Quotes to Ponder on Independence Day

It's good to contemplate the wise sayings of those who helped form this nation:

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~Dick Cheney

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! ~Thomas Jefferson

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. ~John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 17, 1775

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. ~John Adams

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.~ Thomas Jefferson

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.~James Madison

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.~Thomas Paine

He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man....The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people.~Samuel Adams

Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.~Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.~Benjamin Franklin

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

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.~Patrick Henry

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

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.~Patrick Henry

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.~Abraham Lincoln

(The painting depicts the 4th of July celebration in Philadelphia in 1819 by John Lewis Krimmel.)