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Famous Quotes
 

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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

A classic since 1953 with over 20,000 quotes from over 3,000 authors.


Famous Last Words

Apt Observations, Pleas, Curses, Benedictions, Sour Notes, Bons Mots, and Insights from People on the Brink of Departure


Stretch Your Wings

Famous Black Quotations for the Young


American Quotations

An exhaustive collection of profound quotes from the founding fathers, presidents, statesmen, scientists, constitutions, court decisions


The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations


Last Words of Saints and Sinners

700 Final Quotes from the Famous, the Infamous, and the Inspiring Figures of History


America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations

Contains over 2,100 profound quotations from founding fathers, presidents, constitutions, court decisions and more


The Law

This 1850 classic is an absolute must read for anyone interested in law, justice, truth, or liberty. A most compelling and revolutionary look at The Law.


Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature (17th Edition)


The Stupidest Things Ever Said by Politicians

Rise up, America -- and laugh out loud at the greatest gaffes that no spin doctor could possibly fix!


The 776 Even Stupider Things Ever Said

Another great collection of stupidity


Quotable Quotes

Wit and Wisdom for All Occasions from America's Most Popular Magazine


The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time

You don't have to be a genius to sound like one. Here's a collection of the most profound and provocative wit and wisdom in the English language in two lines or less.


2,715 One-Line Quotations for Speakers, Writers & Raconteurs

Invaluable sampler of witticisms, epigrams, sayings, bon mots, platitudes and insights chosen for their brevity and pithiness.


Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts Funny Sayings

A stupendous collection of quotes, quips, epigrams, witticisms, and humorous comments for personal enjoyment and ready reference.


Quick Quips and Quotes; 532 Things I Wish I Had Said

Quick Quips and Quotes is the Ultimate Collection of one liners.


Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes

The ultimate anthology of anecdotes, now revised with over 700 new entries.


Quotations for Public Speakers

A Historical, Literary, and Political Anthology


Liberty - The American Revolution

This compelling series traces the events leading up to the war and America's fight for freedom.


Founding Fathers

The story of how these disparate characters fomented rebellion in the colonies, formed the Continental Congress, fought the Revolutionary War, and wrote the Constitution


Libertarianism: A Primer

David Boaz, director of the Cato Institute, has written a simple introduction to Libertarianism inteneded to appeal to disgruntled Democrats and Republicans everywhere.


The Libertarian Reader

Classic and Contemporary Writings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman


Thomas Paine: Collected Writings

All the classics: Common Sense / The Crisis / Rights of Man / The Age of Reason / Pamphlets, Articles, and Letters

