Only a Virtuous People

Quotes

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor...” (George Washington)

“Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. 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.” (George Washington, Farwell Address, Writings of Washington, Vol. 35, p. 229.)

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be” (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816.)

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, ME 10:173. September 23, 1800.)

The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“Now we are assured that the Church will remain on the earth until the Lord comes again—but at what price? The Saints in the early days were assured that Zion would be established in Jackson County, but look at what their unfaithfulness cost them in bloodshed and delay.” (Ezra Taft Benson)

“I am only one, but I am one.   I can't do everything, but I can do something.   What I can do, that I ought to do.   And what I ought to do, By the grace of God, I shall do.” (Edward Everett Hale)

“We live in dangerously troubled times. The values that steadied mankind in earlier times are being tossed away. We must not ignore Moroni 's words when he saw our day and said, ‘Ye [must] awake to a sense of your awful situation’”
(Boyd K. Packer, General Conference Address, April 2004.)

“never before in the history of the human race has atheism-naked, materialistic, power-hungry, activated atheism-ever mounted its horse and started to ride across the world and do it so successfully. Communism is this activation of atheism. This is the personalization of anti-God. This is Armageddon. And anybody in this room who has a shred of belief in God or immortality or in his or her personal responsibility has got to make war on this thing and must recognize that the understanding and the defeat of Communism is the first order of business on the part of everybody who has a shred of interest in the perpetuation of Christian civilization. This thing must be destroyed.” (Dean of Notre Dame Law School and Constitutional Law Professor Clarence Manion, The Constitution of the United States Versus Communism, November 19, 1962.)

“May the appeal of our Lord in his intercessory prayer for unity be realized in our homes, our wards and stakes, and in our support of the basic principles of freedom.” (David O. McKay, Unity in the Home - The Church - The Nation, Improvement Era, February 1954.)

“Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne, -
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch above his own.”
(American Poet James Russell Lowell, The Present Crisis, 1844.)

“Life, Faculties, production—in other words, individuality, liberty, property—this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws [for the protection of them] in the first place.” (Frederic Bastiat, The Law, p. 5-6.)

“It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freemen of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents.(James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, 1:163. 1785.)

“There are those, our Heavenly Father, both within and without our borders, who would destroy the constitutional form of government which thou hast so magnanimously given us, and would replace it with a form that would curtail, if not altogether deprive, man of his free agency....We pray thee that thou wilt inspire good and just men everywhere to be willing to sacrifice for, support, and uphold the Constitution and the government set up under it and thereby preserve for man his agency....We pray that kings and rulers and the peoples of all nations under heaven may be persuaded of the blessings enjoyed by the people of this land by reason of their freedom under thy guidance and be constrained to adopt similar governmental systems, thus to fulfil the ancient prophecy of Isaiah that '. . . out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' ” (George Albert Smith, Idaho Falls Temple Dedicatory Prayer)

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams, October 11, 1798.)

“We can never win … unless both leadership and following have a positive dream which is more important as a hope than the negative nightmare is as a fear; unless the promise of what we can build supplies more motivation than the terror of what we must destroy; and unless this faith in the future is based on a deeper faith in eternal truths.” (Robert Welch, 1958.)

“Republican governments could be supported only by pure Religion or Austere Morals. Public virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private Virtue, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.” (John Adams, 1775.)

“truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light.” (George Washington)

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” (President Theodore Roosevelt, remark made at the Sorbonne in Paris The Strenuous Life, The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. 13. April 30, 1910.)

“…we cannot escape history. We will be remembered in spite of ourselves.… The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation.” (Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress December 1, 1862.)

“Any Christian constitutionalist who retreats from this battle jeopardizes his life here and hereafter. Seldom has so much responsibility hung on so few, so heavily; but our numbers are increasing, and we who have been warned have a responsibility to warn our neighbor.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 591.)

“There are people today all over the world who in their own courageous and sometimes quiet ways are working for freedom. In many cases we will never know until the next life all they sacrificed for liberty. These patriots are receiving heaven's applause for the role they are playing, and in the long run that applause will be louder and longer than any they could receive in this world.

Which leads me to the second blind spot of those who hesitate to get into the fight. And that is their failure to realize that we will win in the long run, and for keeps, and that they pass up great blessings by not getting into the battle now when the odds are against us and the rewards are greatest.

