Quotations from Samuel Adams
Among
the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life,
secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right
to defend them in the best manner they can.
He who is void of
virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of
all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty
of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral
obligations in his private connections.
How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.
It
does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless
minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.
Our
contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether
there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and
religious liberty.
The Constitution shall never be construed...
to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens
from keeping their own arms.
The liberties of our country, the
freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all
hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.
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 only
to have the law of nature for his rule.
We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.