"The
principle of free speech is no new doctrine born of the Constitution of
the United States. It is a heritage of English-speaking peoples, which
has been won by incalculable sacrifice, and which they must preserve so
long as they hope to live as free men."
Robert M. Lafollette, Sr. (1855-1925) U.S. Senator
Source: Speech, 6 October 1917
"In times
of peace, the war party insists on making
preparation for war. As soon
as prepared for, it insists on making war."
"The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out
by accident."
Charles Lamb, (1775-1834) British Essayist
"A person in good health in a Western liberal democracy is, in terms of his objective
circumstances, one of the most fortunate human beings ever to have walked the surface of
the earth."
John Lanchester, "Pursuing happiness," The New Yorker, February 27, 2006
"Nothing whatever but the constitutional law, the political structure, of these United
States protects any American from arbitrary seizure of his property and his person, from
the Gestapo and the Storm Troops, from the concentration camp, the torture chamber, the
revolver at the back of his neck in a cellar."
Rose Lane
"Art is the objectification of feeling, and the subjectification of nature."
Susanne K. Langer
"If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor
Day Weekend."
Doug Larson
"Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the
consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog."
Doug Larson
"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to
talk."
Doug Larson
"Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it."
Doug Larson
"Affirmative action is the attempt to deal with malignant racism by instituting benign racism."
Elliott Larson
H.D.
Lasswell, in 'Propaganda Techniques in World War One'
William Law, (1686-1761) [English clergyman and writer]
"We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for it is impossible to live one way and pray another."
William Law
"There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him."
William Law
Dictatorship (n):a form of government under which everything which is not prohibited is compulsory.
Communist (n): one who has given up all hope of becoming a Capitalist.
Book (n): a utensil used to pass time while waiting for the TV repairman.
Advertising (n):the science of arresting the human intelligence for long enough to get money from it.
"It may be that those who do
most, dream most."
"The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is
easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim."
Gustave Le Bon, (1841-1931) "The Crowd"
"Reason creates science; sentiments and creeds shape history."
Gustave Le Bon
"Vegetables are interesting, but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut
of meat."
Fran Lebowitz
"Peace comes at the end of war, and is the word that describes the terms imposed by the winners on the losers." Michael Ledeen,
Neocon
warmonger Michael Ledeen |
"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."
Harper Lee
| "No day should be lived unless it was begun with a prayer of thankfulness and an intercession for guidance." |
"(T)he maintenance of the rights and authority reserved to the states and to the people, is not only essential to the adjustment and balance of the general system, but the safeguard to the continuance of a free government. I consider it as the chief source of stability to our political system, whereas the consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it. I need not refer one so well acquainted as you are with American history, to the State papers of Washington and Jefferson, the representatives of the federal and democratic parties, denouncing consolidation and centralization of power, as tending to the subversion of State Governments, and to despotism."
Letter to Lord Acton, 1866
"What a
cruel thing is war: to separate and
destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness god
has given us in this world..."
"True patriotism sometimes
requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which
it
does at another, and the motive which impels them -- the desire to do
right
-- is precisely the same."
"[W]e need to pray earnestly for the power of the Holy Spirit to give us a precious
revival in our hearts and among the unconverted."
"In this enlightened age, there are few, I believe but will acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it a greater evil to the white than to the coloured race, and while my feelings are strongly interested in the latter, my sympathies are more deeply engaged to the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa - morally, socially, and physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their instruction as a race, and, I hope, will prepare them for better things. How long their subjection may be necessary is known and ordered by a merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influence of Christianity than from the storms and contests of fiery controversy. This influence, though slow, is sure. The doctrines and miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to convert but a small part of the human race, and even among Christian nations what gross errors still exist! While we see the course of the final abolition of slavery is still onward, and we give it the aid of our prayers and all justifiable means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result in His hands, who sees the end and who chooses to work by slow things, and with whom a thousand years are but as a single day. The abolitionist must know this, and must see that he has neither the right nor the power of operating except by moral means and suasion; if he means well to the slave, he must not create angry feelings in the master. Although he may not approve of the mode by which it pleases Providrnce to accomplish its purposes, the result will nevertheless be the same; and the reason he gives for interference in what he has no concern holds good for every kind of interference with our neighbours when we disapprove of their conduct."
Robert E. Lee, in a private letter, cited in "Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War", G.F.R. Henderson, P 88
"My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good."