 
Harold D. LasswellDogma is a defensive reaction against doubt in the mind of the theorist, but doubt of which he is unaware. 
Late 16th Century ProverbThe road to hell is paved with good intentions. 
Latin ProverbPrincipio Obstate (Resist from the beginning). 
Latin ProverbHistory is written by the victor. 
Latin ProverbSuum cuique [To each his own, to each according to his merits.] 
Latin ProverbIf the wind will not serve, take to the oars. 
Owen LattimoreI believe in my right to be wrong, and still more in my right to be right. 
Andrew B. LawThere is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from failure of human wisdom. 
D. H. LawrenceMen are freest when they are most unconscious of freedom. The shout is a rattling of chains and always was. 
D. H. LawrenceDo not allow to slip away from you freedoms the people who came before you won with such hard knocks. 
D. H. LawrenceI do esteem individual liberty above everything. What is a nation for, but to secure the maximum liberty to every individual? 
D. H. LawrenceMen fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grand-children are once more slaves. 
Jerome LawrenceI say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy. You can only punish. I warn you that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys everyone it touches — its upholders as well as its defiers. 
Robin LawrenceThe Liberal Democrat remain steadfast in their belief that liberty must not be sacrificed on the altar of security and regrets the climate of fear that has been fostered by the approach of both Labour and the Conservatives to issues of domestic and international security. We believe that liberty, justice and the separation of powers are essential to achieving lasting security and that abandoning liberties, particularly in the face of unconventional threats from criminals and terrorists, will only serve to make Britain both less free and less secure. 
Paul LaxaltThe high-handed bureaucratic excesses of the IRS are a national disgrace ... riding roughshod over the taxpayers and making a joke out of our rule of laws. 
Paul F. LazarsfeldIt is the tragic story of the cultural crusader in a mass society that he cannot win, but that we would be lost without him. 
Emma LazarusGive me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door. 
Gustave Le BonThe masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. 
John le CarréI think the greatest single enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of terribly skillful people. 
Stanislaw Jerszy LecThe only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him. 
Stanislaw Jerszy LecOne has to multiply thoughts to the point where there aren't enough policemen to control them. 
Arthur LeeThe right of property is the guardian of every other right, and to deprive the people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their liberty. 
Bruce LeeA teacher is never a giver of truth -- he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst. 
Bruce LeeEver since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential. 
Harper LeeBefore I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.  The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. 
Harper LeeThe one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. 
Richard Henry LeeIt must never be forgotten...that the liberties of the people are not so safe under the gracious manner of government as by the limitation of power. 
Richard Henry LeeIt is true, the yeomanry of the country possess the lands, the weight of property, possess arms, and are too strong a body of men to be openly offended—and, therefore, it is urged, they will take care of themselves, that men who shall govern will not dare pay any disrespect to their opinions. It is easily perceived, that if they have not their proper negative upon passing laws in congress, or on the passage of laws relative to taxes and armies, they may in twenty or thirty years be by means imperceptible to them, totally deprived of that boasted weight and strength: This may be done in great measure by congress. 
Richard Henry Lee[If Parliament] may take from me one shilling in the pound, what security have I for the other nineteen? 
Richard Henry LeeThe constitution ought to secure a genuine militia and guard against a select militia. .... all regulations tending to render this general militia useless and defenseless, by establishing select corps of militia, or distinct bodies of military men, not having permanent interests and attachments to the community ought to be avoided. 
Richard Henry LeeTo preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them. 
Richard Henry LeeWhy then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens. 
Richard Henry LeeA militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms. 
Robert E. LeeGovernor, 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. 
Robert E. Lee[W]e made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers. 
Robert E. Lee...[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. 
Robert E. LeeWith all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword... 
Robert E. LeeI have been up to see Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving. 
Robert E. LeeIt is well that war is so terrible -- we should grow too fond of it. 
Robert E. LeeYou must study to be frank with the world: frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do on every occasion, and take it for granted that you mean to do right. 
Robert W. LeeAccording to the Washington based Tax Foundation, the average American worked until May 7th of this year to earn enough money to pay local, state, and federal taxes for 1996. By comparison, Tax Freedom Day fell on January 31st in 1902; February 13th in 1930; March 8th in 1940; April 10th in 1952; April 16th in 1960; April 28th in 1972; May 1st in 1980; and May 6th last year. 
Robert W. LeeIt is becoming increasingly apparent that many—arguably most—of the problems that plague our nation have been aggravated rather than alleviated by federal intervention. In one area after another, massive infusions of tax dollars have been squandered on false solutions which, when they fail to achieve their stated objectives, are cited to justify even more spending on other futile schemes that result in bigger government. Examples include programs and laws supposedly intended to reduce racial animosity which have instead heightened race-related tensions; welfare schemes that, rather than reducing poverty, have enticed millions of Americans to become dependent on Washington for their daily bread; federal funding (and control) of education, which has spawned a monumental education crisis; a “war” on drugs which has done little to curb drug traffic, but which has eroded many personal liberties; a health-care finance system that has deteriorated as government meddling and regulation have increased; and a masochistic immigration policy larded with false "solutions" that, while failing to stop the inflow of illegal aliens, have paved the way for further government intrusion into the lives of nearly all Americans. 
Robert W. LeeThe statist objective, always, is to make as many persons as possible, as dependent as possible, on a government as big as possible. 
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek[M]y work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof. 
John LehmanPower corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. 