The only questions, before the final victory, are, first, ‘What stand will each of us take in this struggle?’ and second, ‘How much tragedy can be avoided by doing something now?’

Time is on the side of truth—and truth is eternal. Those who are fighting against freedom may feel confident now, but they are shortsighted.

This is still God's world. The forces of evil, working through some mortals, have made a mess of a good part of it. But it is still God's world. In due time, when each of us has had a chance to prove ourselves-including whether or not we are going to stand up for freedom—God will interject himself, and the final and eternal victory shall be for free agency. And then shall those complacent people on the sidelines, and those who took the wrong but temporarily popular course, lament their decisions. To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look. Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. Stand up and be counted. It can help to save your soul-and maybe your country.” (Ezra Taft Benson, An Enemy Hath Done This, p. 62.)

“The precious boon of human liberty is really the product of the Savior's teaching of the dignity of man. He declared the precious nature of every individual soul.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, p. 70. February 2001.)

“Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there’s a Divinity that shapes our ends…Why, then, should we defer the Declaration?...You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to see the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die; die Colonists, die slaves, die, it may be, ignominiously and on the scaffold.

“Be it so. Be it so.

“If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready…. But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a free country.

“But whatever may be our fate, be assured…that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood, but it will stand and it will richly compensate for both.

“Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. . . .

“Before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment. Independence now, and Independence forever.” (John Adams, expressing his sentiments on signing the Declaration of Independence)

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” (Edmund Burke, April 23, 1770.)

“[I]t is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it.(Patrick Henry, in his famous oration at St. John’s Church 1775.)

“You're not as fortunate as I was; I had somewhere else to go. You can't escape; you must stand and fight if you want to be free.” (Stated as a reply to an American who suggested that Americans were very fortunate to be living in a free country. This unnamed refugee from Castro's totalitarian regime saw that what he had risked his life to get away from was being duplicated in America.)

“Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it 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. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.

“I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion—for who can search the human heart?—but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.

“In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious...there is no country in the 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 and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1830.)

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites—in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity;—in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption;—in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (Edmund Burke, A Letter From Mr. Burke To A Member Of The National Assembly, 1791.)

“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. Religion is much more necessary in the republic…than in the monarchy…How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume I, p. 318.)

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.” (George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789.)

“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?” (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, ME 2:227. 1782.)

“The political system of democracy, in the sense of unrestricted control by the will of the majority, militates against the fundamental requirement of a religious citizenry. This is because the underlying philosophy of democracy has deeply anti-religious overtones, since it implies that right or wrong can be determined by the will of the majority. On the other hand, the American constitutional system is based on recognition of God as the source of correct eternal principles of government, and as the source of unalienable rights.” (Jerome Horowitz, The Elders of Israel and the Constitution, p. 47. 1970.)

“Previous to this period…the dispute had been carried on by the pen…but from this time forward it was conducted by the sword. The crisis had arrived when the colonies had no alternative, but either to submit to the mercy, or to resist the power of Great Britain. An unconquerable love of liberty could not brook the idea of submission…[The Americans] were fully apprised of the power of Britain—they knew that her fleets covered the ocean, and that her flag had waved in triumph through the four quarters of the globe; but the animated language of the time was, ‘It is better to die freemen, than to live as slaves.’” (Historian David Ramsey describing the prevailing attitude of Americans during several attempts by the British Empire to disarm them. The History of the American Revolution, Volume 1, p. 176-177.)

“There is one thing more I wish to speak about, and that is political economy. It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 286.)

“…the JBS devotes its efforts to the strategy employed by the Founding Fathers in the decades leading up to American independence: educating the citizenry in sound principles of government; warning the public about the existence of an organized, covert threat to our liberties and free institutions; and mobilizing patriots in an organized, principle–centered effort to defeat the enemies of freedom.” (William Norman Grigg, Global Gun Grab: The United Nations Campaign to Disarm Americans, p. 122-123. October 2001.)

“…if America's freedom system is to be preserved, it will not be by government leaders but by an awakened people who are willing to sacrifice their personal ease to be informed, and who will insist that their leaders abide by the sound principles of the Constitution as drafted and intended by the Framers.” (Jerome Horowitz, The Elders of Israel and the Constitution, p. 187. 1970.)