"The truth is this, the march of Providence is so slow, and our desire so impatient; the work of progress is so immense & our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long & that of an individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave, and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."
"Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character."
"Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret."
"...[T]here is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back."
"My heart is filled with
gratitude
to Almighty God for his unspeakable mercies with which He has blessed
us
in this day. For those He granted us from the beginning of life, and
particularly
for those He has vouchsafed us during the past year [of war]. What
should
have become of us without His crowning help and protection? Oh, if our
people would only recognize it and cease from self-boasting and
adulation,
how strong would be my belief in the final success and happiness to our
country! But what a cruel thing is war; to
separate and destroy
families
and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us
in
this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our
neighbors,
to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world! I pray that on this
day [Christmas] when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind,
better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to
peace."
"The consolidation of the
States into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic
at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed
all that preceded it."
"All that the South has ever
desired was the Union as established by our forefathers should be
preserved and that the government as originally organized should be
administered in purity and truth."
"Every one should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the
truth, in the hope it may find a place in history and descend to
posterity. History is not the relation of campaigns, and battles, and
generals or other individuals, but that which shows the principles for
which the South contended and which justified her struggle for those
principles."
"If I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of
their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox
Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of
subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave
men, my sword in my right hand."
Written after the effects of Reconstruction were fully felt
< End of Robert E. Lee quotes >
"I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up."
Tom Lehrer
"It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for a
year."
Tom Lehrer
"If anyone disagrees with anything I say, I am quite prepared to not only retract it, but
also to deny under oath I ever said it."
Tom Lehrer
"I find that if you take the various popular song forms to their logical extremes, you can
arrive at almost anything from the ridiculous to the obscene or, as they say in New York,
sophisticated."Tom Lehrer"Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."Tom Lehrer"No one is more dangerous than someone who thinks he has "The Truth". To be an atheist is
almost as arrogant as to be a fundamentalist. But then again, I can get pretty arrogant.""I feel that if a person can't communicate, the very least he can do is to shut up."Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
"I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another, and I know there are people in
the world who do not love their fellow human beings - and I hate people like that!"
Tom Lehrer
"I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal. Fortunately,
we were on the winning side."
US General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 1945 Tokyo fire bombing operation
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and sink. I needn't argue about that. I'm right and will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock'n'roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
John Lennon, 4th
March 1966
"They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them
ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and
[heck], we're not using it anymore."
Jay Leno
"Japan says they're now considering whether attacking North Korea's missile sites would
violate their constitution. Imagine that, government leaders worried about violating the
constitution. There's something you don't see anymore."
"The political terms 'will' and 'popular will' have a long track record in Western history going back to Rousseau. That record is profoundly anti-democratic, essentially inviting elites to interpret what the common people believe and want. In litigious modern America, that would be a judicial elite telling us how we meant to vote or should have voted."
"If winning is the only value, why debate when you can suppress?"
John Leo
"Deliver us from people so in love with their own moral passion that they think they are entitled to break the law."
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist, philosopher (1742-1799)
"With most people unbelief in one thing is founded upon blind belief in another."
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all."
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"Never undertake anything for which you wouldn't have the courage to ask the blessing of
heaven."
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"In my humble opinion, the only relevant argument among members of the Republican Party is over whose turn it is to throw in the towel."
"It couldn't be plainer.... There was no declaration of war during the Civil War, there was no declaration of war during the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, or any of Bill Clinton's wars.... There's one commander-in-chief, not 535 of them.... To [Leftist] Democrats, the Constitution is an obstacle, and why is it an obstacle? It's because the Constitution spells out our freedoms. The Constitution limits government." |
"[I]t's time to face a hard cold fact: Militant Islam wants to kill us just because we're
alive and don't believe as they do... Now, this threat is not just going to go away
because we choose to ignore it... But some Americans, sadly, are not interested in victory.
And yet they want us to believe that their behavior is Patriotic. Well, it's not."
Rush Limbaugh
"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races -- that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
cited in "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln," Roy Basler, ed. 1953 New Brunswick, N.J, Rutgers University Press
"A separation of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation, but as immediate separation is impossible the next best thing is to keep them apart where they are not already together. Such separation, if ever affected at all, must be effected by colonization The enterprise is a difficult one, but 'where there is a will there is a way:' and what colonization needs now is a hearty will. Will springs from the two elements of moral and self-interest. Let us be brought to believe it is morally right, and at the same time, favorable to, or at least not against our interest, to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be."
