Quotations for Saturday, 28 January 2012 (Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address)

… all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States… will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

– Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation, 1January 1963

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

– Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 19 November 1863

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Quotations for Friday, 27 January 2012 (John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Remarks at Amherst College)

Privilege is here, and with privilege goes responsibility.

I hope that road will not be the less traveled by, and I hope your commitment to the Great Republic’s interest in the years to come will be worthy of your long inheritance since your beginning.

The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as dispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.

When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

And the nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost’s hired man, the fate of having “nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope.”

– John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Remarks at Amherst College, 26 October 1963

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Quotations for Thursday, 26 January 2012 (Barack Obama, State of the Union Address 24 January 2012)

We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake aren’t Democratic values or Republican values, but American values.  And we have to reclaim them.

As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum.  But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.

Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple:  Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.

They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to the future of their country, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility.

Each time I look at that flag, I’m reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars and those 13 stripes.  No one built this country on their own.  This nation is great because we built it together.  This nation is great because we worked as a team.  This nation is great because we get each other’s backs.  And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard.  As long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.

– Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, 24 January 2012

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Quotations for Wednesday, 25 January 2012 (George W. Bush, Farewell Address to the Nation)

When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism.

But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right.

– George W. Bush, Farewell Address to the Nation, 15 January 2009

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Quotations for Tuesday, 24 January 2012 (George H. W. Bush, Address at West Point)

Leadership cannot be simply asserted or demanded. It must be demonstrated…. Leadership takes time. It takes patience. It takes work.

But in every case involving the use of force, it will be essential to have a clear and achievable mission, a realistic plan for accomplishing the mission, and criteria no less realistic for withdrawing U.S. forces once the mission is complete.

It is important to remember, it is important to demonstrate that there is a higher purpose to life beyond one’s self. Now, I speak of family, of community, of ideals. I speak of duty, honor, country.

– George H. W. Bush, Address at West Point, 5 January 1993

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Quotations for Sunday, 22 January 2012 (Winston Churchill, Be Ye Men of Valour; John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Address on Civil Rights)

We have differed and quarrelled in the past; but now one bond unites us all — to wage war until victory is won, and never to surrender ourselves to servitude and shame, whatever the cost and the agony may be.

… it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.

– Winston Churchill, Be Ye Men of Valour, 19 May 1940

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.

And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and as a people…. It is a time to act in the Congress, in your State and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.

– John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Address on Civil Rights, 11 June 1963

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Quotations for Saturday, 21 January 2012 (Winston Churchill, A Hush over Europe, House of Many Mansions)

But whether it be peace or war, peace with its broadening and brightening prosperity, now within our reach, or war with its measureless carnage and destruction-we must strive to frame some system of human relations in the future which will bring to an end this prolonged hideous uncertainty, which will let the working and creative forces of the world get on with their job, and which will no longer leave the whole life of mankind dependent upon the virtues, the caprice, or the wickedness of a single man.

– Winston Churchill – A Hush over Europe, 8 August 1939

Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear-I fear greatly-the storm will not pass. It will rage and it will roar, ever more loudly, ever more widely.

Quality, will power, geographical advantages, natural and financial resources, the command of the sea, and, above all, a cause which rouses the spontaneous surgings of the human spirit in millions of hearts-these have proved to be the decisive factors in the human story.

– Winston Churchill – House of Many Mansions, 20 January 1940

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Quotations for Thursday, 19 January 2012 (Franklin D. Roosevelt Pearl Harbour, Winston Churchill War Speech, Winston Churchill Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat)

… the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory…. we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

– Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 8 December 1941

… we look forward to the day, surely and confidently we look forward to the day, when our liberties and rights will be restored to us, and when we shall be able to share them with the peoples to whom such blessings are unknown.

– Winston Churchill, 3 September 1939

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat…. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

– Winston Churchill, 13 May, 1940

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United States Declaration of Independence and SOPA/PIPA

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.

– United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Right as I was searching for references on the US Declaration of Independence, I came across this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more

Interesting, isn’t it?

Quotations for Saturday, 14 January 2012 (Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover)

It is not the adjective, but the substantive, which is of real importance. It is not the name of the action, but the result of the action, which is the chief concern…. If we expect others to rely on our fairness and justice we must show that we rely on their fairness and justice…. We have not failed, nor shall we fail to respond, whenever necessary to mitigate human suffering and assist in the rehabilitation of distressed nations…. Parchment will fail, the sword will fail, it is only the spiritual nature of man that can be triumphant…. We can only help those who help themselves…. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation and all other economic legislation is not to destroy those who have already secured success but to create conditions under which every one will have a better chance to be successful.

– Calvin Coolidge, Wednesday, 4 March 1925

Rigid and expeditious justice is the first safeguard of freedom, the basis of all ordered liberty, the vital force of progress.

– Herbert Hoover, Monday, 4 March 1929

(The owner of this blog does not claim the copyright of the quotations above, which are the properties of their individuals holders. The holders will let me know if they do not consent to my usage of these quotations.)