Words of Wisdom    Compiled by Rod Miller The wisdom of America's Founding Fathers and their contribution to the future of all human kind is the cornerstone of freedom. In the United States, individual personal freedom is a way of life. The celebration of freedom is ours to protect, defend and pass on to future generations. Indeed, freedom is the birthright of all Americans. "WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS." --Declaration of Independence, in Congress, July 4, 1776 With that in mind, consider these profound thoughts by notables throughout American History: "The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.... It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn." --George Washington "Our institutions of freedom will not survive unless they are constantly replenished by the faith that gave them birth." --John Foster Dulles A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. - George Bernard Shaw They did not only leave the old world, they repudiated it. Americans start(ed) from scratch. -- Thornton Wilder The essence of all slavery consists in taking the product of another's labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded on ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he (slave) must get to live on. - Leo Tolstoy, 1891 "A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins." - Benjamin Franklin "Government is not reason it is not eloquence it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master." - George Washington Territory is but the body of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valley are its soul, its spirit, its life. -James A. Garfield- It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." - Patrick Henry "There is no stopping the world's tendency to throw off imposed restraints, the religious authority that is based on the ignorance of the many, the political authority that is based on the knowledge of the few." -- Quote courtesy of a friend from Dallas TX -- the anonymous author deserves mention here. "There are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by the gradual and silent  encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation." - James Madison The terrific urge to prevent another person from making a "mistake" must be resisted if liberty is to be preserved. The "protective spirit" that leads a fond parent to prohibit his child from acquiring mature judgments, as he substitutes his own opinions for those of the child, leads the dictator to act as he does in "protecting" his political children. - F.A. Harper "Duty ... honor ... country" -- those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you want to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. - Gen Douglas MacArthur Speech given at West Point, May 1962. ...whenever any form of government becomes destructive ...it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it... -Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776 Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. - Thomas Paine No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for people to retain their right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson - It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong -- Voltaire (1694-1778) If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. -- Derek Bok He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever met." -- Abraham Lincoln Ignorance is the mother of admiration. -- George Chapman (1599?-1634) The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf. -- Will Rogers(1879-1935) Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written these days. - Herman Wouk Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.  -- John F. Kennedy, 1962 A government that governs by fear alone eventually finds itself unable to govern at all. 1999 - Dr. Ron Paul, Republican member of Congress from Texas "People will do almost anything for money and money will do almost anything for people." - The Banking Journal "Ready money is Aladdin's lamp." - Lord Byron We have a crisis of leadership in this country. Where are the Washington's, the Jefferson's and the Jackson's? I'll tell you where they are -- they are playing professional football and basketball. - Anonymous Winning a nation's freedom is the easy part -- keeping it is the hard part! -- Me, 2003