“I invite you students of history to go back in your minds to the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in the hot June of 1776. There was drafted the Declaration of Independence, which concluded, ‘And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.’ Those who signed that document gave their lives, some literally, rotting away as prisoners of war. They gave their fortunes. But they kept their sacred honor.

“I take you again to Philadelphia in the muggy heat of 1787. It was May, when 55 men met together. There were differences of opinion, sharp and deep and bitter. But somehow, under the inspiration of the Almighty, there was forged the Constitution of the United States. On September 17, of that same year, 39 of the 55 signed the document which began with these remarkable words: ‘We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America.’” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Keep Faith with America, May 6, 1999.)

“This is a season to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth, and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Opening Remarks, April 2005.)

“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.” (Samuel Adams)

“A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.” (John Witherspoon)

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke, Richard L. Evans Quotebook, p. 88.)

“Let every loyal member of the Church look down with scorn upon any man or woman who would undermine [the] Constitution.” (David O. McKay, Church News, May 29, 1954.)

“I counsel you, I urge you, I plead with you, never, so far as you have voice or influence, permit any departure from the principles of governments on which this nation was founded, or any disregard of the freedoms which, by the inspiration of God our Father, were written into the Constitution of the United States.” (Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, October 1944.)

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (Scriptural, 2 Chronicles, 7:14.)

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. ” (Benjamin Franklin)

“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“If you would not be forgotten
As soon as you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worthy reading,
Or do things worth the writing.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.” (Mark Twain)

“When the day comes in which the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on the flagstaff of liberty and equal rights, without a spot to sully its fair surface; the glorious flag our fathers have bequeathed to us will then be unfurled to the breeze by those who have power to hoist it aloft and defend its sanctity.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 2:317.)

“I often hear, usually implied, that ‘our leaders, they know what their doing,’ or ‘my party is in power, all is well;’ and they forget that the electorate must be vigilant and informed. A free people must be informed and virtuous, or they must be slaves under the masters they have cultivated.” (M B, 2006.)

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” (Scriptural, Psalms, 127:1.)

“Politics are the divine science, after all.” (John Adams, Letter to James Warren The American Enlightenment, p. 189. June 17, 1780.)

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul….The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart…the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. ” (Scriptural, Psalms, 19:7-11.)

“…the Parliament in Canada and the Congress in Washington do not have the authority to revoke the commandments of God, or to modify or amend them in any way.” (Dallin H. Oaks, Same-Gender Attraction)

“True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions…It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst punishment.” (Marcus Tullius Cicero, Great Political Thinkers, p. 133.)

“The animal which we call man, endowed with foresight and quick intelligence, complex, keen, possessing memory, full of reason and prudence, has been given a certain distinguished status by the Supreme God who created him; for he is the only one among so many different kinds and varieties of living beings who has a share in reason and thought while all the rest are deprived of it. But what is more divine, I will not say in man only, but in all heaven and earth, than reason? And reason, when it is full grown and perfected, is rightly called wisdom. Therefore, since there is nothing better than reason, and since it exists both in man and God, the first common possession of man and God is reason. But those who have reason in common must also have right reason in common. And since right reason is Law, we must believe that men have Law also in common with the gods. Further, those who share Law must also share Justice; and those who share these are to be regarded as members of the same commonwealth. If indeed they obey the same authorities and powers, this is true in a far greater degree; but as a matter of fact they do obey this celestial system, the divine mind, and of the God of transcendent power. Hence we must now conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.” (Marcus Tullius Cicero, Great Political Thinkers, p. 133.)

“But if the principles of justice were founded on the decrees of peoples, the edicts of princes, or the decisions of judges, then Justice would sanction robbery and adultery and forgery of wills, in case these acts were approved by the votes or decrees of the populace. But if so great a power belongs to the decisions and decrees of fools that the laws of Nature can be changed by their votes, then why do they not ordain that what is bad and baneful shall be considered good and salutary? Or, if a law can make justice out of injustice, can it not also make good out of bad?” (Marcus Tullius Cicero, Great Political Thinkers, pp. 134-135.)

