Famous Quotations / Quotes
Famous Quotes
 

 Click on the name to open the full quote and the details about the quote's origin. Quotes are also grouped by Category and Author.  
 


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

 
UnknownThere are three parties in Washington, D.C. . . . Republican, Democratic and Cocktail. 
UnknownMost non-Catholics know that the Catholic schools are rendering a greater service to our nation than the public schools in which subversive textbooks have been used, in which Communist-minded teachers have taught, and from whose classrooms Christ and even God Himself are barred. 
UnknownIntegrity is what you do when no one is looking. 
UnknownBe more aware of your responsibilities than of your rights. 
UnknownEconomic warfare spans political warfare and military warfare and supersedes both, which are merely tools in the hands of those who are the masters of economic systems. The public is systematically misled, almost hypnotically, to believe that no such hidden masters of economic systems actually exist, or could even possibly exist, and that all of the economic strife in the world today is strictly the result of unplanned human incompetence when, in fact, very deliberate economic warfare is being carried out. Populations struggle to find purely political or military solutions to their economic problems, or they are manipulated and duped into giving yet more economic control over to their masters, in the name of general prosperity, because they do not fully understand the real principles of economics and banking. The myth of their non-existence is what protects the hierarchies of the international money cults of the world and allows them to continue their constant rivalries against one another, and to maintain their existence at the dire cost of their subject populations. 
UnknownOf course you can trust the United States government. Just ask any Indian. 
UnknownHome is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. 
UnknownCynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision. 
UnknownA poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits. 
UnknownThe confidence of ignorance will always overcome the indecision of knowledge. 
UnknownWe need a law that will allow a voter to sue a candidate for breach of promise. 
UnknownA library is an arsenal of liberty. 
UnknownAny sufficiently advanced bureaucracy is indistinguishable from molasses. 
UnknownA wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top. 
UnknownIf you don't care where you are, then you ain't lost. 
UnknownIf we keep on the way we're going, we're going to wind up where we're headed. 
UnknownNo shade tree? Blame not the sun, but yourself. 
UnknownA liberal is someone too poor to be a capitalist and too rich to be a communist. 
UnknownPoliticians are like diapers and need to be changed for the same reason. 
UnknownIf you think talk is cheap, hire a lawyer. 
UnknownAmerica is the country where you buy a lifetime supply of aspirin for one dollar, and use it up in two weeks. 
UnknownIntegrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will. 
UnknownWhen they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'  
UnknownNothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. 
UnknownDiplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. 
UnknownTruth fears no questions. 
UnknownSome people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication. They would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others. Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships. 
UnknownAlways tell the truth. Even if you have to make it up. 
UnknownStatistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. 
UnknownAlways tell the truth. If you can't always tell the truth, don't lie. 
UnknownBeware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. 
UnknownA lie may take care of the present, but it has no future. 
John UpdikeThe essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that your society needs to know what only you can tell it. 
Abel UpshurThe Federal Government is the creature of the States. It is not a party to the Constitution, but the result of it the creation of that agreement which was made by the States as parties. It is a mere agent, entrusted with limited powers for certain specific objects; which powers and objects are enumerated in the Constitution. Shall the agent be permitted to judge the extent of its own powers, without reference to his constituent? To a certain extent, he is compelled to do this, in the very act of exercising them, but always in subordination to the authority by whom his powers were conferred. If this were not so, the result would be, that the agent would possess every power which the agent could confer, notwithstanding the plainest and most express terms of the grant. This would be against all principle and all reason. If such a rule would prevail in regard to government, a written constitution would be the idlest thing imaginable. It would afford no barrier against the usurpations of the government, and no security for the rights and liberties of the people. If then the Federal Government has no authority to judge, in the last resort, of the extent of its own powers, with what propriety can it be said that a single department of that government may do so? Nay. It is said that this department may not only judge for itself, but for the other departments also. This is an absurdity as pernicious as it is gross and palpable. If the judiciary may determine the powers of the Federal Government, it may pronounce them either less or more than they really are.  
Leon UrisTerrorism is the war of the poor. War is the terrorism of the rich. 
US Agency for International DevelopmentThe principal beneficiary of America's foreign assistance programs has always been the United States. 
US Supreme CourtIf a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion. The Establishment Clause does not license government to treat religion and those who teach or practice it … as subversive of American ideals. 
U. S. Army Training Manual No. 2000-25Democracy, n.: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic... negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Result is demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, [chaos]. 
U. S. ConstitutionNo state shall ... make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 
U. S. ConstitutionThe Congress shall have power: To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; 
U. S. CurrencySeries 1863-1934 U.S. Gold Certificate - This is to certify that there have been deposited in the treasury of The United States of America [denomination face value, i.e. Ten Dollars] in gold coin payable to the bearer on demand.
Series 1886-1963 U.S. Silver Certificate - This certifies that there is on deposit in the treasury of The United States of America [denomination face value, i.e. Ten Dollars] in silver payable to the bearer on demand.
Series 1913-1934 Federal Reserve Note - Redeemable in gold on demand at the United States Treasury or in gold or lawful money at any Federal Reserve Bank.
Series 1934-1963 Federal Reserve Note - This note is legal tender for all debts public and private and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury or at any Federal Reserve Bank.
Series 1963- Federal Reserve Note - This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.
 
