What are your two favorite political quotes?

Question

Mine:
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
~Voltaire

All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.
~Edmund Burke

Answer 1

Both of mine are from Ronald Reagan and they're my favorites:

Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.


Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Answer 2

"I resent being called a professional comedian. Compared to Congress, I'm a rank armature." Will Rogers.

Okay, I know it isn't what you meant, but it's been a long week, so I needed a break.

Actually, the Edmund Burke quote you provided is one of my favorites. We used it in the classroom when we read The Diary of Anne Frank. It was a great jumping off place for discussions. What evils have you allowed by simply standing by and not taking action? I got some honesty and insight from kids who were not enthusiastic about most school work.
Anne Frank also said that in spite of all that happened, she still believed in the fundamental goodness of people. That would be one of my other favorites, I suppose.

Answer 3

We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Mahatma Gandhi

"our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become." - Unknown

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. - Thomas Jefferson

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” - Ronald Reagan

The liberals can understand everything but people who don’t understand them. - Lenny Bruce

You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgments about what is going on. - Harry S Truman

History is a people's memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals. - Malcom X

Whoever controls the Media, controls the mind. - Jim Morrison

By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, [journalism] keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. - Oscar Wilde

Success is the sole earthly judge of right or wrong. - Adolf Hitler

The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy. ... Red China is not the powerful nation seeking to dominate the world. - Omar Bradley, U.S. general

The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. - Barry M. Goldwater

If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see it with representation - unkn

Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests - Gore Vidal

Answer 4

1) It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.

2) But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

3) Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law -- which may be an isolated case -- is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system.

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist, statesman, and author.

Answer 5

Those are two good ones, here are mine:

“Quintessentially and metaphysically [libertarian] should remain of good cheer. The eventual victory of liberty is inevitable, because only liberty is functional for modern man. There is no need, therefore, for libertarians to thirst maniacally for Instant Action and Instant Victory, and then to fall into bleak despair when that Instant Victory is not forthcoming. Reality, and therefore history, is on our side.”
-Murray Newton Rothbard

“The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
-John Adams

I gotta love 'em, liberty is on our side and that Property is superior what two better things?

Hate to break the two quote rule, but didn't see this great Reagan quote:

Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.

Answer 6

“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone” - JFK

“A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.” - Thomas Jefferson

“If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.” - Henry David Thoreau

“You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.” - Abbie Hoffman

“Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity” - George Carlin

I could go on...

Answer 7

I like the Burke quote as well

"If you see a good fight, get in it" - Vernon Johns

"Is America a weakling, to shrink from the work of the great world powers? No! The young giant of the West stands on a continent and clasps the crest of an ocean in either hand. Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes and rejoices as a strong man to run a race."
-Teddy Roosevelt

Answer 8

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenal of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and woman. It is a weapon our advisories in today’s world do not have.

Ronald Regan

Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage, this big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A. cause we'll put a boot in your ***
It's the American way.

Toby Keith

But I really love the Edmund Burke qoute...it is so true.

Answer 9

Reagan has some good ones.

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

Don't be afraid to see what you see.

Answer 10

"Democracy may not be perfect, but it never needed a wall to keep people from escaping". JFK

Sorry, you wanted two. OK, during the democratic response to the last State of the Union address, an Andrew Jackson quote was mentioned "The economy shouldn't be measured at the apex, but rather at it's base."