Quoteworthy

[Rick-Parker]

"There is no enemy of free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption of the electorate. … One of our great poets has well and finely said that freedom is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards. Neither does it tarry long in the hands of those too slothful, too dishonest, or too unintelligent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty must be exercised, sometimes to guard against outside foes; although of course far more often to guard against our own selfish or thoughtless shortcomings." — Theodore Roosevelt, Fourth Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 6, 1904

[Guest]

"In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping to know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we live. In our quest of understanding, we beseech God's guidance … At such a time in history, we who are free must proclaim anew our faith. … This faith defines our full view of life. It establishes beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable rights, and that makes all men equal in His sight. … This faith rules our whole way of life. It decrees that we, the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve. … This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial. This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God." —Dwight D. Eisenhower, delivering the first televised inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1953

[Guest]

“Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first — the most basic — expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.” — Gerald Ford, National Day of Prayer proclamation, Dec. 5, 1974

[Guest]

It is not an accident that freedom of religion is one of the central freedoms in our Bill of rights. It is the first freedom of the human soul — the right to speak the words that God places in our mouths. … We must speak for the freedom of the world.” — George W. Bush, remarks to the American Jewish Committee, May 3, 2001

[Guest]

“I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; And to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time.” — William Henry Harrison, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1841

[Guest]

“If any people ever had cause to render up thanks to the Supreme Being for parental care and protection extended to them in all the trials and difficulties to which they have from time to time been exposed, we certainly are that people. From the first settlement of our forefathers on the continent, through the dangers attendant upon the occupation of a savage wilderness, through a long period of colonial dependence, through the War of the Revolution in the wisdom which led to the adoption of the existing forms of republican government … the superintendence of an overruling Providence has been plainly visible. As preparatory, therefore, to entering once more upon the high duties of legislation, it becomes us humbly to acknowledge our dependence upon Him as our guide and protector and to implore the continuance of His parental watchfulness over our beloved country.” — John Tyler, Third Annual Message to Congress, December 1843

[Guest]

“The Union of the States is at the present moment threatened with alarming and immediate danger … In this the hour of our calamity and peril to whom shall we resort for relief but to the God of our fathers? His omnipotent arm only can save us from the awful effects of our own crimes and follies — our own ingratitude and guilt toward our Heavenly Father. Let us, then, with deep contrition and penitent sorrow unite in humbling ourselves before the Most High, in confessing our individual and national sins, and in acknowledging the justice of our punishment. Let us implore Him to remove from our hearts that false pride of opinion which would impel us to persevere in wrong.” — James Buchanan, proclaiming a national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, Dec. 14, 1860

[Guest]

“We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” — Abraham Lincoln, proclaiming a national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, March 30, 1863

[Guest]

“But of all the views of this law none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where they will receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been said, to be chiefly historical. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.” — Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781

[Guest]

“Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence.” — Thomas Jefferson, to Thomas Jefferson Smith, Feb. 21, 1825