. God and relationships must be freely chosen to be meaningful and herein lies the fundamental difference in world views. One sees their God as an angry enforcer who needs goon squads to whip people into line. The other sees God giving humanity free will with blessings and consequences for each choice, but with ultimate judgment reserved for Himself.
Rather than attempt to bring mankind up to God's level, many skeptics try to bring God down to man's level, remaking Him in a human image and thus encouraging the false view that God is someone who is supposed to make us happy and prosperous. If we are unhappy and not rich (or not rich enough), we will deny He exists. Prosperity and good health provide their own motives for unbelief, as C.S. Lewis and numerous other thinkers have eloquently written.
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.
There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means.
There is no greater service that we can render the oppressed of the earth than to maintain inviolate the freedom of our own citizens.
We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
What we need in appointive positions is men of knowledge and experience who have sufficient character to resist temptations.
I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom.
Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty.
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.
We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Carl Sagan, Astronomer, of a photo taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it left our solar system in 1990.
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.
A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.
'It's easy to have a complicated idea. It's very, very hard to have a simple idea.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Sin creates [an inclination] to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.
What fools we are when we think we can legislate away the immorality of human beings
Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honor, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits.
It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
We believe that human happiness requires freedom and that freedom requires limited government.
Nonsense is nonsense whether it rhymes or not, just as bad half-pennies are good for nothing whether they jingle or lie quiet.
How came I into being? Certainly not by chance. For chance never could produce such a regular well ordered machine, in which appears so much design, so much harmony, and such a nice adjustment of several parts. I must then be the work of some intelligent Being. If so, there must have been some design in bringing me into existence. All these powers of soul & body which I find myself endowed with, plainly indicate that I was formed for some end. That end must be worthy the Divine Author.
If you believe in the right to life, then you must believe in the right to have the means to defend that life.
We cannot stop professional racists from stirring even imaginary pots as they try to keep their jobs, but we should remember that the road to better race relations lies where it always has: Looking at each other as human beings and not as representatives of groups or classes.
... I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails. That's why the Second Amendment is America's first freedom. ...
... Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder. Yet in essence, that is what you have asked our loved ones to do, through an ill-contrived and totally naive campaign against the Second Amendment. ...
... The First Amendment is crucial. Of course it is. So are all the others. And the Second Amendment is the one that guarantees that people can bear arms to protect themselves. ...
... The Founders' intent in framing the Second Amendment is perfectly clear and undeniable. Thomas Jefferson wrote, 'No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.' Some anti-gun elitists declare this notion outdated. However, many constitutional scholars from this country's most prestigious universities agree that the Founders' intent is clear and irreversible: To 'keep and bear arms' is a right for all law-abiding citizens. ..
He [President Clinton] boasts about 186,000 people denied firearms under the Brady Law rules. The Brady Law has been in force for three years. In that time, they have prosecuted seven people and put three of them in prison. You know, the president has entertained more felons than that at fund-raising coffees in the White House, for Pete's sake.
Teddy Roosevelt hunted in the last century with a semiautomatic rifle. Most deer rifles are semiautomatic ... it's become a demonized phrase. The media distorts that and the public ill understands it.
There's no such thing as a good gun. There's no such thing as a bad gun. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys.
Trigger locks? A ludicrous invention. If you can't put it on a weapon without taking the bullets out, why put it on? A five-day waiting period? It's hard for me to accept that a guy says, 'I'm going to kill that s.o.b., but, darn, I have this five-day waiting period.' He probably still wants to kill him after five days. Ban Saturday-night specials? The black and Hispanic women who clean office buildings until 3 a.m. and then walk home ?of course, they want a handgun in their purse. Limit purchases to one gun a month? It's the camel's nose in the tent. Look at Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin ?every one of these monsters, on seizing power, their first act was to confiscate all firearms in private hands.
We have to pass on to America in the 21st century the same Bill of Rights that those wise, old, dead white guys that invented this country passed on to us.
You could say that the paparazzi and the tabloids are sort of the 'assault weapons' of the First Amendment. They're ugly, a lot of people don't like them, but they're protected by the First Amendment just as 'assault weapons' are protected by the Second Amendment.
You do not define the First Amendment. It defines you. And it is bigger than you. That's how freedom works. It also demands you do your homework. Again and again, I hear gun owners say, how can we believe anything the anti-gun media says when they can't even get the facts right? For too long, you have swallowed manufactured statistics and fabricated technical support from anti-gun organizations that wouldn't know a semi- auto from a sharp stick. And it shows. You fall for it every time.
You know, the Bill of Rights guarantees every citizen the right to own and bear firearms. It doesn't say anything about how many, how much you can pay for them. That's in the Bill of Rights. That's a sacred document in our country. There's no other country in the world that has such a document. And you know what its purpose is? To prevent the federal government from interfering with private citizens' rights. ... If you will read what the Founding Fathers wrote when they were writing it Jefferson, Mason, Madison, Patrick Henry, Tom Paine every one of them wrote at great length that they were talking about the individual rights of individual citizens.
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool...shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is willing...teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep...awaken him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise...follow him.
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
Christian Freidrich Hebbel
Remember: One lie does not cost you one truth but the truth.
America's constitutional foundations and its rule of law are hemorrhaging.
[O]ver the centuries, it has been Christians -- conservative Christians who believe the Bible -- who have done and continue to do the greatest works of mercy and justice for the oppressed. Jesus' words are true: When we let our light shine before men, not only is God glorified, but people see the truth of Christianity.
If we are forced, at every hour, to watch or listen to horrible events, this constant stream of ghastly impressions will deprive even the most delicate among us of all respect for humanity.
A thankful heart is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
If we do only what is required of us, we are slaves. The moment we do more, we are free.
If you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains; if you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part II (partial):
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part V (last four stanzas):
How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.
'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?
By him who died on cross,
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.
The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow.'
The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.'
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part VII (partial):
Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.
When things are investigated, then true knowledge is achieved; when true knowledge is achieved, then the will becomes sincere; when the will is sincere, then the heart is set right (or then the mind sees right); when the heart is set right, then the personal life is cultivated; when the personal life is cultivated, then the family life is regulated; when the family life is regulated, then the national life is orderly; and when the national life is orderly, then there is peace in this world.
Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.
For both Confucius and Socrates, wisdom, virtue, and happiness were necessarily related. The wise man was someone who knew what the right choice was and always made it; to be the right choice, it had to be morally right; he was therefore always happy, knowing he'd done the best he could. I can't think of many ancient philosophers who would have disagreed with that, so far as it goes.
"The superior man is always happy; the small man sad," said Confucius.
If a man take no thought as to what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.
The higher type of man clings to virtue, the lower type of man clings to material comfort. The higher type of man cherishes justice, the lower type of man cherishes the hope of favors to be received.
In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue.
Good men sometimes make mistakes. A man of integrity will honestly face and correct his mistakes, and that is an example we can respect. Sometimes men try but fail. Not all worthy objectives are realized despite one's honest and best efforts. True manhood is not always measured by the fruits of one's labors but by the labors themselves--by one's striving. ('Let Us Be Men', Ensign, Nov. 2006, 47-48)
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.
We do not always receive inspiration or revelation when we request it. Sometimes we are delayed in the receipt of revelation, and sometimes we are left to our own judgment. We cannot force spiritual things. It must be so. Our life’s purpose to obtain experience and to develop faith would be frustrated if our Heavenly Father directed us in every act, even in every important act. We must make decisions and experience the consequences in order to develop self-reliance and faith.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it.
The inherent right in the people to reform their government, I do not deny; and they have another right, and that is to resist unconstitutional laws without overturning the government.
The Seven Deadly Sins, with their opposite virtues are:
7. lust (self control)
6. gluttony (temperance and moderation)
5. greed (generosity)
4. sloth (zeal)
3. anger or wrath (kindness)
2. envy (gratitude, joy)
1. pride (humility)
The above numbers indicate the level where they are found in Dante's Purgatorio.
Dante considers these sins as offenses against love, and groups them as shown here:
Perverted Love: Pride, Envy, Wrath/Anger
Insufficient Love: Sloth
Excessive Love of Earthly Goods: Avarice/Greed, Gluttony, Lust
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in time of great moral crisis.
Darrell Cole, Christian scholar
The Christian who fails to use force to aid his neighbor when prudence dictates that force is the best way to render that aid is an uncharitable Christian. Hence Christians who willingly and knowingly refuse to engage in a just war ... fail to show love towards their neighbor as well as towards God.
