Category: Quote of the Day

“Conquering kings their titles take From the foes they captive make: Jesu, by a nobler deed, From the thousands He hath freed.” – John Chandler (1806-1876), from ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ (translated from Latin)

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” – Edmund Burke, from ‘Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents’ (1770) p. 71

“If the Government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have.” – Gerald Ford, from ‘If Elected’ (1960) p. 193

“All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny…To inherit a government, is to inherit the people, as if they were flocks and herds.” – Thomas Paine, ‘The Rights of Man’, Part 2 (1792)

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is …

“Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.”  – Job 40:11 (KJV)

“The more contracted that power is, the more easily it is destroyed. A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.” – Samuel Johnson, as quoted in James Boswell’s ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson’ (1791) vol. 3, p. 283 (April 14, 1778)

“And in those weaker glories spy Some shadows of eternity.” – Henry Vaughan, ‘The Retreat’, from ‘Silex Scintillans’ (circa 1650)

“Rulers have no authority from God to do mischief…As soon as the prince sets himself up above the law, he loses the king in the tyrant. He does to all intents and purpose unking himself…and in such cases has no more right to be obeyed than any inferior officer who acts beyond his commission.” – Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766), ‘A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers’, January 30, 1750

“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1788

“La mejor salsa del mundo es el hambre.” (The best sauce in the world is hunger.) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), ‘Don Quixote’ (1605) Part 2, Chapter 5

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, …

“Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach. The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of …

“They’re murdering us here. Let’s move inland and get murdered.” – Colonel Charles D. Canham, 116th Infantry Regiment commander, on Omaha Beach. June 6, 1944. (Pictured later, as a Major General.)

“Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.” Translated: Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.” – Publius Vegetius Renatus, commonly known as Vegetius, a Roman writer of the 4th Century, A.D.. (This quote is usually cited in the form: Si vis pacem, para bellum — “If you want peace, prepare for war”)  From: ‘De Rei Militari’ 3, prologue.