An address at Springfield, Illinois, on June 26, 1857 [Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol II, pp 408-9, Basler, ed.]
"Negro equality, Fudge!! How long in the Government of a God great enough to make and maintain this Universe, shall there continue to be knaves to vend and fools to gulp, so low a piece of demagoguism as this?"
1859 [Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol III, pp 399, Basler, ed.]
"Send them to Liberia, to their own native land. But free them and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit this."
as cited in "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln," Roy Basler, ed. 1953 New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press
"I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of the whole human being."
"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."
"Towering genius...thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freeman."
1838
"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people, that can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit."
January 12, 1848 speech in Congress
"No state, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy."
"The
government should create, issue, and circulate
all the currency
and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and
the buying power of consumers. The privilege of creating and issuing
money is not only the supreme prerogative of government, but it is the
government's greatest creative opportunity. The financing of all
public enterprise, and the conduct of the treasury will become matters
of practical administration. Money will cease to be master and will
then become servant of humanity."
"The
philosophy of the classroom today will be
the philosophy of government tomorrow."
"I see in
the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to
tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations
have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will
follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its
reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all
the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed.
I feel, at this moment, more anxiety for the safety of my country than
ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may
prove groundless."
Nov. 21,
1864 - (letter to Col. William F. Elkins) - Ref: The Lincoln
Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)
"I looked always outside of myself to see what I could make the world give me instead of
looking within myself to see what was there."
Belle Livingstone
"Any single
man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or
resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all
qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our
rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a
right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it
is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature.
It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we
can preserve no other."
John Locke,
(1632-1704) English philosopher and political theorist.
Considered the
ideological progenitor of the American Revolution and who, by far, was
the most often non-biblical writer quoted by the Founding Fathers of
the USA
"Whenever
the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the
people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put
themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon
absolved from any further obedience."
John
Locke,
1690
"Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society...and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, arbitrary will of another man."
John Locke
"If the
innocent honest Man must quietly quit all he has for
Peace
sake, to him who will lay violent hands upon it, I desire it may be
considered what kind of Peace there will be in the World, which
consists only in Violence and Rapine; and which is to be maintained
only for the benefit of Robbers and Oppressors."
John Locke
"New opinions
are always suspected, and usually opposed,
without any other reason but because they are not already common."
John Locke
"That the aggressor, who puts himself into the state of war with another, and unjustly
invades another man's right, can, by such an unjust war, never come to have a right over
the conquered, will be easily agreed by all men, who will not think that robbers and
pirates hhave a right of empire over whomsoever they have force enough to master, or that
men are bound by promises which unlawful force extorts from them.
Should a robber break into my house, and, with a dagger at my throat, make me seal deeds
to convey my estate to him, would this give him any title? Just such a title by his sword
has an unjust conqueror who forces me into submission. The injury and the crime is equal,
whether committed by the wearer of a crown or some petty villain.
The title of the offender and the number of his followers make no difference in the
offence, unless it be to aggravate it. The only difference is, great robbers punish little
ones to keep them in their obedience; but the great ones are rewarded with laurels and
triumphs, because they are too big for the weak hands of justice in this world, and have
the power in their own possession which should punish offenders."
John Locke, The Second Treatise of Civil Government 1690
"Just
and
moderate
governments are every where quiet, every where
safe. But oppression
raises ferments, and makes men struggle to cast off an uneasy and
tyrannical yoke."
"One hundred dollars invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at which
time it will be worth absolutely nothing."
Lazarus Long
"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and miss."
Lazarus Long
"Trouble is the next best thing to enjoyment. There is no fate in the world so horrible
as to have no share in either its joys or sorrows."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The secret of eternal youth is arrested development."
Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 1884-1980
Hendrik van Loon
"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house."
Audre Lorde
"The average person thinks he isn't."
Father Larry Lorenzoni, S.D.B., Roman Cathoic priest
"Don't worry. Birthdays are good for you: statistics show that it's the people with the
most birthdays who live the longest."
Fr. Larry Lorenzoni
"The most merciful thing in the world . . . is the inability of the human mind to
correlate all its contents."
H.P. Lovecraft
"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who
have to wait for them."
