John Dickinson Quotes

• Let our government be like that of the solar system. Let the general government be like the sun and the states the planets, repelled yet attracted, and the whole moving regularly and harmoniously in several orbits.

  John Dickinson

  Moving, Government, Sun

  133 Copy quote

• Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.

  John Dickinson

  4th Of July, Fall, Patriotic

  "The Liberty Song" (song) (1768). "United we stand, divided we fall!" became a slogan of the American Revolution.

  161 Copy quote

• Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor.

  John Dickinson

  Reality, Men, Becoming

  131 Copy quote

• Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds — that we cannot be happy, without being FREE — that we cannot be free, without being secure in our property— that we cannot be secure in our property, if, without our consent, others may, as by right, take it away — that taxes imposed on us by parliament, do thus take it away.

  John Dickinson

  Being Free, Liberty, May

  "The Writings of John Dickinson".

  124 Copy quote

• Honor, justice, and humanity, call upon us to hold, and to transmit to our posterity, that liberty which we received from our ancestors. It is not our duty to leave wealth to our children, but it is our duty to leave liberty to them.

  John Dickinson

  Children, Justice, Humanity

  "A Library of American Literature From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time". Book by Edmund Clarence Stedman, Volume 3, 'A Duty to Posterity' (pp. 177-178), 1892.

  96 Copy quote

• Experience must be our only guide. Reason may mislead us.

  John Dickinson

  Mislead Us, May, Reason

  96 Copy quote

• The power of the people pervading the proposed system, together with the strong confederation of the states, will form an adequate security against every danger that has been apprehended.

  John Dickinson

  Strong, Power, Usa

  John Dickinson (1801). “The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: Late President of the State of Delaware, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”, p.89

  107 Copy quote

• Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness... We claim them from a higher source - from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives.

  John Dickinson

  Kings, Taken, Rights

  John Dickinson (2009). “The Writings of John Dickinson”, p.262, Applewood Books

  70 Copy quote

• Let us take care of our rights and we therein take care of our prosperity. Slavery is ever preceded by sleep

  John Dickinson

  Sleep, Rights, Slavery

  John Dickinson (2009). “The Writings of John Dickinson”, p.402, Applewood Books

  64 Copy quote

• No free people ever existed, or can ever exist, without keeping the purse strings in their own hands. Where this is the case, they have a constitutional check upon the administration, which may thereby by brought into order without violence. But when such a power is not lodged in the people, oppression proceeds uncontrolled in its career, till the governed, transported into rage, seek redress in the midst of blood and confusion.

  John Dickinson

  Order, Careers, Blood

  John Dickinson (2009). “The Writings of John Dickinson”, p.364, Applewood Books

  56 Copy quote

• Our cause is just. Our union is perfect.

  John Dickinson

  Perfect, Justice, Unions

  Declaration of reasons for taking up arms against England, presented to Congress, 8 July 1775, in C. J. Stillè 'The Life and Times of John Dickinson' (1891) ch. 5

  54 Copy quote

• Our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of pre-existing rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and the Lord of all the earth.

  John Dickinson

  God, Kings, Rights

  51 Copy quote

• Government has hardened into a tyrannical monopoly, and the human race in general becomes as absolutely property as beasts in the plow.

  John Dickinson

  Race, Government, Liberty

  28 Copy quote

• The rights essential to happiness. . . . We claim them from a higher source - from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth.

  John Dickinson

  Bible, God, Religious

  John Dickinson (1801). “The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: The speech of John Dickinson ... May 24th, 1764 ... praying the king for a change of the government of the province. 1764”, p.111

  58 Copy quote

• Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.

  John Dickinson

  Country, Jesus, Kindness

  32 Copy quote

• What concerns all, should be considered by all; and individuals may injure a whole society, by not declaring their sentiments. It is therefore not only their right, but their duty, to declare them.

  John Dickinson

  Public Opinion, May, Individual

  John Dickinson (1801). “The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: Late President of the State of Delaware, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”, p.72

  27 Copy quote

• If the General Government should be left dependent on the State Legislatures, it would be happy for us if we had never met in this room.

  John Dickinson

  Government, Rooms, Would Be

  30 Copy quote

• With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves.

  John Dickinson

  Perseverance, Heart, Reflection

  John Dickinson (1891). “The Life and Writings of John Dickinson”

  24 Copy quote

• As in forming a political society, each individual contributes some of his rights, in order that he may, from a common stock of rights, derive greater benefits, than he could from merely his own; so, in forming a confederation, each political society should contribute such a share of their rights, as will, from a common stock of these rights, produce the largest quantity of benefits for them.

  John Dickinson

  Rights, Order, Political

  John Dickinson (1801). “The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: Late President of the State of Delaware, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”, p.90

  24 Copy quote

• You can't actually hire and fire people inside of an open source community. Which means that getting people to work together is much more along the lines of making sure that people have the tools they need both to get their work done but also to know what is being done by other people and how to take that to their employer and tell that story to their employer and to show this is why the community is good and this is why we're working on these sort of things because it helps us over here.

  John Dickinson

  Mean, Fire, People

  Source: blogs.cisco.com

  18 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Richard Henry Lee

Samuel Adams

Benjamin Franklin

John Adams

Roger Sherman

James Otis

Gouverneur Morris

Edward Rutledge