[M]ore and more we need understanding and appreciation of those principles upon which the republic was founded. What were those 'self-evident' truths that so many risked all for, fought for, suffered and died for? What was the source of their courage? Who were those people? I don't think we can ever know enough about them.
No good deed, no kind word can be spoken without its effect being felt for good upon all. Sometimes the good may be infinitesimal, but as a rock that is thrown in a pool starts a wave from the center which continues to enlarge until every part of the shore is touched, so your deeds, silent, many of them, unknown, unspoken, unheralded, continue to radiate and touch many hearts.
David O. McKay, Message of the First Presidency, Conference Report, April 1942, p.90
We again warn our people in America of the constantly increasing threat against our inspired Constitution and our free institutions set up under it. The same political tenets and philosophies that have brought war and terror in other parts of the world are at work amongst us in America. The proponents thereof are seeking to undermine our own form of government and to set up instead one of the forms of dictatorships now flourishing in other lands. These revolutionists are using a technique that is as old as the human race, -- a fervid but false solicitude for the unfortunate over whom they thus gain mastery, and then enslave them.
Sometimes the difference in success and failure is just getting over a small hump.
The hardest thing in life is to know which bridges to cross and which to burn.
We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.
Money with [Congress] is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.
Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.
From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.
America derives its laws from its Constitution. It derives its values from the Bible. We don’t get inalienable rights from the Constitution; we get them from God.
It’s time to abandon the mindlessly repeated mantra that religious belief has been the greatest source of human conflict and violence. Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history.
[I]t is not religion but atheism that requires a Darwinian explanation. It seems perplexing why nature would breed a group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe, indeed whose only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human beings who do have a sense of purpose.
Thus, government is to be a neutral arbiter that protects all men in their enjoyment of God's blessings. It certainly is not to become a tool to rob and oppress, a constant risk in every political system, including American democracy.
The secret to Momentum in life can be found in the word Momentum... you create it Moment by Moment.
Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil.
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.
Douglas MacArthur, General
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.
Maturity does not come with age, but with the accepting of responsibility for one's actions...
The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims.
Before we can teach our children, we must understand and live the principles ourselves. It is vital that the child learn from our example that what we say and what we live are the same.
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Foreign policy must be clear, consistent and confident.
I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its burtality, its futility, its stupidity.
If we make ourselves worthy of America’s ideals, if we do not forget that our nation was founded on the premise that all men are creatures of God’s making, the world will come to know that it is free men who carry forward the true promise of human progress and dignity.
The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice — their choice.
When shallow critics denounce the profit motive inherent in our system of private enterprise, they ignore the fact that it is an economic support of every human right we possess and without it, all rights would soon disappear.
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light.
There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement.
Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us.
It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
Men are qualified for liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.
Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.
He who wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skills. Our antagonist is our friend.
It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.
The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand,
Come and see my shining castle built upon the sand.
Principle—particularly moral principle—can never be a weathervane, spinning around this way and that with the shifting winds of expediency. Moral principle is a compass forever fixed and forever true.
I wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but [an American] political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either.
Everything in the scriptures is applicable to our lives. The scriptures answer our questions, they provide role models and heroes, and they help us understand how to handle challenges and trials. Many times the scriptures you read will be the answer to your prayers.
("Believe!" Ensign, May 2004, 111)
Never explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe it anyway.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
Someone has said,'The size of a man may be measured by the size of the things that make him angry.' How true that is! To become upset and infuriated over trivial matters gives evidence of childishness and immaturity in a person.
If you come to think of it, you never see deer, dogs and rabbits worrying about their menus and yet they run much faster than humans.
To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it, that means there is nothing special about it.
What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.
When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.
Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.
You can't climb to the second floor without a ladder. Try for a goal that's reasonable, then gradually raise it.
You can't climb up to the second floor without a ladder. When you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it.
Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling that desire.
Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.
We actually did an evil scale and decided (that) not to serve at all was worse evil.
The chief cause of problems is solutions.
A man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.
Slight not what is near though aiming at what is far.
Who so neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.
I testify to you that God’s hand has been in our destiny. I testify that freedom as we know it today is being threatened as never before in our history. I further witness that this land—the Americas—must be protected, its Constitution upheld, for this is a land foreordained to be the Zion of our God. He expects us as members of the Church and bearers of His priesthood to do all we can to preserve our liberty.
Ezra Taft Benson - An Enemy Hath Done This - Preface
He who fears criticism is hopeless. Only those who do things are criticized. To hesitate for fear of criticism is cowardly. To be ashamed of patriotism is to be ashamed of God. There is NO EXCUSE that can compensate for the loss of liberty.
F. E. Northam; Hays, Kansas as quoted in a letter to the editor of the National Geographic, May 1994
The universe's first second is also noted in a biblical discussion of faith as 'evidence of things not seen' (Hebrews 11:1). Concerning those unseen things, how was the one-trillion-k temperature at 10 to the minus 5 second sampled and verified? If the initital expansion of the universe occurred between 10 to the minus 36 and 10 to the minus 32 seconds, what clock monitored and confirmed the event? The conjecture devised to explain a non-recurring, unrepeated, and non-measurable origin of the universe proves that religion has no monopoly on faith.
Remember that if the opportunities for great deeds should never come, the opportunities for good deeds are renewed day by day. The thing for us to long for is the goodness, not the glory.
On what legitimate constitutional grounds can a federal judge lodge demands, punishments and fines against chief judicial officers in the several states — or does the federal bench now assume that the states are nothing more than administrative agencies of the central government — rather than federally separated governments subject to their own constitutional sovereignty?
Federalist, The [03-16 Brief]
Franklin Delano Roosevelt did more damage to Federalism than any president in our nation’s history — funded unconstitutional government growth with unconstitutional taxation, justified by his accounting: “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.” Well, not quite “American.” Roosevelt’s “principle” was little more than a paraphrase of Karl Marx’s maxim, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” And through invasive taxation and regulation, the central government has its nose in every aspect of our business. As Nikita Khrushchev observed, “We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.
The hero is the one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.
In a democratic society like ours, relief must come through an aroused popular conscience that sears the conscience of the people’s representatives.
Anybody who is any good is different from anybody else.
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
...In addition, doing good may require that one suffer more than if one did either evil or no good at all. That is, suffering may or may not accompany the committing of a serious moral wrong, and sometimes suffering accompanies that which is morally obligatory or permissible or has no moral aspect whatsoever.
An opinion, right or wrong, can never constitute a moral offense, nor be in itself a moral obligation. It may be mistaken; it may involve an absurdity, or a contradiction. It is a truth, or it is an error; it can never be a crime or a virtue.
François duc de la Rochefoucauld
Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.
There is never any peace for those who resist God.
Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to hide them.
Frank Borman, airline CEO and astronaut
Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell, said. (Editor’s note: Right, but the threat of one of them is more likely to prompt belated piety than the other.)
You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough.
Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff.
I searched for years I found no love. I'm sure that love will never be a product of plasticity.
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory... so help us God.
Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone.
All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! ... Your interference is doing him positive injury.
Always retain the old, unchanging truth that happiness is not created by wealth and luxury, but by simplicity, moderation, a pure heart and a peaceful disposition.
Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments.
He who has a 'why' to live for can bear almost any 'how'.
To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism.
When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything.
Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all conquerors.
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it,
can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
All you have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given you.
I like when the enemy shoots at me; then I know where the bastards are and can kill them.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
General Douglas MacArthur
I am concerned for the security of our great nation, not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.
If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows not fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on.
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.
Make a virtue of necessity.
Liberty means responsibility. That’s why most men dread it.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.
Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving in words evidence of the fact.
There is [a type of] mercy which is weakness, and even treason against the common good.
One sword keeps another in the sheath.
There can be no public or private virtue unless the foundation of action is the practice of truth.
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
Political language...is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
The ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle, home life, and perhaps the trade unions or local politics, he feels himself master of his fate. But otherwise he simply lies down and lets things happen to him.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
Power and diplomacy work together.
[I]n the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.
George W. Bush, President
As long as I hold this office, I will never risk the lives of American citizens by assuming the good will of dangerous enemies.
We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising
and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If
new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and
proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times. (letter to Philip Schuyler, 7/15/1777)
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.
But if we are to be told by a foreign power...what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.
If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it...
Let us...rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions.
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity and...made subservient to the vilest purposes.