“As one and the same Nature holds together and supports the universe, all of whose parts are in harmony with one another, so men are united in Nature; but by reason of their depravity they quarrel, not realizing that they are of one blood and subject to one and the same protecting power. If this fact were understood, surely man would live the life of the gods!” (Marcus Tullius Cicero, Great Political Thinkers, p. 134.)

“The people of America have now the best opportunity and the greatest trust in their hands that Providence ever committed to so small a number.” (John Adams, The American Enlightenment, p. 257.)

“I hold the precepts of Jesus, as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man. I adhere to the principles of the first age, and consider all subsequent innovations as corruptions of His religion, having no foundation in what came from Him.” (Thomas Jefferson, The Real Thomas Jefferson, p. 366.)

“The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy the gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people; then shall we both deserve and enjoy it. While on the other hand, if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in reality be the most abject slaves.” (Samuel Adams, The Life and Public Service of Samuel Adams, 1:22-23.)

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Scriptural, Proverbs, 14:34.)

“Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them.” (Frederick Douglass)

“If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” (Samuel Adams)

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” (Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1777.)

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” (Thomas Paine)

“I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks — no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.” (James Madison, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol 3, pp. 536-37.)

“The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights, and are the only instruments which can be used for their destruction. And certainly they would never consent to be so used were they not deceived.” (Thomas Jefferson, to John Wyche 1809.)

“But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. Here therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.” (Samuel Adams, The Life of Samuel Adams, 1:22.)

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take: but as for me give me liberty or give me death!” (Patrick Henry, The War Inevitable, March 1775.)

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” (Thomas Jefferson)

“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” (Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801.)

“If any citizens of Illinois say we shall not have our rights, treat them as strangers and not friends, and let them go to hell and be damned! Some say they will mob us. Let them mob and be damned! If we have to give up our chartered rights, privileges, and freedom, which our fathers fought, bled, and died for, and which the constitution of the United States and of this state guarantee unto us, we will do it only at the point of the sword and bayonet.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:468.)

“In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” (George Orwell)

“And the regulations of the government were destroyed, because of the secret combination of the friends and kindreds of those who murdered the prophets…notwithstanding they [the tribes] were not a righteous people, yet they were united in the hatred of those who had entered into a covenant to destroy the government.” (Mormon, 3 Nephi, Book of Mormon, 7:6,11.)

“The true source of our suffering has been our timidity. We have been afraid to think...Let us read and recollect and impress upon our souls the views and ends of our forefathers…” (John Adams, prior to the War for Independence)

“we have appealed to their [our British bretheren’s] native justice and magnanimity as well as to the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which [would inevitably] interrupt our connection and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity, and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free election, reestablished them in power. At this very time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have been a free and a great people together.” (Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence included this last feeling statement as an incitement of their brethren across the sea which either by infamy or apathy allowed this tyranny to occur. The British people held the ultimate responsibility for the actions their government took. June 1776.)

“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.” (John Adams, in a letter to Benjamin Rush April 18, 1808.)

“Unhappy it is though to reflect, that a Brother's Sword has been sheathed in a Brother's breast, and that, the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with Blood, or Inhabited by Slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous Man hesitate in his choice?” (George Washington, After the battles of Lexington and Concord, Washington made the statement that it is better for our land to be drenched in blood than for us to become slaves to our own government. 1776.)

“I think both logic and our present situation demonstrate that you can’t give freedom to a people that are not ready and willing to defend it themselves. And if that’s the case, there’s no need to give it to them at all, for they are perfectly capable of giving it to themselves.

If there is sufficient virtue in a body of people to maintain freedom, there is sufficient virtue to establish it in the first place.” (M B, written regarding the Iraq war. October 5, 2007.)

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” (John Quincy Adams)

“I would advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine men were to perish, and only one of a thousand to survive and retain his liberty. One such freeman must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves.” (Samuel Adams, 1774.)

“…there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered.” (Benjamin Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention September 17, 1787.)

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” (Benjamin Franklin, his motto. This was part of the original proposal for the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States, which depicted the children of Isreal being lead by a pillar of fire and pharoh's army drowning in the red sea. Instead today we have the familiar pyramid, and all-seeing eye.)

“Whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.” (New Hampshire's constitution guarantees its citizens the right to rebellion, in Article 10 of the constitution's Bill of Rights. This is the state with the motto “Live free or die.” Constitution of the State of New Hampshire)

“Of course the recently, and oft-repeated phrase ‘freedom isn't free’ is true. But we've been paying, for a long time now, with the wrong currency.” (M B, June 13, 2008.)

“…we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that we have acted conscientiously, and have used our best judgement. And if we have to throw away our votes, we had better do so upon a worthy rather than an unworthy individual who might make use of the weapon we put in his hand to destroy us.” (Cited in Roberts, Comprehensive History, vol. II, p. 208-209 and Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 441. February 15, 1844.)

“For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.” (Scriptural, Isaiah referring to evil men in the last days who would find a way to gather the riches of the people without an outcry. Isaiah, Bible, 10:13-14.)

“Moroni wasn’t speculating about a conspiracy, he said very plainly that in our day there would be the same kind of secret combination, at the head of government, that was the cause of the destruction of both the Jaredite and Nephite civilizations. He said our duty was to not turn a blind eye to it, or pretend that it doesn’t exist, but do everything in our power to expose it and overthrow it. He also taught us how to identify it. And just to be sure, so that we would be left without excuse, prophets in our day have confirmed it. But the only thing I hear in the latter-day saint community, as with the rest of the world, when someone asserts “conspiracy” is to ridicule and get angry, or ignore the person making the assertion. If someone has evidence of what Moroni said would be among us, you would think that latter-day saints of all people would want to know what it was, and study it out.

“We fail to realize the magnitude of what we’re facing, and the result is a more casual attitude about the gospel, than what would be if we were armed with the truth.” (M B, September 14, 2008.)

“But our civilization and our people are seemingly afraid to be revolutionary. We are too ‘broadminded’ to challenge what we do not believe in. We are afraid of being thought intolerant, uncouth, ungentlemanly. We have become lukewarm in our beliefs. And for that we perhaps merit the bitter condemnation stated in Revelation 3:16: ‘So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.’

“This is a sad commentary on a civilization which has given to mankind the greatest achievements and progress ever known. But it is an even sadder commentary on those of us who call ourselves Christians, who thus betray the ideals given to us by the Son of God himself.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1960.)

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Scriptural, Hosea, 4:6.)

“Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.” (John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Fuedal Law, 1965.)

“What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.” (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Colonel Smith, November 13, 1787.)

“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Scriptural, Bible, Psalm, 94:16.)

“Any nation that permits a secret combination to gain control of its government shall be destroyed; such is the everlasting decree of a just God.” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p. 65. 1982.)

“…our stand for freedom is a most basic part of our religion; this stand helped get us to this earth, and our reaction to freedom in this life will have eternal consequences. Man has many duties, but he has no excuse that can compensate for his loss of liberty.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1966.)

“Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the oppressor's rod, loose the iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring to condign punishment all those who trample under foot the glorious Constitution and the people's rights. [Drawing his sword, and presenting it to heaven, he said] I call God and angels to witness that I have unsheathed my sword with a firm and unalterable determination that this people shall have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body consigned to the silent tomb. While I live, I will never tamely submit to the dominion of cursed mobocracy. I would welcome death rather than submit to this oppression; and it would be sweet, oh, sweet, to rest in the grave rather than submit to this oppression, agitation, annoyance, confusion, and alarm upon alarm, any longer.” (Joseph Smith, the last speech to the Nauvoo Legion History of The Church, Volume 6, Page 500. June 1844.)

“If our Constitution, our laws, and the fundamental principles of our Government are to be trampled underfoot, it would seem to be high time that all honorable men should stand up in defense of liberty and the rights of man.” (John Taylor, Ecclesiastical Control in Utah, JT Papers, Volume 2, Page 300.)

“We should stand with a front like flint against every spirit or species of contempt or disrespect for the Constitution of our country and the constitutional laws of our land.” (Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report, P. 10-11. October 1912.)

“The only way we can keep our freedom is to work at it. Not some of us. All of us. Not some of the time, but all of the time.” (President Spencer W. Kimball, Latter-day Prophets and the United States Constitution, p. 159. June 8, 1976.)

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” (Samuel Adams, Speech, State House of Pennsylvania, August 1, 1776.)

“The people — are the rightful masters of both congresses, and courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.” (Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, p. 435. December 1859.)