“By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled; Here once the embattled farmers stood; And fired the shot heard round the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord Hymn, (1837), immortalizing the skirmish at the Old North Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods of which your fathers served, or gods…in whose land ye dwell: but I, and mine house, will serve the Lord." – Joshua 24:15
"As the touchstone tries gold, so gold tries men." – Chilo of Sparta (Chilon)
"The art of taxation consists of so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing." – J.B. Colbert, French Statesman, circa 1665
“Even as a youngster, though, I could not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presented danger, the solution was ignorance. To me, it always seemed that the solution had to be wisdom. You did not refuse to look at danger, rather you learned how to handle it safely.” – Isaac Asimov,”The Caves of Steel“, p. viii
“Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don’t know when it’s through if you are a crook or a martyr.” – Will Rogers
“In an urban society everything connects each persons needs are fed by the skills of many others our lives are woven together in a fabric, but the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable.” – Threads. A 1984 BBC television drama about the effects of a nuclear war on Sheffield, England.
“No one of us is ever safe. There is no security this side of the grave. A shipwreck or a hurricane can put man back to the brink of savagery, both in the means he uses to get his food and the lengths he will go to get it. The more ill-prepared people are to face trouble, the more likely they are to revert to savagery against each other.” – Novelist Louis L’Amour (1908-1988) from his novel “Bendigo Shafter”
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and …
“Ask the first man you meet what he means by defending freedom, and he’ll tell you privately he means defending the standard of living.” – Reverend Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984) German Lutheran pastor, was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau in 1938. He was freed by the allied forces in 1945.
"A good character is the best tombstone. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble." – Charles H. Spurgeon
"I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country." – President Andrew Jackson
"The spirit of liberty is not merely, as multitudes imagine, a jealousy of our own particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others, and an unwillingness that any man, whether high or low,
“People put up with the devils they know. They do not look for a lifeboat when they hear the ship’s hull scrape the iceberg. They assume that it will be business as usual. Then, one fine day, it isn’t.” – Dr. Gary North
“The worst day in a man’s life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.” – Thomas Jefferson