The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity.
There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
[W]here is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths...?
All see, and most admire, the glare which hovers round the
external trappings of elevated office. To me there is nothing in it, beyond the lustre which may be reflected from its connection with a power of promoting human felicity.
(letter to Catherine Macaulay Graham, 9 January 1790)
But if we are to be told by a foreign Power...what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.
Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human Nature.
Honesty will be found on every experiment, to be the best and
only true policy; let us then as a Nation be just.
I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience. (letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789)
No compact among men ... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other. (draft of first Inaugural Address, April 1789)
No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable. (Message to the House of Representatives, 3 December 1793)
The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.
There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness.
There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.
We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
The people who are the most bigoted are the people who have no convictions at all.
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
Stubbornness does have its helpful features. You always know what you are going to be thinking tomorrow.
That which comes easily departs easily. That which comes of struggle remains.
Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the 1-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game 1 foot from a winning touchdown.
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.
Hannibal, while crossing the Pyrenees about 200 B.C.
We must either find a way or make a way.
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone.
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.
A welfare state is frightened of every poor person who tries to get in and every rich person who tries to get out.
No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is never turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now.
I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell.
Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.
Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.
I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.
If you can't convince them, confuse them.
My favorite animal is the mule. He has more horse sense than a horse. He knows when to stop eating -- and he knows when to stop working.
The absence of war is not peace.
Be like the turtle. If he didn't stick his neck out, he wouldn't get anywhere at all.
Don't be afraid to ask for help unless you're afraid of succeeding.
Helping someone up won't pull you down.
People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be.
Harvey Mackay, Mackay's Moral
Knockdowns are not knockouts.
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
'Action on the move' creates its own route, and creates to a very great extent the conditions under which it is to be fulfilled and thus baffles all calculation.
“I went to the store the other day to buy a bolt for our front door, for, as I told the storekeeper, the Governor was coming here. Aye, said he, and the Legislature too. Then I will take two bolts, said I.
Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80.
Time and money spent in helping men do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.
Failure is only the opportunity to the more intelligently begin again.
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste time.
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do.
Injustice is relatively easy to bear; it is justice that hurts.
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm any hostility.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds are not found in polished stones. They are made.
Be patient and calm — for no one can catch fish in anger.
Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.
Failure is only postponed success as long as courage ‘coaches’ ambition. The habit of persistence is the habit of victory.
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure—which is: Try to please everybody.
Any attempt to replace a personal conscience by a collective conscience does violence to the individual and is the first step toward totalitarianism.
Herman Melville, 19th-century author
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.
A man slandered is doubly injured—first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.
Time after time mankind is driven against the rocks of the horrid reality of a fallen creation. And time after time mankind must learn the hard lessons of history—the lessons that for some dangerous and awful reason we can't seem to keep in our collective memory.
[T]he real Democrat base...is less an ideological movement than an agglomeration of interest groups that have perfected the art of demanding a handout and sounding self-righteous while doing it. The picture here is of an electorate of the needy and demanding, constantly asking not what I can do for my country, but what my country can gimme, gimme, gimme.
To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals—that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him.
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.
He has the deed half done who has made a beginning.
In times of stress, be bold and valiant.
The merit of our Constitution was, not that it promotes democracy, but checks it.
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
If we banish hardship we banish hardihood; out of the same door with calamity walk courage, fortitude, triumphant faith, and sacrificial love. If we abolish the cross in the world, we make impossible the Christ in man.
If we banish hardship we banish hardihood; out of the same door with calamity walk courage, fortitude, triumphant faith, and sacrificial love. If we abolish the cross in the world, we make impossible the Christ in man.
The gospel will show us a way through and around our troubles. It promises no crown without a cross, no triumph without a battle. Remember, the storms beat upon the house built upon the rock, even as they do upon the one built on sand.
Only if you reach the boundary will the boundary recede before you. And if you don't, if you confine your efforts, the boundary will shrink to accommodate itself to your efforts. And you can only expand your capacities by working to the very limit.
In everything give thanks
If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken.
Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, who died on the Columbia space shuttle February 8, 2003.
The quiet that envelops space makes the beauty even more powerful. And I only hope that the quiet can one day spread to my country.
Two things fill my mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
True freedom, the freedom that liberates, is grounded in truth and ordered to truth and, therefore, to virtue. A free person is enslaved neither to the sheer will of another nor to his own appetites and passions. A free person lives uprightly, fulfilling his obligations to family, community, nation and God. By contrast, a person given over to his appetites and passions, a person who scoffs at truth and chooses to live, whether openly or secretly, in defiance of the moral law is not free. He is simply a different kind of slave. The counterfeit of freedom consists in the idea of personal and communal liberation from morality, responsibility and truth. It is what our nation’s founders expressly distinguished from liberty and condemned as 'license.' The so-called freedom celebrated today by so many of our opinion-shaping elites in education, entertainment and the media is simply the license to do whatever one pleases. This false conception of freedom -- false because disordered, disordered because detached from moral truth and civic responsibility -- shackles those in its grip no less powerfully than did the chattel slavery of old. Enslavement to one’s own appetites and passions is no less brutal a form of bondage for being a slavery of the soul. It is no less tragic, indeed, it is in certain respects immeasurably more tragic, for being self-imposed. It is ironic, is it not, that people who celebrate slavery to appetite and passion call this bondage 'freedom'?
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
If God would concede to me His omnipotence for twenty-four hours, you would see how many changes I would make in this world. But if He gave me His wisdom, too, I would leave things as they are.
A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.
A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason. Let us be like the man of the frontier and always reveal with utmost honesty our real reasons for all that we do.
If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another, it is a brave man—it is the man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.
We are apt to be deluded into false security by political catch-words, devised to flatter rather than instruct.
Our life is what our thoughts make it. A man will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.
James C. Dobson, quoted in ‘The Federalist’
Spiritual training of children should begin at their earliest moments of awareness and continue through the teen years. The most important year, however, may be age five. That is when they are open and tender to the call of Christ. Some kids come to a fork in the road at this point. Either they begin to internalize what they are taught and make it their own, or Bible stories and lessons become like fables that don’t apply to the real world. Your careful instruction during this period can lay the faith foundation that will guide your children throughout their earthly lives — and lead them into a joyous eternity.
I affirm my profound belief that God’s greatest creation is womanhood. I also believe that there is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation. Single parents, most of whom are mothers, perform an especially heroic service.
The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives which seem robbed of significance and hope. This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength.
Tomorrow’s blessings and opportunities depend on the choices we make today.
Poverty is uncomfortable; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim.
"It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive
in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which
has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in
the critical stages of the revolution."
-- (Federalist No. 37, 11 January 1788)
Reference: Madison, Federalist No. 37 (230-31)
A popular Government, without popular information, or the means
of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or,
perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a
people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves
with the power which knowledge gives.
All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.
(speech at the Constitutional Convention, 7/11/1787)
For the same reason that the members of the State legislatures will be unlikely to attach themselves sufficiently to national objects, the members of the federal legislature will be likely to attach themselves too much to local objects.
(Federalist No. 47, 1 February 1788)
Nothing is so contagious as opinion, especially on questions which... beget in the mind a distrust of itself.
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
The eyes of the world being thus on our Country, it is put the more on its good behavior, and under the greater obligation also, to do justice to the Tree of Liberty by an exhibition of the fine fruits we gather from it.
The ultimate authority... resides in the people alone. ... The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition.
There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
There is no maxim in my opinion which is more liable to be misapplied, and which therefore needs elucidation than the current one that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.
One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the
freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle.
On the Writs of Assistance, 1761)
Great men do not wait to respond to important events, they make them happen. They are not the servants of history but its drivers. They are not cowed by the unknown, they are grounded in certainties -- their faith, their fitness, and their commitment to the American ideal. This is the essential quality of leadership. A leader defines objectives, assesses capabilities, weighs risks, and acts. Many of those who fail tests of leadership stall on the third step, endlessly debating, studying, considering, pondering, trying vainly to know the unknown in advance, until the moment passes and the opportunity is lost. Competent leaders accept the fact that not everything can be known, and move forward. To say that we cannot go to war because we do not know for certain what will happen is not an argument -- it is at best an excuse.
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.
The moral precepts delivered in the sacred oracles form a part
of the law of nature, are of the same origin and of the same
obligation, operating universally and perpetually. (Of the Law of Nature, 1804)
The moral precepts delivered in the sacred oracles form a part of the law of nature, are of the same origin and of the same obligation, operating universally and perpetually." (Of the Law of Nature, 1804)
Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.