U. S. Privacy Study CommissionThe real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable. 
U. S. TreasuryMind Your Business 
U.S. ConstitutionThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 
U.S. Constitution Article VIThis Constitution... shall be the Supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby 
U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Sec. 2The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. 
U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. 
U.S. Constitution, Article VIAll ...Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution as under the Confederation. 
U.S. Constitution, Article VIThis Constitution, ...shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby 
U.S. Constitution, Ninth AmendmentThe enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 
U.S. Constitution, Second AmendmentA well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. 
U.S. Constitution, Tenth AmendmentThe powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 
U.S. Court of Appeals District of ColumbiaThe pages of history shine instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard uncontradicted evidence and instructions of the judge. 
U.S. Court of Appeals District of ColumbiaJury lawlessness is the greatest corrective of law in its actual administration. The will of the state at large imposed on a reluctant community, the will of a majority imposed on a vigorous and determined minority, find the same obstacle in the local jury that formerly confronted kings and ministers. 
U.S. Court of Appeals First Circuit[T]he jury, as the conscience of the community, must be permitted to look at more than logic. 
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of ColumbiaThe pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of it's prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge. 
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of MarylandWe recognize, as appellants urge, the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by the judge, and contrary to the evidence. This is a power that must exist as long as we adhere to the general verdict in criminal cases, for the courts cannot search the minds of the jurors to find the basis upon which they judge. If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused, is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic of passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision. 
U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth CircuitFrom now onwards the jury enters on a new phase of its history, and for the next three centuries it will exercise its power of veto on the use of the criminal law against political offenders who have succeeded in obtaining popular sympathy. 
U.S. Department of Defense Planning Guide for 1994-1999We [the U.S.] must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order . . . we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.  
U.S. Department of StateThe United States must cultivate a mental view toward world settlement after this war which will enable us to impose our own terms, amounting perhaps to a pax-Americana. 
U.S. State Department Memo, 1944Oil resources constitute a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history. 
U.S. Supreme Court[The] purpose of a jury is to . . . make available the common sense judgment of the community as a hedge against the overzealous or mistaken prosecutor and in preference to the professional or perhaps over conditioned or biased response of a judge. 
U.S. Supreme CourtSince it was first recognized in [the] Magna Carta, trial by jury has been a prized shield against oppression .... 
U.S. Supreme CourtCongress may not abdicate or transfer to others its legitimate functions. 
U.S. Supreme Court[T]he jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact. 
U.S. Supreme Court (False)Emitting bills of credit, or the creation of money by private corporations, is what is expressly forbidden by Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution. 
U.S. Supreme CourtIn this country sovereignty resides in the people, and Congress can exercise no power which they have not, by their Constitution, entrusted to it: All else is withheld. 
U.S. Supreme CourtIt may not be amiss, here, Gentleman, to remind you of the good old rule, that on questions of fact, it is the province of the jury, on questions of law, it is the province of the court to decide. But it must be observed that by the same law, which recognizes this reasonable distribution of jurisdiction, you have nevertheless a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy. ... For, as on the one hand, it is presumed, that juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other hand, presumable, that the court are the best judges of law. But still both objects are lawfully, within your power of decision. 
U.S. vs. CruickshanThe right of the people peacefully to assemble for lawful purposes existed long before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. In fact, it is and always has been one of the attributes of a free government. It 'derives its source,' to use the language of Chief Justice Marshall, in 'Gibbons v Ogden,' 9 Wheat., 211, 'from those laws whose authority is acknowledged by civilized man throughout the world.' It is found wherever civilization exists. It was not... a right granted to the people by the Constitution... The second and tenth counts are equally defective. The right there specified is that of 'bearing arms for a lawful purpose.' This is not a right granted by the constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. 
U.S. vs. DoughertyThe pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge... 
Paul ValéryLiberty is the hardest test that one can inflict on a people. To know how to be free is not given equally to all men and all nations. 
Paul ValéryPolitics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. 
Paul ValéryThe world acquires value only through its extremists play. They are the gadflies that keep society from being too complacent. 
Armando ValladaresJust as there is a very short distance between the U.S. and Cuba, there is a very short distance between a democracy and a dictatorship where the government gets to decide what to do, how to think, and how to live. And sometimes your freedom is not taken away at gunpoint, but instead it is done one piece of paper at a time, one seemingly meaningless rule at a time, one small silencing at a time. Never allow the government – or anyone else – to tell you what you can or cannot believe or what you can and cannot say or what your conscience tells you to have to do or not do. 
William Van AlstyneThe difference between [people who take civil liberties seriously] and others ... is that such serious people begin with a constitutional understanding that declines to trivialize the Second Amendment or the Fourteenth Amendment, just as they likewise decline to trivialize any other right expressly identified elsewhere in the Bill of Rights. It is difficult to see why they are less than entirely right in this unremarkable view. That it has taken the NRA to speak for them, with respect to the Second Amendment, moreover, is merely interesting -- perhaps far more as a comment on others, however, than on the NRA. 


Daily Quotes
Ready to be inspired?
Sign up for a daily dose of Liberty Quotes!
Leave us your email address to subscribe.
Email:

Here's the Daily Quote history.

Quotes
Here's our full collection of famous quotations.

Categories
Browse quotes by category.

Authors
Browse quotes by Author or Speaker.








(c) Copyright 1999-2025