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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

 
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. 
William Van AlstyneThe Second Amendment, like the First Amendment, is ... not mysterious. Nor is it equivocal. Least of all is it opaque. Rather, one may say, today it is simply unwelcome in any community that wants no one (save perhaps the police?) to keep or bear arms at all. But ... it is for them to seek repeal of this amendment (and so the repeal of its guarantee), in order to have their way. Or so the Constitution itself assuredly appears to require, if that is the way things are to be. 
Abigail Van BurenWisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place. 
Abigail Van BurenI agree that marijuana laws are overdue for an overhaul. I also favor the medical use of marijuana -- if it's prescribed by a physician. I cannot understand why the federal government should interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, nor why it would ignore the will of a majority of voters who have legally approved such legislation. 
Jan L.A. van de SnepscheutIn theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is. 
Mark Van DorenAn unexamined idea, to paraphrase Socrates, is not worth having and a society whose ideas are never explored for possible error may eventually find its foundations insecure. 
Mark Van DorenTo be what no one ever was, to be what everyone has been: Freedom is the mean of those extremes that fence all effort in. 
Mark Van DorenRespect for the truth is an acquired taste. 
Vincent van GoghThe fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. 
Hendrik van LoonAny formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession -- their ignorance. 
Royce Van NormanIs it not ironical that in a planned society of controlled workers given compulsory assignments, where religious expression is suppressed, the press controlled, and all media of communication censored, where a puppet government is encouraged but denied any real authority, where great attention is given to efficiency and character reports, and attendance at cultural assemblies is mandatory, where it is avowed that all will be administered to each according to his needs and performance required from each according to his abilities, and where those who flee are tracked down, returned, and punished for trying to escape - in short in the milieu of the typical large American secondary school - we attempt to teach 'the democratic system'? 
Laura K. Van OnymousThe media can now wistfully reflect on their glory days of the 1970's when the majority of people actually bought into their bullshit. 
Mike VanderboeghAnyone who tells you that "It Can't Happen Here" is whistling past the graveyard of history. There is no 'house rule' that bars tyranny coming to America. History is replete with republics whose people grew complacent and descended into imperial butchery and chaos. 
Lon VanOstranUsing the power of the law to ensure that the law abiding are at the mercy of the lawless is an act of barbarism beyond the realms of logic. The dreamers and fools who force us to endure the carnage should be on trial along with the criminals they are creating.The world is not made more civil by forcing the civilized to be the victims of the predators. How dare you, any of you, refuse good law abiding citizens the right to defend themselves in a country where there were 25,000 murders, 105,000 reported rapes, and 975,000 armed robberies LAST YEAR? 
Robert Gilbert VansittartThe tragedy of the police state is that it always regards all opposition as a crime, and there are no degrees. 
Bill VaughanA real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works. 
Bill VaughanA citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. 
Vince VaughnI support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don't have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It's not about duck hunting; it's about the ability of the individual. It's the same reason we have freedom of speech. 
Richard K. VedderProductive, private citizens in outlying regions of our nation and states are financially burdened to pay for a parasite public economy of lawmakers, lobbyists, contractors, and bureaucrats in the political centers. 
Jesse VenturaGovernment cannot be your parent. 
Jesse VenturaThe prohibition of drugs causes crime. You don’t have to legalize, just decriminalize it. 
Jesse VenturaThere’s too many laws altogether. 
Jesse VenturaYou want to know my definition of gun control? Being able to stand at 25 meters and put two rounds in the same hole. That’s gun control. 
Vermont Declaration of RightsThat frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, and a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, industry and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty, and keep government free. The people ought, therefore, to pay particular attention to these points, in the choice of officers and representatives, and have a right to exact a due and constant regard to them, from their legislators and magistrates, in the making and executing such laws as are necessary for the good government of the State. 
Veterans Fast for LifeThe soul of our country needs to be awakened... When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders. 
Veterans of Foreign WarsWhereas it has been proposed that the United States of America become a part of a world federal government; and ... this program...would entail the surrender of our national sovereignty and...bring into being a form of government whose authority would supercede that of the Constitution of The United States Government; and ...institute a system of laws where-by American citizens could be tried by aliens in controversion of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States; and ...the Veterans of Foreign Wars is composed solely of men who have worn the uniform of the United States on foreign shores and in hostile waters in time of war and from their personal experiences are familiar with the traditions and operations of other countries; and ...many of our comrades rest forever in foreign soil and their sacrifices were made to retain the dignity and sovereignty of the United States of America: Now therefore, be it Resolved by the Fiftieth Annual Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, That we hereby declare that we are unalterably opposed to any program which would entail the surrender of any part of the sovereignty of the United States of America in favor of a world government... 