As you may have heard, the U.S. is putting together a constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? Think about it – it was written by very smart people, it’s served us well for over two hundred years, and besides, we’re not using it anymore.
Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.
Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself.
Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself.
We learn the rope of life by untying its knots.
Political and economic freedoms are not guarantees of getting the particular outcomes we want. Economic liberty doesn't mean the right to succeed in business, only the right to try. And economic freedom certainly doesn't mean that we are entitled to have the job we want, at the wages we want, whether or not we show up for work. Implicit in the notion of economic freedom is the individual's responsibility to play by the rules of the marketplace. We don't think of political freedom as the right to have our preferred candidates always win elections, only that they have a right to compete in any election. It simply can't be that I am unfree if my candidate doesn't win, or if my policies are not enacted. Losing an election does not make me unfree.
In politics, an organized minority is a political majority.
Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.
No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams.
Our dreams must be stronger than our memories. We must be pulled by our dreams, rather than pushed by our memories.
Your children need your presence more than your presents.
Something will master and something will serve. Either you run the day or the day runs you; either you run the business or the business runs you.
Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.
The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.
To succeed in sales, simply talk to lots of people every day. And here's what's exciting... there are lots of people!
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
We've all heard the expression, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Well, I've got a good question for you: What if it's true? Wouldn't that be easy to do - to eat an apple a day? Here's the problem: It's also easy not to do. And therein lay the equation for success and failure. The things that are easy to do are also easy not to do.
The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.
There is no outward sign of true chivalry that does not rest on a deep moral foundation.
It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage.... If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.
Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God.... Let it be known that ... liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments.
Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker.
Government is instituted for the common good...the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.
It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives. Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756
Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God. (Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765)
Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God.... Let it be known that British liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments.
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.
Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superiour to all private passions. (letter to Mercy Warren, 16 April 1776)
The foundation of national morality must be laid in private
families. . . . How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?
The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is
not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force
of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny
commence. If `Thou shalt not covet' and `Thou shalt not steal'
were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable
precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."
-- (A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787)
The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.
In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.
Diplomacy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone would fail.
Law alone cannot make men see right.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.
The imagination may be compared to Adam's dream; he awoke and found it true.
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting; correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues;. Such was the man for whom our nation morns.
(official eulogy of George Washington, delivered by Richard Henry Lee, 26 December 1799)
Government machinery has been described as a marvelous labor saving device which enables ten men to do the work of one.
He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king.
Endurance is nobler than strength and patience than beauty.
The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.
John Stockton, NBA Jazz Guard, after moving up to 32nd on all-time career scoring (19,265 points).
People tell him that he will enjoy considering his place in history once his career ends…(John) “I like to look forward. There are a lot of great things in life to look forward to rather than look back, so I doubt that it will mean so much. . . . It's just something for [the media] to have fun with.”
The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
The only freedom deserving the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental and spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.
It is human nature that repeats itself - not history. (The Rising Sun)
Life is hard. It’s even harder if you’re stupid.
There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.
Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and
corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good
form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some
time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will
be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue.
I’m not implacably opposed to changing the Constitution, but the way we do that is by amending it, not by simply ‘reinterpreting’ it based upon the gut instincts of a few unelected lawyers.
The fact is that traditional morality has practical authority independent of whether God exists and whether we know His will.
May you live every day of your life.
When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in confederacy against him.
In our own storms in life the Savior is our solace and our sanctuary. If we seek peace, we must come unto Him…The gospel gives us that harbor of enduring safety and security. The living prophet and the apostles today are as lighthouses in the storm. Steer towards the light of the restored gospel and the inspired teachings of those who represent the Lord on earth.
Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known.
The [Income Tax Act of 1894] which we are impugning before you is communistic in its purposes and tendencies, and is defended here upon principles as communistic, socialistic -- what shall I call them -- populistic as ever have been addressed to any political assembly in the world.
The greatest power is often simple patience.
Knowledge of truth, combined with proper regard for it, and its faithful observance, constitutes true education. The mere stuffing of the mind with a knowledge of facts is not education. The mind must not only possess a knowledge of truth, but the soul must revere it, cherish it, love it as a priceless gem. (Gospel Doctrine (1986), 269)
Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth.
Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism; [it is designed] to revolutionize and civilize the world, and cause wars and contentions to cease and men to become friends and brothers.
Power tempts even the best of men to take liberties with the truth.
Tyranny seldom announces itself. ... In fact, a tyranny may exist without an individual tyrant. A whole government, even a democratically elected one, may be tyrannical.
The truth is, that, even with the most secure tenure of office, during good behavior, the danger is not, that the judges will be too firm in resisting public opinion, and in defence of private rights or public liberties; but, that they will be ready to yield themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day.
Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a
noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and
blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and
faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity
all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of
liberty, property, religion, and independence.
-- (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
Reference: Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 718.
Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors.
Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors.
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution (1833)
And it is no less true, that personal security and private property rest entirely upon the wisdom, the stability, and the integrity of the courts of justice.
Joseph Story, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of the republic; since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of the rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.
A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few.
It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.
They also serve who only stand and wait.
Julius Caesar (J.C.) Watts
I was taught to respect everyone for the simple reason that we're all God's children. I was taught, in the words of Martin Luther King, to judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. And I was taught that character is simply doing what's right when nobody's looking.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Kabir, 14th to 16th century poet
'Don't open your diamonds in a vegetable market. Tie them in a bundle and keep them near your heart.'
Our freedom is not being destroyed by terrorists, but by ignorance, apathy and complacency. Our government schools are to blame. ... Our dumbing down is not accidental but a very well organized plan.
Every logical position will eventually lead you into trouble, and heresy, and chaos. Every logical position is consistent, but it is logic which is in the human mind, not God's logic. The human mind is finite and cannot grasp eternity, and therefore the finite mind sees the infinite as not graspable coherently. If we could grasp it all coherently, without contradiction, we would be God. The person who insists on being logical to the end winds up in a mess. I am not saying that we should not be rational. I am not anti-intellectual. I am saying that the intellect by itself is helpless to arrive at total truth.
A man can do nothing better than to find satisfaction in his work.
But, in terms of information theory, this is precisely where the problem lay: How were we to reconstruct reality from incomplete or false reports?
It is not true that virtually all news in a totalitarian state is false.
On the contrary, most news is completely correct, albeit tendentiously slanted; it is just that certain information is suppressed. One can adjust for the political slanting of the news, but there is virtually no way to fill in the omissions.
If you say you’re going to do something and you start to do it, and people enjoy it or respect it or are entertained by it, people will step up and help you.
To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is disease.
A wise man seeks much counsel...a fool listens to all of it.
Has there ever been a period of strengthened national security, lower tax rates and an expanding money supply that did not produce prosperity? Never.
Fortune favors the bold but abandons the timid.
What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends? Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.
Only when we have something to value, will we have something to evaluate.. and we cannot value something that we cannot share, exchange and examine.
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
Our talents are the gift that God gives to us... What we make of our talents is our gift back to God.
Life is a place of service, and in that service one has to suffer a great deal that is hard to bear, but more often to experience a great deal of joy. But that joy can be real only if people look upon their lives as a service and have a definite object in life outside them-selves and their personal happiness.
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.
It's not what you don't know that hurts you. It's what you know that just ain't so.
I have had prayers answered — most strangely so sometimes — but I think our Heavenly Father's loving kindness has been even more evident in what He has refused me.
President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.
To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Democratic governments are not immune from the forces of history that overthrew Soviet tyranny. All governments overreach and no government is permanent. So let us fear government but not exaggerate its powers. It can cause enormous damage and it must always be fought. But in this struggle, we are on the right side of history. The power of human choice, aided by the logic of economics and the laws that operate without any bureaucrat's permission, are our source of hope for the future.
Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.
10 percent of you won't remember 10 percent of what is said 10 minutes after it's said. But I hope it will cause you to think. I hope all of you have the desire to dream, the courage to win, the faith to believe and the will to succeed.
I was devastated. I was bitter. I was upset at everybody. I learned that you can't tell people about your problems. 90 percent don't care and the other 10 percent are glad you have them. You can't go through life being bitter.
Make sure you always have four things in your life: Something to do, someone to love, something to hope for and something to believe in.
or every person who tells you you can do something, you'll find 99 people who say you can't. Don't be discouraged by the 99, but be encouraged by the one person who believes in you.
