On Tyranny: Words of Our Forefathers

"One's god dictates the kind of law one implements and also controls the application and development of that law over time. Given enough time, all non-Christian systems of law self-destruct in a fit of tyranny." ~ George Washington

“Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny.” ~ Aristotle

“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.” ~ George Orwell

“The tyranny imposed on the soul by anger, or fear, or lust, or pain, or envy, or desire, I generally call 'injustice.'” ~ Plato

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have the consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives anything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its good; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” ~ Thomas Paine

“A tyrant... is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” ~ Plato

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!" ~ Thomas Jefferson

"Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants." ~ Benjamin Franklin

"Great Ambition, unchecked by principle, or the love of Glory, is an unruly Tyrant." ~ Alexander Hamilton

"It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail." ~ Samuel Adams

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." ~ James Madison

“Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.” ~ Edmund Burke

“The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws.” ~ Edmund Burke

"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"When a government betrays the people by amassing too much power and becoming tyrannical, the people have no choice but to exercise their original right of self-defense — to fight the government." ~ Alexander Hamilton

“We do not war with races primarily as such. Tyranny is our foe. Whatever trapping or disguise it wears, whatever language it speaks, be it external or internal, we must forever be on our guard, ever mobilized, ever vigilant, always ready to spring at its throat. In all this we march together. Not only do we march and strive shoulder to shoulder at this moment, under the fire of the enemy on the fields of war or in the air, but also in those realms of thought which are consecrated to the rights and the dignity of man.” ~ Winston Churchill

"Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual… Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us." ~ John Hancock

"Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~ Thomas Jefferson

“The salvation of the common people of every race and of every land from war or servitude must be established on solid foundations and must be guarded by the readiness of all men and women to die rather than submit to tyranny.” ~ Winston Churchill

"Resistance to tyranny is service to God." ~ James Madison

"The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many." ~ John Adams

"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant." ~ James Madison

"It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains." ~ Patrick Henry

"Our nation is founded on the principal that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny." ~ John F. Kennedy

“Liberty, when it degrades into licentiousness, begets confusion, and frequently ends in tyranny or some woeful confusion.” ~ George Washington

“Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.” ~ Plato

“Truth is a tyrant-the only tyrant to whom we can give our allegiance. The service of truth is a matter of heroism.” ~ John F. Kennedy