Share some of your favorite quotes from our Founding Fathers

[L-Bo360]

I have been reading through the writings of our founding fathers over the last couple of years. I have been finding lots of really thought provoking quotes and thought I would share a couple of my favorites in the hope it inspires others to share some of their favorites. Hopefully we can all gain a little enlightenment or encouragement from their wisdom.

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery." - Thomas Jefferson "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" (1774)

"There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with the hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both." Thomas Paine "The American Crisis: Crisis No. 1" (1776)

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[SrMachoSolo]

One of my favorites is:

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." Abraham Lincoln

-Robert

 

[L-Bo360]

One of my favorites is:

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." Abraham Lincoln

-Robert

Yes! Wasn't that from his famous speech in Kentucky where he addressed a large crowd who gathered for the grand opening of his good friend Colonol Sanders Hall of Crispy Chicken?

 

[Xaevian]

"… the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Thomas Jefferson, the original "fake news" president.

 

[Bam]

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

Thomas Jefferson

 

[RicInOR]

"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. — that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness."

How Democrats Are Fleeing Principles of the Declaration of Independence

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

www.nysun.com

Independence is a natural right. That came from the revolutionary writer Thomas Paine.

Then according to Jefferson the true revolutionary governing pecking order goes like this:

1. First, the creator;
2. second, the creator gives that power to the people; and
3. third, it is the people who give the power to the government. That is, "the consent of the governed."

----
Back in High School ( President Jimmy ), I was taught by my very liberal civics teacher:
""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 pretty girls. "

And that's how I remember it to this day.

 

[RicInOR]

Adam Smith. Think of him as a founding father? He influenced his peers like Jefferson.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher and economist who is best known as the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of Nations (1776), one of the most influential books ever written.


Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the state…


Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.



[Without trade restrictions] the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man...is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest in his own way.... The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty [for which] no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of the society.


Individual Ambition Serves the Common Good.

Eamonn Butler's Condensed Wealth of Nations, which includes a section on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, is available to download here.

 

[OldBroad44]

One of my favorites is George Washington. I can't find the exact quote. Maybe someone else can?

Situation. It was after Bunker Hill and the tea party. Britain was occupying and blockading Boston, had passed the Intolerable Acts, etc. The other colonies, including Virginia, didn't know what to do if anything. The Virginia legislature or some other group of distinguished Virginians was meeting and discussing, with no consensus. Then, as I recall it approximately, George Washington rose to speak, and spoke thus: I will, at my own expense, raise and arm a thousand men, and ride to the aid of Boston.

 

[L-Bo360]

"… the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Thomas Jefferson, the original "fake news" president.

This is what I was hoping for! I didn't know about this quote and have now learned even more of Jefferson's opinion on the media of his day. Enlightening! Thanks for sharing

 

[L-Bo360]

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson has a lot of great stuff!

 

[L-Bo360]

Adam Smith. Think of him as a founding father? He influenced his peers like Jefferson.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher and economist who is best known as the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of Nations (1776), one of the most influential books ever written.


Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the state…


Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.



[Without trade restrictions] the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man...is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest in his own way.... The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty [for which] no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of the society.


Individual Ambition Serves the Common Good.

Eamonn Butler's Condensed Wealth of Nations, which includes a section on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, is available to download here.

I'll read the condensed version when I can. I have it downloaded now. Anybody who was writing and liberty and educating their peers to the ideals in a founder IMO. Before things went hot it was a cultural war. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Wayne]

George Mason, co-author of the Second Amendment
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." – Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1778

 

[therealhitman]

 

[ma96782]

"Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the Government".
-James Madison

+++++

"I place economy among the first and most important republican virtues and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

-Thomas Jefferson

+++++

Aloha, Mark

PS......YUP......all of this knowledge is easily forgotten/ignored by modern Politicians.

 

[OldBroad44]

George Washington, when the ruling Congress of Virginia met and was arguing about what to do about the outbreak of fighting at Lexington and Concord and the occupation of Boston by the redcoats, listened to arguments ranging from doing nothing to writing support verbiage.

Finally Washington stood and said something like this: "I will with my own funds raise and equip an army of a thousand men and ride to the aid of Boston."

 

[monkeybutler]

"… the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Thomas Jefferson, the original "fake news" president.

He did purchase several newspapers with the goal of influencing public opinion, so, yes.

 

[Mike_M57]

"All my food tastes like termite poop, and Martha has splinters in her neck." - George Washington

 

[Xaevian]

He did purchase several newspapers with the goal of influencing public opinion, so, yes.

That is one of the funniest parts, at least to me.