There are two different types of people: Those who lift you up and those who pull you down. Lift people up; don't pull them down.
What lies ahead of you and what lies behind you is of very little importance when compared to what lies within you.' If determination lies within you, you'll be able to find a solution to all your problems.
You cannot steal second base and keep one foot on first.
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.
Most of the work of government does not need to be done. And, if you can remember that, if we could all remember that, this country would be better off.
In fact, the Liberal coalition is frighteningly like the class structure of the European societies from which America diverged. A needy underclass sending respect and obedience up to a privileged elite. The elite, in turn, dribbles down bread and hospitals. Needy souls dependent upon charity for the sustenance of their bodies, in symbiosis with an elite of busybodies dependent upon giving charity for the salvation of their souls. It's not progressive. It's medieval.
In the American faith, the people are prior to the Constitution, not formed by it, and July 4 celebrates the day we brought into being that new something: the Americans. One of the persistent tropes of Americans is that we are a new nation... And yet America’s is now almost certainly the oldest Constitution still operative on the face of the Earth. We may still be young, relatively speaking, as a people, but we are ancient of days as a polity. The endurance of America as one nation, under God, is a testament to the enduring power of what the men of 1776 bequeathed to us.
Don't worry about the material things, 'cause I can replace that, but I can't replace your life.
Everybody needs somebody.
God can make you anything you want to be, but you have to put everything in his hands.
How can you sing of amazing grace and all God's wonders without using your hands?
I close my eyes when I sing so I can feel the song better.
I don't do this just to be an entertainment, you know.
I hope to bring people to God with my songs.
Money just draws flies.
Some people rejoice in quiet and others have an emotional outburst.
That spotlight doesn't stay on forever.
Time is important to me because I want to sing long enough to leave a message.
We going bring some people closer together. The world can use a lot of that.
Without a song, each day would be a century.
You're blessed if you have the strength to work.
Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.
Listening to advice often accomplishes far more than heeding it.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.
Big government is the most corrupt industry in America.
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
Let the punishment match the offense.
Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters.
Any set of social and economic arrangements which is not founded on the acceptance of individual responsibility will do nothing but harm. We are all responsible for our own actions.
Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life.... There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities; but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation.
Consensus is the negation of leadership.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.
Political correctness is really a subjective list put together by the few to rule the many—a list of things one must think, say, or do. It affronts the right of the individual to establish his or her own beliefs.
My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders.
Only kings, editors, and people with tapeworm have the right to use the editorial ‘we’.
The master minds of all nations, in all ages, have sprung in affluent multitude from the mass of the nation, and from the mass of the nation only--not from its privileged classes.
We are always too busy for our children; we never give them the time or interest they deserve. We lavish gifts upon them; but the most precious gift, our personal association, which means so much to them, we give grudgingly.
Do what's right and you'll please some of the people and astound the rest.
The wicked are always surprised to find ability in the good.
One is defeated only when one accepts defeat.
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not our circumstances.
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
I measure what's going on, and I adapt to it. I try to get my ego out of the way. The market is smarter than I am so I bend.
In times of hurt and discouragement, it may be consoling for all of us to recall that no one can do anything permanently to us that will last for eternity. Only we ourselves can affect our eternal progression.
There is no robbery so terrible as the robbery committed by those who think they are doing right.
The two things people want more than sex or money are recognition and praise.
When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
Massachusetts Bill of Rights, Part the First, 1780
It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society,
publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religion profession of sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship....
One who speaks deferentially but increases his preparations will advance. One who speaks belligerently and advances hastily will retreat.
There's a lot of things to think about, but nothing to worry about.
Matthew Kelly, The Rhythm of Life
One thing is certain. If you only do what you feel like doing, your life will be miserable and you will be a failure.
Maurice Chevalier, French acting legend
A comfortable old age is the reward of a well-spent youth. Instead of its bringing sad and melancholy prospects of decay, it would give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world.
When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.
If we keep treating our most important values as meaningless relics, that's exactly what they'll become.
Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory. Wisdom comes of such a recognition.
I'd rather be a 'could be' if I cannot be an 'are,'
because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star.
I'd rather be a has-been than a 'might-have-been,' by far;
for a might-have-been has never been, but a 'has' was once an are.
A society that puts equality...ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
Not only can family meals make your kids smarter, spending quality time together over dinner can also contribute to your children’s emotional and spiritual growth. After all, it’s when you’re all together sharing the details of your day that real bonding happens. And kids who feel close to their families are more likely to take the family’s value system to heart.
Men are alike in their promises, it is in their deeds that they differ.
...[I]f you start down the road of suggesting that objections rooted in religious conviction somehow are illegitimate in our society, you will have undermined most of the laws that make life civilized.
I don't want to lose my name because that's how I know myself. There is a legacy here.
I grew up with too much freedom. You can't define yourself.
Do small things with great love.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
People are illogical and self centered. Love them anyway. If you wish to do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today, may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vunerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building, may be destroyed overnight. build anyway. People who really want help, may attack you if you help them. help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway. You will find that, in the end, it wasn't really about them after all.
There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run, the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
Order marches with weighty and measured strides. Disorder is always in a hurry.
The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.
All crosses are easier to carry when we keep moving.
It is better to prepare and prevent than to repare and repent.
"...Then he's not trying the right way. The universe has no sympathy, and we're never rewarded for doing things the improper way..". ('The Schwa Was Here', p. 165)
The reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order...
Nicolas-Sebasstien Chamfort
Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.
Niklaus Wirth, computer scientist
People seem to misinterpret complexity as sophistication.
The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities; and for this reason, the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.
The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities; and for this reason, the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head. (On the Education of Youth in America, 1788)
Tyranny is the exercise of some power over a man, which is not warranted by law, or necessary for the public safety. A people can never be deprived of their liberties, while they retain in their own hands, a power sufficient to any other power in the state.
I’ve never had my paycheck signed by a poor man.
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
When we were sending our four children to grade school, our major concerns were ensuring they learned what they needed to know and didn't lose their lunch boxes, book bags or mittens in the process. These days, parents have to worry about their youngsters learning anything of value while risking the loss of their lives, their virginity or both. If you're wondering how education got to be such a mess for the current crop of kids -- the next generation of leaders -- just check with the National Education Association. And be prepared for an education.
One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
[T]he secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.
We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount... The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
...man's salvation depends on his knowledge of the truth.
(A tenent of Orphism, founded by Orpheus who is believed to have taught Aristotle.)
Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Money is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.
When Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reporter asked him "Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?" Mr. Casals answered, "Because I think I'm making progress."
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants,
it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms,
wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone; and you have no
longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. Did
you ever read of any revolution in a nation, brought about by
the punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no
power at all? (speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 5 June 1778)
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the
vigilant, the active, the brave.
(speech in the Virginia Convention, 23 March 1775)
We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts... I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
Over the past three decades, our Founding Fathers have fallen on rough times. Disparaged by liberals and slandered by post-modernists and cultural Marxists, their portraits have been removed from public buildings and their presence stricken from textbooks. It is possible today for American students to pass through elementary school and high school, and obtain a university degree, without gaining any appreciation for the men who founded their country. The horrendous events of Sept. 11 taught Americans that denunciations of their heritage have consequences that go beyond the babbling of crackpot academics and minority 'leaders.' Patriotism and our flag made a comeback.
A gun doesn’t smoke till it’s fired. And then it’ll be too late.
But in this country, government has no rights. It may have power, authority, responsibility — but only the people have rights. At least since 1776, the American government’s legitimacy has depended on the consent of the governed.
The freedom to speak a lie, or not much care whether it is a lie or not, may be the essence of self-delusion, or of deconstruction, or even the adversary system. But it is not true freedom, which is dependent on truth. The truth sets us free in more ways than one; it not only allows us to say what we think but allows the world to correct us. Because it furnishes us a standard outside ourselves by which we may be judged.
I have never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.
Nothing appeals to intellectuals more than the feeling that they represent 'the people.' Nothing, as a rule, is further from the truth.
Each one of us can make a difference in someone's life, even his or her eternal life, but we must act; we must do; we must labor diligently.
Paul Runge, son of the late American League baseball umpire Ed Runge
He taught me not to scream because someone could always scream louder.
Life is hard and sometimes terrible, and that is a tragedy. It explains much, but it is not a free pass.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College, quoted in ‘The Federalist’
I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.
