The quote database

ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country

No body can give more power than he has himself; and he that cannot take away his own life, cannot give another power over it.

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule.

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.

Surely the State has no right to cleanse public debate to the point where it is grammatically palatable to the most squeamish among us.

The constitutional right of free expression is powerful medicine in a society as diverse and populous as ours.

One of the benefits of freedom is that under it the ruler can not pass by the people's minds, and amend their affairs for them without amending them.

A good despotism is an altogether false ideal, which practically (except as a means to some temporary purpose) becomes the most senseless and dangerous of chimeras.

One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.

Responsibility is null when nobody knows who is responsible; nor, even when real, can it be divided without being weakened.

Between subjection to the will of others and the virtues of self-help and self-government there is a natural incompatibility.

The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural.

In regard to foreign nations, the groundwork of my policy will be justice on our part to all, submitting to injustice from none.

There was a Care on my Mind so to pass my Time, that nothing might hinder me from the most steady Attention to the Voice of the true Shepherd.

You are good when you strive to give of yourself.

Work is love made visible.

The guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color.

Pride in one's work is aroused as soon as work is functionalized. The moment a man has something to do that he likes to do, and can do well, he takes pride in it.

These possibilities of mental development are still further increased when the man makes his own records. This leads to closer attention, to more interest in the work, and to a realization of the man as to what the record really means, and what value it represents.

The observed worker should be made to realize the purpose and importance of the measurement. The observing should always be done with his full knowledge and hearty coöperation.

Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers.

It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.

Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the nation.

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship

Providence treats us like a generous father, and brings us up to labors, toils, and dangers; whereas the indulgence of a fond mother makes us weak and spiritless.