"The freedom and happiness of man...[are] the sole objects of all legitimate government."
--Thomas Jefferson

"Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time."
--Winston Churchill

"You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend" it."
–Abraham Lincoln, 1861

To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."
--George Washington (January 8, 1790)

"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." --Benjamin Franklin

"...peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever." --Ronald Reagan

"What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?"
–James Madison

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite."
--James Madison

"I have not yet begun to fight!"
--John Paul Jones

Here's the first submission from a fellow blogger:

Here's one from Patrick Henry:

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace,
Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that
sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!
Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it
that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so
sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death!

Thanks To :

Larry T.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse.... A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their own free choice—is often the means of their regeneration.
--John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)

"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties."
--John Jay, Federalist No. 2

The Americans will always do the right thing... After they've exhausted all the alternatives.
Winston Churchill, Sir (1874-1965)

"To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea."
–James Madison, Speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788.

"The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world."
–Thomas Jefferson, letter to M. Correa, Dec. 27, 1814

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
--The Declaration of Independence