Good manners make any man a pleasure to be with. Ask any woman.
A reasonable amount o fleas is good for a dog - keeps him from brooding over being a dog, maybe.
Action conquers fear.
I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel.
In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.
Like when I'm in the bathroom looking at my toilet paper, I'm like 'Wow! That's toilet paper?' I don't know if we appreciate how much we have.
The best mirror is an old friend.
The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
To come to be you must have a vision of Being, a Dream, a Purpose, a Principle. You will become what your vision is.
To take refuge with an inferior is to betray one's self.
We will not know unless we begin.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process.
Our finest plans have fallen through,
our airiest castles tumbled over,
by lines at first we neatly drew,
and later stumbled over.
Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.
Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
You should not honor men more than truth.
Courage easily finds its own eloquence.
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.
President Franklin Pierce
It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.
In want or in plenty, in times of challenge or times of calm, we always have reasons to be thankful. America is a land of abundance, prosperity, and hope. ...This Thanksgiving, we again give thanks for all of our blessings and for the freedoms we enjoy every day. Our Founders thanked the Almighty and humbly sought His wisdom and blessing. May we always live by that same trust, and may God continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.
The proper response to difficulty is not to retreat, it is to prevail.
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise;
7. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8. Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11. So shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth, and thy want as an armed man.
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.
History tends to judge harshly those who saw all the warning signs and had the chance to act, but failed to do so.
There is little we can do about the infantile Leftist, but at least we can deprive him of the once-honorable designation of ‘liberal.’ He is as liberal as a boa constrictor.
All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
People only see what they are prepared to see.
The chief mourner does not always attend the funeral.
The less government we have, the better — the fewer laws, and the less confided power.
A little integrity is better than any career.
America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human race.
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy and chivalry.
To laugh often and much; To win respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. To leave the world a better place. To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
Is it fair to make a political issue of the impact that a litmus test has on a religious group? Absolutely.
Randy Cameron, 1st U.S. employer of Angela Bossert, a Kyrgyzstan immigrant who is dying of cancer.
Her strength was that she never saw the struggle, she always saw the goal.
Mere knowledge isn't enough. It never has been, and it never will be. What matters is what we do with what we know.
Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort, of the feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Properly understood, peace is not merely the absence of war. It means actual freedom and opportunity for people. ...But true peace is based on actions, not mere talk.
Have you noticed how Satan works to capture the mind and emotions with flashing images, blaring music, and the stimulation of every physical sense to excess? He diligently strives to fill life with action, entertainment, and stimulation so that one cannot ponder the consequences of his tempting invitations.
Before it is science and career, before it is livelihood, before even it is family or love, freedom is sound sleep and safety to notice the play of morning sun.
Secular nations have one thing in common -- mass graves, and the reason is that they believe the government is the final arbiter of right and wrong and good and evil.
Anger can only be defeated by ceasing to be angry...However, as in Buddhism, a person doesn't defeat anger by destroying it but rather by building a tolerance to its supposed causes and then taking the energy that would be anger energy and using it in positive forms. (perhaps paraphrased)
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
The real freedom of any individual can always be measured by the amount of responsibility which he must assume for his own welfare and security.
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the internet, we know this is not true.
It's not how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
The money people earn is their own and they have a moral right to keep as much of it as possible. It does not belong to Congress.
The principles enshrined in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence define the American way of life. Without those principles we become just another country, governed by whim and expediency, with no guiding vision beyond the ambitions of the latest politicians in power.
The federal government is slowly but surely destroying real families, but it is hardly a benevolent surrogate parent.
All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
Are you better off today than you were four years ago?
Communism is neither an economic or a political system -- it is a form of insanity -- a temporary aberration which will one day disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature.
Communism is neither an economic or a political system -- it is a form of insanity -- a temporary aberration which will one day disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature. I wonder how much more misery it will cause before it disappears.
Don't be afraid to see what you see.
Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.
I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.
If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
Regulations are like spores of a fungus -- they settle anywhere and everywhere and create more spores.
The future belongs to the free.
The march of freedom and democracy ... will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.
The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.
The West won't contain Communism. It will transcend it. It will dismiss it as some bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.
There's no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit.
There's no question I am an idealist, which is another way of saying I am an American.
Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter -- and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs -- with faith in themselves and faith in an idea -- who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.
To those who are fainthearted and unsure, I have this message: If you're afraid of the future, then get out of the way, stand aside. The people of this country are ready to move again.
Trust but verify.
We defend freedom here or it is gone.
Who can forget those so-called 'experts' who said our military buildup threatened a dangerous escalation of tensions? What kind of fool, they asked, would call the Soviet Union an 'Evil Empire'?
A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough.
Free enterprise has done more to reduce poverty than all the government programs dreamed up by Democrats.
Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, 'We don't know how lucky we are.' And the Cuban stopped and said, 'How lucky you are! I had someplace to escape to.' In that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.
Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history.
Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning, and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends. For this is the land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming. Emerson was right: America is the Land of Tomorrow.
With freedom goes responsibility. Sir Winston Churchill once said you can have 10,000 regulations and still not have respect for the law. We might start with the Ten Commandments. If we lived by the Golden Rule, there would be no need for other laws.
With God’s help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
…but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense.
Already the hour is late. Government has laid its hand on health, housing, farming, industry, commerce, education, and to an ever-increasing degree interferes with the people's right to know. ... We approach the point of no return when government becomes so huge and entrenched that we fear the consequences of upheaval and just go along with it.
An America that is militarily and economically strong is not enough. The world must see an America that is morally strong with a creed and a vision. This is what has led us to dare and achieve. For us, values counts.
Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.
I believe that history shows that every great civilization that has ended up in history's dustbin did so after forsaking their God or gods. At the same time, I believe in every American's right to worship whatever God or gods he or she chooses or not God at all. I also believe, however, that the God of Moses and His Son admonished us to go into all the world and spread their word. But those who hear must decide for themselves as to accepting that word.
I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. ... Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.
I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.
If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
I’ve laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me, even if it’s in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.
No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
No crisis is beyond the capacity of our people to solve; no challenge too great.
Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I’m here to help.
The taxpayer: That’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t take the civil service exam.
Those who created our country -- the Founding Fathers and Mothers -- understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. ... The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.
[L]et us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for... Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
I submit to you that the tolerant society is open to and encouraging of all religions - if we look back through history to great civilizations that rose to world dominance and then deteriorated and fell, we find that the significant forerunners of their fall was their turning away from their God...
Roy Moore, Alabama Chief Justice
The battle is not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant and the active and the brave. So said Patrick Henry in 1775. It was true then, and it’s true today.
Roy Moore, Alabama State Chief Justice
... To prohibit the acknowledgment of God upon Whom our justice system is established is to undermine our entire judicial system. We will defend this display in the judicial building vigorously. It is an acknowledgment of a sovereign, holy God Whose laws superintend those of man. We will not retreat from that position, because it is true.
Roy Moore, Alabama State Chief Justice
We must defend our rights and preserve our Constitution.
Ruel Clark, Bluffdale
Deseret Morning News, Sunday, August 14, 2005
Intelligent design is misread
With due respect to Deseret Morning News columnist Marjorie Cortez (Aug. 9) and Jeff Cartwright and Eugene Trousdale (Readers' Forum Aug. 8), I must point out the following:
1. Intelligent design is a simple presentation of a scientific experiment that shows cellular mutations, on any scale, occur only when all of the constituents are in place. If anything is missing, nothing takes place. It says nothing about the reasons behind this repeatable, observable and measurable experiment.
2. Many people confuse adaptation within a species as evolution. It is not.
3. By definition, species evolution requires a continuum between living organisms from one species to another as supposed cellular mutations occur in a parent that are passed on to an offspring. This continuum has never been observed and, from No. 1 above, cannot happen. Actually, these organisms are found by the billions in the rock record and each is complete, distinct and perfect with no partial forms in between.
You would do well to understand what intelligent design really is before making unsubstantiated claims. Please read Behe's 'Darwin's Black Box.'
Getting and spending are not the chief aims of human existence.
While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential. If we pray to know His will and submit ourselves to it with patience and courage, heavenly healing can take place in His own way and time.
Man has no nobler function than to defend the truth.
Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them — every day begin the task anew.
More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.
A judicial activist is a judge who interprets the Constitution to mean what it would have said if he, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it.
Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.
..It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds..
Go on, then, in your generous enterprise with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confidence of it in the future.
