Revolution Founding Fathers Quotes

• What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Freedom, Gun

  Letter toWilliam Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

  76 Copy quote

  Show source

• Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  The American Crisis, 12 Sept. 1777

  129 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters

  Daniel Webster

  Mean, Men, Gun

  Daniel Webster, James Rees (1839). “The beauties of the Hon. Daniel Webster: selected and arranged, with a critical essay on his genius and writings”, p.30

  89 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  Death, Sweet, Freedom

  Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, Va., 23 Mar. 1775.

  120 Copy quote

  Show source

• Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.

  Samuel Adams

  Law, Government, People

  The Advertiser, 1748.

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on true free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among general bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Liberty, Principles

  "Notes on the State of Virginia". Book by Thomas Jefferson, Query XIII, 1781.

  51 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

  George Mason

  Strength, Peace, Gun

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

  109 Copy quote

  Show source

• Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.

  John Adams

  Children, Freedom, Patriotic

  John Adams (1851). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.197

  120 Copy quote

  Show source

• A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy.

  Samuel Adams

  America, Enemy, Liberty

  Samuel Adams (1968). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1778-1802”

  134 Copy quote

  Show source

• To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms.

  Richard Henry Lee

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Richard Henry Lee (1978). “Letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican”, Univ of Alabama Pr

  105 Copy quote

  Show source

• The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Gun, Rights, People

  "The Federalist Papers". Book by Alexander Hamilton, essay No. 69, 1787 - 1788.

  246 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

  John Adams

  Bible, God, Religious

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1854). “Works: with a life of the author”, p.229

  355 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Religious, Men

  Letter to Benjamin Rush, 23 Sept. 1800

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

  Benjamin Rush

  Bible, God, Religious

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.8

  105 Copy quote

  Show source

• A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.

  Samuel Adams

  Patriotic, America, People

  Samuel Adams (1968). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1778-1802”

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• [L]iberty 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

  Freedom, Father, Blood

  Joseph E. SPRAGUE, John Adams (1826). “An Eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, etc”, p.36

  35 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  The 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.

  Samuel Adams

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Debates of the Massachusetts Convention, 1788.

  98 Copy quote

  Show source

• These are the times that try men's souls.

  Thomas Paine

  Veterans Day, Time, Motivation

  The American Crisis, 19 Dec. 1776

  81 Copy quote

  Show source

• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

  180 Copy quote

  Show source

• An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.

  Thomas Jefferson

  4th Of July, Government, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion. --Benjamin Franklin

  W. Cleon Skousen

  Children, Believe, Men

  W. Cleon Skousen “The Making of America”, Verity Publishing

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people... it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

  John Quincy Adams

  Religious, Business, 4th Of July

  126 Copy quote

• Arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order.

  Thomas Paine

  Gun, Order, Law

  Thomas Paine (2014). “Selected Writings of Thomas Paine”, p.4, Yale University Press

  28 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Thomas Paine (1817). “The Political Works of Thomas Paine: In Two Volumes”

  139 Copy quote

  Show source

• We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

  John Adams

  Religious, Revenge, Passion

  John Adams (1854). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.229

  89 Copy quote

  Show source