Gore VidalThe corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity -- much less dissent. 
Gore VidalWhen you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the [many] believe almost anything you want, and you can guide them. 
Dr. Edwin VieiraYou can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, and that's good enough. 
Peter ViereckDemocracy, though slowly attained and never by revolutionary jumps, is the best government on earth when it tries to make all its citizens aristocrats. But not when it guillotines whoever is individual, superior, or just different. 
Richard A. ViguerieThe first duty of government is to protect the citizen from assault. Unless it does this, all the civil rights and civil liberties in the world aren't worth a dime. 
Frederick M. VinsonThe basis of the First Amendment is the hypothesis that speech can rebut speech, propaganda will answer propaganda, free debate of ideas will result in the wisest governmental policies. 
Vique's LawA man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle. 
VirgilYield not to evils, but attack all the more boldly. 
Virginia’s General AssemblyHad the states been despoiled of their sovereignty by the generality of the preamble, and had the Federal Government been endowed with whatever they should judge to be instrumental towards the union, justice, tranquility, common defence, general welfare, and the preservation of liberty, nothing could have been more frivolous than an enumeration of powers. 
Virginia Declaration of RightsThe rights enumerated in this Bill of Rights shall not be construed to limit other rights of the people not therein expressed. 
Virginia Declaration of RightsThat religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity towards each other.  
Virginia Resolution of 1798[T]his Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the Federal Government, as resulting from the compact, to which the States are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact as no further valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the States who are parties thereto, have the right, and are duty bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them. 
Andrei VishinskyThe rights of human beings cannot be considered outside the perogatives of governments, and the very understanding of human rights is a governmental concept. 
Paul VolckerIt is a sobering fact that the prominence of central banks in this century has coincided with a general tendency towards more inflation, not less. [I]f the overriding objective is price stability, we did better with the nineteenth-century gold standard and passive central banks, with currency boards, or even with ‘free banking.’ The truly unique power of a central bank, after all, is the power to create money, and ultimately the power to create is the power to destroy. 
Paul VolckerIt is a sobering fact that the prominence of central banks in this century has coincided with a general tendency towards more inflation, not less. [I]f the overriding objective is price stability, we did better with the nineteenth-century gold standard and passive central banks, with currency boards, or even with 'free banking.' The truly unique power of a central bank, after all, is the power to create money, and ultimately the power to create is the power to destroy. 
VoltairePaper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value -- zero. 
VoltaireGod is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. 
Voltaire (False)I may not agree with what you say, but to the death I will defend your right to say it. 
VoltaireIt is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. 
VoltaireThose who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities! 
VoltaireLet the laws be clear, uniform and precise; to interpret laws is almost always to corrupt them. 
VoltaireThe superfluous is very necessary. 
VoltaireThe art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of citizens to give to the other. 
VoltaireIt is the characteristic of the most stringent censorships, that they give credibility to the opinions they attack. 
VoltaireWhat is not in nature can never be true. 
VoltaireAll men have equal rights to liberty, to their property, and to the protection of the laws. 
VoltaireIn general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. 
VoltaireThe secret of being tiresome is to tell everything. 
VoltaireTo learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. 
VoltaireLiberty is not and cannot be anything but the power of doing what we will. 
VoltaireIt is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one. 
VoltaireThink for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. 
VoltaireMany are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others to persecute those who do reason. 
VoltaireIt is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. 
VoltaireWe have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. 
VoltaireIt is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. 
VoltaireIt is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. 
VoltaireIt is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue. 
VoltaireOur wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road. 
VoltaireYour book is dedicated by the soundest reason. You had better get out of France as quickly as you can. 
VoltaireThose who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. 
VoltaireIt is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of chastity; and it's a pretty odd sort of chastity at that, which leads men straight into the sin of Onan, and girls to the waning of their color. 
VoltaireHistory is fables agreed upon. 
VoltaireThe monster, fanaticism, still exists, and whoever seeks after truth will run the risk of being persecuted. 
VoltaireThe ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. 
VoltaireDoubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. 


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