In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally bound by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the Creator.
It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.
If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation.
--
If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation.
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness.
Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness. (letter to John Trumbull, 16 October 1778
[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
He that is warm for truth, and fearless in its defense, performs one of the duties of a good man; he strengthens his own conviction, and guards others from delusion; but steadiness of belief, and boldness of profession, are yet only part of the form of godliness.
Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.
Everyone should consider himself as entrusted not only with his own conduct, but with that of others; and as accountable, not only for the duties he neglects or the crimes which he commits, but for the negligence and irregularity which he may encourage or inculcate.
As pride sometimes is hid under humility, idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry.
Courage is the first of all the virtues because if you haven't courage, you may not have the opportunity to use any of the others.
Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.
While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert it only irritates.
We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.
I have seen gross intolerance shown in support of tolerance.
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -- the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.
The only thing that sat it's way to success is a hen.
Sayid, on ABC series Lost
You'll find me in the next life, if not this one.
Scott Hodge, Tax Foundation President
Despite all the tax cuts that the federal government has passed recently, Americans will still spend more on taxes than they spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
They will see the light when they feel the heat.
Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice)
In law, what pleas so tainted and corrupt, But being seasoned with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil.
Success and obstacles go hand in hand, success is determined not by the goals we achieve but by the obstacles we overcome to achieve our goals.
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
A just fear of an imminent danger, though there be no blow given, is a lawful cause of war.
Whosoever is out of patience is out of possession of his mind, body and soul.
The system of revealed truth which this Book [the Bible] contains is like that of the universe, concealed from common observation yet...the centuries have established its Divine origin.
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
Ridicule often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Wisdom begins in wonder.
The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be.
[S]ilence supports the accuser’s charge
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Don’t speak unless you can improve on the silence.
That which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients, and never did not exist from the planting of the human race until Christ came in the flesh, at which time the true religion which already existed began to be called Christianity.
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.
Without peace, the faith cannot flourish
Steven Bochco, TV producer
When all of your decisions are based on economics, you end up with a sameness of vision. You're not taking the risks, you're not exploiting the passions of your creators. You're manufacturing product for a huge vending machine.
Don't allow fear to be a roadblock. Conquer it, and you will succeed.
Do not move unless it is advantageous.
Do not execute unless it is effective.
Do not challenge unless it is critical.
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.
Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.
Fear less, hope more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things are yours.
Human beings cling to their delicious tyrannies and to their exquisite nonsense, till death stares them in the face.
You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.
No one reaches a high position without daring.
The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief.
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. [They] justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
So, as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.
Individual preparedness is the foundation of national preparedness.
To understand how the right to bear arms was understood in proper context as an individual right, consider some of the earliest state constitutional provisions both before and after the ratification of the Bill of Rights: Pennsylvania—That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the state (1776); Vermont—[T]he people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State (1777); Kentucky—[T]he right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned (1792). Tennessee—[T]he freemen of this State have a right to keep and bear arms for their common defence (1796) and, Connecticut—Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state (1818).
He who adds not to his learning diminishes it.
A compromise which results in a half-step toward evil is all wrong.
Americanism is a question of principles, of idealism, of character: it is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent.
Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready.
Our country offers the most wonderful example of democraticgovernment on a giant scale that the world has ever seen; and the peoples of the world are watching to see whether we succeed or fail.
Ours it not the creed of the weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and triumphant endeavor.
Success — the real success— does not depend upon the position you hold, but upon how you carry yourself in that position.
The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.
The worst lesson that can be taught to a man is to rely upon others and to whine over his sufferings.
This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country.
We can as little afford to tolerate a dishonest man in the public service as a coward in the army.
A churchless society is most assuredly a society on the downgrade.
A man who never has gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal from the whole railroad.
No abounding of material prosperity shall avail us if our spiritual senses atrophy. The foes of our own household will surely prevail against us unless there be in our people an inner life which finds its outer expression in a morality like unto that preached by the seers and prophets of God when the grandeur that was Greece and the glory that was Rome still lay in the future.
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
To sit home, read one's favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men's doing.
We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life; it matters not how brilliant his capacity.
[T]here is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility.
We have duties, for the discharge of which we are accountable to our Creator and benefactor, which no human power can cancel. What those duties are, is determinable by right reason, which may be, and is called, a well informed conscience. (The Essex Result, 1778)
The virtuous need but few laws; for it is not the law which determines their actions, but their actions which determine the law.
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.
Value the least gifts no less than the greatest, and simple graces as especial favours. If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the most high God.
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world.
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.
What a man’s mind can create, man’s character can control.
Most people miss opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
He does not believe, that does not live according to his belief.
Courage and resolution are the spirit and soul of virtue.
Thomas J. Watson, IBM founder
Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use.
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.
The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; ...that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
The States supposed that by their tenth amendment, they had secured themselves against constructive powers.
We lay it down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right; that, without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in conscience.
Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be
unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation his
colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither
copiousness of ideas, nor fluency of words. In public, when called
on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short and embarrassed.
(on George Washington in a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, 2 January 1814)
Reference: Jefferson: Writings, Peterson ed., Library of America (1319)
Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.
An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over
his fellow citizens....There has never been a moment of my life
in which I should have relinquished for it the enjoyments of my
family, my farm, my friends & books.
-- (letter to John Melish, 13 January 1813)
An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens....There has never been a moment of my life in which I should have relinquished for it the enjoyments of my family, my farm, my friends & books.
-- (letter to John Melish, 13 January 1813)
At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and working its change by construction, before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account. (letter to Monsieur A. Coray, 31 October 1823)
Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. (Notes on Virginia, Query 19, 1781)
During the course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare.
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever persuasion,
religious or political.
(First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1801)
Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth
itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never
suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances,
it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so
it may appear to you... From the practice of the purest virtue,
you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in
every moment of life, and in the moment of death. (letter to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785)
Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.
(Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, 6 July 1775)
I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.
I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty.
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.
It is a happy circumstance in human affairs that evils which
are not cured in one way will cure themselves in some other.
-- (letter to John Sinclair, 1791)
It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.
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.
Nothing...is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man." (letter to John Cartwright, 1824)
Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed.
(on George Washington in a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, 2 January 1814)
Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts...in which all religions agree.
The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution, dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people.
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
(Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17, 1782)
[H]e who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition.
Thomas Jefferson's words ring as true today as they did more than 200 years ago. Information Week.
Liberty is to the collective body what health is to every individual body. Without health, no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.
When anger enters the mind, wisdom departs.
...[S]uch is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
I can’t stress too strongly that decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences.
We can think a thought to death, but only when we move upon the thought do we bless human lives.
We learn to pray by praying. One can devote countless hours to examining the experiences of others, but nothing penetrates the human heart as does a personal, fervent prayer.
[The Lord's] sweet assurance . . . can guide you and
me--in our time, in our day, in our lives. Of course, we will
face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us have the
courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage,
not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval. Courage becomes a
living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a
willingness to die manfully, but also as a determination to live decently.
A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because
others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears,
but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well. ("The Call for Courage," Ensign, May 2004, 55-56)
Honesty does not require posturing. In fact, the two things are incompatible. Nor does objectivity require neutrality.
Honesty does not require posturing. In fact, the two things are incompatible. Nor does objectivity require neutrality.... Objectivity refers to an honest seeking of the truth, whatever that truth may turn out to be and regardless of what its implications might be. Neutrality refers to a preconceived 'balance,' which subordinates the truth to this preconception.... The truth is where you find it -- and you don't find it with a preconceived 'balance' expressed in mealy mouth words.
Those who want to take our money and gain power over us have discovered the magic formula: Get us envious or angry at others and we will surrender, in installments, not only our money but our freedom. The most successful dictators of the 20th century -- Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao -- all used this formula and now class warfare politicians here are doing the same.
Endless repetition is not a coherent argument.
The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-it-iveness; third, common sense.
ou should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely.
He who provides for this life, but takes no care for eternity, is wise for a moment, but a fool forever.
Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College
"In both New-England, and New-York, every man is permitted, and in some, if not all the States, is required to possess fire arms.” (From an 1821 commentary on American life.)
Tinley Technical Apparal advertisement
Some people work all day. Others play. Then there are the occasional few who fail to see the difference.