E.V. Lucas
"A man's home may seem to be his castle on the outside; inside is more often his nursery."
Clare Boothe Luce, (1903-1987), American playwright and diplomat
"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there."
Clare Boothe Luce
"Communism is the opiate of the intellectuals with no cure except as a guillotine might be
called a cure for dandruff."
Clare Boothe Luce
"In the final analysis there is no other solution to man's progress but the day's honest
work, the day's honest decision, the day's generous utterances, and the day's good deed."
Clare Boothe Luce
"Had (President) Buchanan in 1860 sent an armed force to prevent the nullification of the Fugitive Slave Law, as Andrew Jackson threatened to do in 1833, there would have been a secession of fifteen Northern States instead of thirteen Southern States. Had the Democrats won out in 1860 the Northern States would have been the seceding States not the Southern."
George Lunt of Massachusetts, Origin of the Late War
|
|
Martin Luther, Diet of Worms,
1521
"For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the
Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these
branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant."
"Do not
suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the
object that
is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and
abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we
pluck them out of the sky?"
"(T)he commandments are not given inappropriately or pointlessly; but in order that through them the proud, blind man may learn the plague of his impotence, should he try to do as he is commanded."
On the ####### of the Will, pg. 160
"Whatever man loves, that is his god. For he carries it in his heart; he goes about with
it night and day; he sleeps and wakes with it, be it what it may - wealth or self,
pleasure or renown."
"A Christian man is most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the
most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone."
"Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes."
"If
any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to
the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace,
and he has not learned
Jesus Christ rightly."
"He remains eternally above and yet descends, without any change or mutation of the Godhead, to assume human sonship from His mother.... The Son of God...has two natures but is one Son, not two Christs or two Sons. How this takes place reason cannot comprehend."
November 22, 1537
"He who is rich ignores God's Word and treads it underfoot. He who is poor does everything that pleases the world in order to stave off poverty. And so wealth to the right and poverty to the left are forever hindering God's Word and faith."
November 17, 1532
"Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace."
"The wisdom of the Greeks, when compared to that of the Jews, is absolutely bestial; for apart from God there can be no wisdom, not any understanding and insight."
"A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; third, he should be eloquent; fourth, he should have a good voice; fifth, a good memory; sixth, he should know when to make an end; seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine; eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honor, in the world; ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone...."
Table-Talk
"Riches are the pettiest and least worthy gifts which God can give a man. What are they to God's Word, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health; or to the gifts of the mind, such as understanding, skill, and wisdom! Yet men toil for them day and night, and take no rest. Therefore God commonly gives riches to foolish people to whom he gives nothing else."
"I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them on the hearts of youth. I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution in which men and women are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must be corrupt."
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times."
"I study my Bible as I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest might fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf."
"That the Creator himself comes to us and becomes our ransom - this is the reason for our rejoicing."
25 March 1533 "Table Talks"
"Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld."
"I eat what I like and will die when God wills it."
"If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there."
"It is pleasing to God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart."
"If God promises something,
then
faith must fight a long and bitter fight, for reason or the flesh
judges
that God's promises are impossible. Therefore faith must battle against
reason and its doubts............. Faith is something that is busy,
powerful
and creative, though properly speaking, it is essentially an enduring
than
a doing. It changes the mind
and heart. While reason holds to
what is present, faith apprehends the things that are not seen.
Contrary
to reason, faith regards the invisible things as already materialized.
This explains why faith, unlike hearing is not found in many, for only
few believe, while the great majority cling to the things that are
present
and can be felt and handled rather than to the Word."
The Promises
"Peace if possible, but truth
at
any rate."
"All who
call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly
be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired."
"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."
"Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ."
"Blood alone moves the wheels of history."
"Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wish to
give of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St.
Peter, to many of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole
money."
"For in the true nature of
things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious
than if it were made of gold and silver."
"Oh, how sweet are the
commandments of God to us when we receive them not as they are in the
book, but as they are in the wounds of Christ."
"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."
Rosa Luxemburg, (1871-1919) German revolutionary
"The high stage of world-industrial development in
capitalistic
production finds expression in the extraordinary technical development
and destructiveness of the instruments of war."
Rosa Luxemburg
"Freedom is always and
exclusively freedom
for the one who thinks differently."
Rosa Luxemburg
"Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and
assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every
public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the
bureaucracy remains as the active element."
Rosa Luxemburg
