Self Defense Quotes - Page 2

• Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Gun, Plowing, Right To Bear Arms

  146 Copy quote
• 

  Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.

  James Madison

  Strength, Peace, Army

  265 Copy quote

• As we have seen, the first public expression of disenchantment with nonviolence arose around the question of 'self-defense.' In a sense this is a false issue, for the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Home, Self, Expression

  5 Copy quote

• By doing what our assailant least expects us to do, we may throw him completely off. ... what he usually least suspects is instant, violent counterattack, so the principle of aggressiveness is closely tied to threat of surprise.

  Jeff Cooper

  May, Principles, Surprise

  7 Copy quote

• Under any sort of attack, keep cool. And if you must shoot, shoot with precision.

  Jeff Cooper

  Precision, Ifs

  29 Copy quote

• The proper course of action, when under attack, is usually to counterattack.

  Jeff Cooper

  Action, Courses

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.20, Paladin Press

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense.

  John Adams

  Strength, Peace, Patriotic

  27 Copy quote

• If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.

  Jeff Cooper

  Judging, Police, Doe

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.44, Paladin Press

  404 Copy quote

  Show source

• [Self-defense is] justly called the primary law of nature, so it is not, neither can it be in fact, taken away by the laws of society.

  William Blackstone

  Taken, Self, Law

  Sir William Blackstone, John Fletcher Hargrave, George Sweet, Sir Richard Couch, William Newland Welsby (1852). “Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books : with an Analysis of the Work”, p.3

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• Self-defense is the clearest of all laws; and for this reason - the lawyers didn't make it.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Self, Law, Defense

  "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations". Book by John Bartlett, 10th ed, 1919.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Real schools ought to provide people with techniques of self-defense, but that would mean teaching the truth about the world and about the society, and schools couldn't survive very long if they did that.

  Noam Chomsky

  Real, Teaching, School

  Noam Chomsky, David Barsamian (1992). “Chronicles of dissent”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Our nation was built and civilized by men and women who used guns in self-defense and in pursuit of peace. One wonders indeed, if the rising crime rate, isn't due as much as anything to the criminal's instinctive knowledge that the average victim no longer has means of self-protection.

  Ronald Reagan

  Mean, Gun, Men

  11 Copy quote

• A tree never hits an automobile except in self defense.

  Woody Allen

  Self, Tree, Defense

  70 Copy quote

• No sensible person ever opens the door of his house without knowing who is knocking.

  Jeff Cooper

  Doors, Knowing, House

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.15, Paladin Press

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• The best form of self defense is to become invisible...
  If you can't do that learn Wing Chun!

  Wong Shun Leung

  Self, Wings, Defense

  38 Copy quote

• If it is ever your misfortune to be attacked, alertness will have given you a little warning, decisiveness will have given you a proper course to pursue, and if that course is to counterattack, carry it out with everything you've got! Be indignant. Be angry. Be aggressive.

  Jeff Cooper

  Warning, Littles, Alertness

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.26, Paladin Press

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you find yourself under lethal attack don't be kind. Be harsh. Be tough. Be ruthless.

  Jeff Cooper

  Finding Yourself, Be Kind, Tough

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.45, Paladin Press

  163 Copy quote

  Show source

• A people armed and free, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition and is a bulwark for the nation against foreign invasion and domestic oppression.

  James Madison

  Strength, Peace, Ambition

  79 Copy quote

• Apathy is the self-defense of the powerless.

  Letty Cottin Pogrebin

  Self, Apathy, Defense

  7 Copy quote

• The one who anticipates the action wins. The one who does not, loses.

  Jeff Cooper

  Winning, Doe, Action

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.14, Paladin Press

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Now how do we cultivate an aggressive response? I think the answer is indignation... Your response, if attacked, must not be fear, it must be anger.

  Jeff Cooper

  Thinking, Answers, Aggressive

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.25, Paladin Press

  28 Copy quote

  Show source

• Danger, if met head on, can be nearly halved

  Winston Churchill

  Danger, Mets, Ifs

  7 Copy quote

• Observe your cat. It is difficult to surprise him. Why? Naturally his superior hearing is part of the answer, but not all of it. He moves well, using his senses fully. He is not preoccupied with irrelevancies. He's not thinking about his job or his image or his income tax. He is putting first things first, principally his physical security. Do likewise.

  Jeff Cooper

  Jobs, Moving, Cat

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.14, Paladin Press

  158 Copy quote

  Show source

• "What would I do if?.." By thinking tactically, we can more easily arrive at correct tactical solutions, and practice - even theoretical practice - tends to produce confidence in our solutions which, in turn, makes it easier for us, and thus quicker, to reach a decision.

  Jeff Cooper

  Thinking, Practice, Decision

  Jeff Cooper (2006). “Principles of Personal Defense: Revised Edition”, p.20, Paladin Press

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Gun, Law, Strong Arms

  53 Copy quote