[W]hen it comes to Congress, marriage and parenthood define what’s different about Democratic and Republican districts even more clearly than race, income, education or geography. Republican House members overwhelmingly come from districts that have high percentages of married people and lots of children. Democrats’ districts, however, are stocked with people who have never married and have few children. The demographic data is illuminating: Republicans control 49 of the 50 districts with the highest rates of married people while Democrats represent all 50 districts that have the highest rates of adults who have never married; Democrats represent 30 districts in which fewer than half of children live with married parents. Republicans represent none; Republican Congress members represent 39.2 million children, about 7 million more than Democrats, an average of 7,000 more children per district. Politicians and pundits who want to really understand political differences in the U.S. should take a hard look at this ‘marriage and fertility gap’.
Don't work so hard at making a living that you forget to make a life.
When the plain sense of Scripture makes good sense, seek no other sense.
All indians walk in a straight line. At least the one I saw did.
And isn’t every campaign a test of character? It tells us how much simple, human dignity each campaigner is willing to sacrifice for success. If you really want to know somebody, watch him run for public office. It’s almost as good a test as sharing an inheritance with him.
Any fool can suffer, it takes character and strength to be happy through adversity.
Behind the clouds, the sun is always shining.
Foolishness always results when the tongue outraces the brain.
Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.
I expect to pass through this world but once, Any good therefore that I can do, let me not defer or neglect it, For I shall not pass this way again.
Leap Year Calculations
In this order:
1) If year is divisible by 400 -> leap
2) If year is > 1582 & is divisible by 100-> no leap year
3) If year is divisible by 4 -> leap
In other words, every 4th year is a leap year unless it's a century. Then the year must be divisible by 400 to be a leap year.
Longevity has its way of creating delusions of grandeur...
One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.
Other names for Jenkins: Jacqueness or Jacquens - refers to jack of all trades.
Prosperity is an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.
The law in the hands of the powerful is wholly a tool that can be a weapon, and not the letter of justice...
The Reason Why
Not 'till the loom is silent
and the shuttles cease to fly,
will God unfold the pattern,
and explain the reason why.
The dark threads were as needful,
in the weaver's skillful hand,
as the threads of gold and silver,
in the pattern that he planned.
Wealth is health (on a societal level more so than on an individual level)
When life gets too tough to stand, get on your knees.
Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?
A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
A pat on the back accomplishes more than a slap in the face.
A pat on the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
Dig your well before you're thirsty.
Don't send your ducks to eagle school.
For every fresh pioneering spirit, there are 1,000 old men appointed to guard the past.
I don't like being completely isolated. I need the energy from other people.
I guess most things take a lot of effort.
I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
I've learned ...That it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life threatening situation.
I've learned... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've learned... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
I've learned... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
I've learned... That I can't choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.
I've learned... That I wish I could have told those I cared about that I love them one more time before they passed away.
I've learned... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've learned... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I've learned... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.
I've learned... That love, not time, heals all wounds.
I've learned... That money doesn't buy class.
I've learned... That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
I've learned... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I've learned... That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
I've learned... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I've learned... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.
I've learned... That the Lord didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?
I've learned... That there's nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath on your cheeks.
I've learned... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I've learned... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've learned... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
I've learned... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've learned... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I've learned... That when your newly born child holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.
Just because someone doesn’t love you the way the way you want them to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling.
Only those who do nothing make no mistakes.
Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.
Patriotism is an instant reaction that fades away when the war starts.
Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak.
The leader who loves the status quo will soon be a follower.
There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.
When one is in the right, he need not lose his temper; and when he is wrong, he cannot afford to.'
You can't count your days, but you can make your days count.
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well… but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.
This bloody past suggests to us that enemies cease hostilities only when they are battered enough to acknowledge that there is no hope in victory — and thus that further resistance means only useless sacrifice.
There are two races of men in this world...the 'race' of the decent man and the 'race' of the indecent man.
There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.
Victor Weisskopf, physicist
When life is very bad, two things make life worth living: Mozart and quantum mechanics. (Editor’s note: He obviously never had a good peach cobbler.)
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
The presumption in America today -- first for the poor, but increasingly for all of us -- is that our children belong to the state. The state allows those children to remain 'out on loan' to their natural birth parents only so long as you meet all the government's requirements: Every vaccination recommended by the major pharmaceutical firms, no matter how dangerous or statistically useless. No guns in the house; no strange faith-healing religious beliefs. And you'd better make sure your kid reports to the local government youth propaganda camp from the age of 6 ... or is it 5 now? ... so the local educrats get their subsidies based on a full complement of little butts to warm the seats.
Virginia Bill of Rights, Article 16
[R]eligion, or the duty which we owe to our creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and this is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.
[S]o long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
A written constitution that can be interpreted to mean the opposite of what those who drafted it intended is no constitution at all. The idea that the Constitution means whatever some branch of government says it means is inimical to the rule of law. Law, especially constitutional law, must bind the government as well as the governed. ...Law can be changed, but it needs to have fixed meaning in order to serve as something other than the rulers’ passing fancy. To treat the Constitution as something other than an independent law in itself is to render it useless as a limitation on government power and blur the separation of powers. A living Constitution may sound good, but it will kill the rule of law upon which our Republic rests.
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
Our heritage and ideals, our codes and standards - the things we live by and teach our children - are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.
The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise see in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.
Very few established institutions, governments and constitutions... are ever destroyed by their enemies until they have been corrupted and weakened by their friends.
Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!
In a free society, government has the responsibility of protecting us from others, but not from ourselves.
Politicians have a field day misleading Americans who, as a result of having been dumbed down by our education system, can't think, reason or analyze.
So what's the difference between republican and democratic forms of government? John Adams captured the essence of the difference when he said, 'You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.' Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights.
Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
Nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom.
The last economy Congress voted was more salary for themselves and then they adjourned to go home on their regular business. You know that government is just a sideline with them.
The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.
The Supreme Court is divided almost in half on the decisions. Talk about an international court. How would we ever agree with a lot of foreigners when we can't even agree among our own judges?
When everybody has got money they cut taxes, and when they’re broke they raise ‘em. That’s statesmanship of the highest order.
You know how Congress is. They'll vote for anything if the thing they vote for will turn around and vote for them. Politics ain't nothing but reciprocity.
Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock.
It's easy to be a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.
The Income Tax has made more Liars out of the American people than golf has.
very day you meet a delegation going to some convention to try and change the way of somebody else’s life.
William Rehnquist, Supreme Court Chief Justice
The wall of separation between church and state is a metaphor based upon bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned. ... The greatest injury of the ‘wall’ notion is its mischievous diversion of judges from the actual intention of the drafters of the Bill of Rights.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
What is now proved was once only imagined.
What is now proved was once only imagined.
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.
The right to be left alone is indeed the beginning of all freedoms.
Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity; it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.
We need an opposition in wartime and peacetime to maintain balance in our decision-making process. But it should be a ‘loyal’ opposition, not one that’s willing to sacrifice the nation’s welfare merely to secure its ascendancy.
If we want our children to possess the traits of character we most admire, we need to teach them what those traits are and why they deserve both admiration and allegiance. Children must learn to identify the forms and content of those traits.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
William Orville Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
We are a religious people and our institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.... When the state encourages religious instruction...it follows the best of our traditions.
Universe-watching, like golf and aging, promotes humility.
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain!
What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy.
The best portion of a good man's life is the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last.
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time a tremendous whack.
Never give in! Never give in! Never, Never, Never — in nothing great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many, to so few.
[D]emocracy is the worst form of government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.
If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.
Nothing is more dangerous in wartime than to live in the temperamental atmosphere of a Gallup Poll, always feeling one's pulse and taking one's temperature.
Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.
We have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy.
No man can sit down and withhold his hands from the warfare against wrong and get peace from his acquiescence.
I not only use all the brains I have but all that I can borrow.
You can observe a lot just by watching.
"[T]he people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are
left in full possession of them."
-- (speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 25 June 1778)
Reference: The Debates of the Several State..., Elliot, vol. 3 (646)
Every obnoxious act is a cry for help.
Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.
I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can't truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.
If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.
If you want to reach a goal, you must 'see the reaching' in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.
It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.
Money isn't the most important thing in life, but it's reasonably close to oxygen on the "gotta have it" scale.
Others can stop you temporarily - you are the only one who can do it permanently.
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing; that's why we recommend it daily.
Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.
Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.
Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.
You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations.
There is something about poverty that smells like death. Dead dreams dropping off the heart like leaves in a dry season and rotting around the feet. (Source: Dust Tracks)