Jim LehrerI practice journalism in accordance with the following guidelines: \\ • Do nothing I cannot defend. \\ • Do not distort, lie, slant or hype. \\ • Do not falsify facts or make up quotes. \\ • Cover, write and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.\\ • Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story. \\ • Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am. \\ • Assume the same about all people on whom I report. \\ • Assume everyone is innocent until proven guilty. \\ • Assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story mandates otherwise. \\ • Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories and clearly label it as such. \\ • Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously. \\ • Do not broadcast profanity or the end result of violence unless it is an integral and necessary part of the story and/or crucial to its understanding. \\ • Acknowledge that objectivity may be impossible but fairness never is. \\ • Journalists who are reckless with facts and reputations should be disciplined by their employers. \\ • My viewers have a right to know what principles guide my work and the process I use in their practice. \\ • I am not in the entertainment business.  
Arthur LelyveldCensorship…is always and everywhere an evil. Censorship means the screening of material by an authority invested with power to ban that which it disapproves….And who is that paragon to whom we would be willing to entrust such authority? 
Pierre Lemieux[R]evenues drive expenditures, not the inverse. ... tax evasion represents a net benefit to everybody ... A statue should be erected to the unknown tax evader. 
Pierre LemieuxPity the poor opponents of the right to keep and bear arms! They must distrust just everybody except criminals and except the tyrant to whom they concede the armed monopoly of their protection. 
Pierre LemieuxPublic Choice theory, if nothing else, has taught economists to consider the state as it is, not as it should be in a dream world: the state is a potential tyrant, not a benevolent God. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninWe do not have time to play at “oppositions” at “conferences.” We will keep our political opponents... whether open or disguised as “nonparty,” in prison. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninI don’t care what becomes of Russia. To hell with it. All this is only the road to a World Revolution. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninGive me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninOne of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers (Communist) and the disarming of the bourgeoisie (the middle class). 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninWe can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn toward those who disagree with us. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninDestroy the family, you destroy the country. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninIt would be the greatest mistake, certainly, to think that concessions mean peace. Nothing of the kind. Concessions are nothing but a new form of war. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninIdeological talk and phrase mongering about political liberties should be disposed with; all that is just mere chatter and phrase mongering. We should get away from those phrases. 
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin...first ascertain exactly the position of the various capitalists, then control them, influence them by restricting or enlarging, facilitating or hindering their credits, and finally they can entirely determine their fate. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninNo amount of political freedom will satisfy the hungry masses. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninThe aim of socialism is not only to abolish the present division of mankind into small states and all-national isolation, not only to bring the nations closer to each other, but also to merge them. 
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Questionable)A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninHundreds of thousands of rouble notes are being issued daily by our treasury. This is done, not in order to fill the coffers of the State with practically worthless paper, but with the deliberate intention of destroying the value of money as a means of payment. ... Experience has taught us it is impossible to root out the evils of capitalism merely by confiscation and expropriation… The simplest way to exterminate the very spirit of capitalism is therefore to flood the country with notes of a high face-value without financial guarantees of any sort. …[T]he great illusion of the value and power of money, on which the capitalist state is based will have been definitely destroyed. 
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (False)Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state. 
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (False)The surest way to destroy a nation is to debauch its currency. 
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin...the concentration of capital and the growth of their turnover is radically challenging the significance of the banks. Scattered capitalists are transformed into a single collective capitalist. When carrying the current accounts of a few capitalists, the banks, as it were, transact a purely technical and exclusively auxiliary operation. When, however, these operations grow to enormous dimensions we find that a handful of monopolists control all the operations, both commercial and industrial, of capitalist society. They can, by means of their banking connections. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninGive me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninOnly an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular liberty. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninThey will furnish credits which will serve us for the support of the Communist Party in their countries and, by supplying us materials and technical equipment which we lack, will restore our military industry necessary for our future attacks against our suppliers. To put it in other words, they will work on the preparation of their own suicide. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninBehind the October Revolution there are more influential personalities than the thinkers and executors of Marxism. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninWhile the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninThe bourgeoisie is many times stronger than we. To give it the weapon of freedom of the press is to ease the enemy’s cause, to help the class enemy. We do not desire to end in suicide, so we will not do this. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninYou have read and heard that communist theory—the science of communism created in the main by Marx, this doctrine of Marxism—has ceased to be the work of a single socialist of the nineteenth century, even though he was a genius, and that it has become the doctrine of millions and tens of millions of proletarians all over the world, who are applying it in their struggle against capitalism. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninAll our lives we fought against exalting the individual, against the elevation of the single person, and long ago we were over and done with the business of a hero, and here it comes up again: the glorification of one personality. This is not good at all. 
Vladimir Ilyich LeninThe way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation. 


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