

Famous and Infamous "Drug War" Quotes At first reading, some of these quotes may not seem to be connected to the drug war but upon reflection, they most certainly do seem to be--in one way or another (IMHO). If you have any quotes that you feel should be added, please send to: yourtype@tir.com Last update: 9-2-98 When they took the fourth amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs! When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun! Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. What luck for rulers, that men do not think. -Adolph Hitler "As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, les we become unwitting victims of the darkness." - Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas "The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced." - Albert Einstein "When society turns the sick into criminals then we're all repeat offenders" - Recidivist3 "Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."- H. L. Mencken "Working together we can treat Washington's 40 billion dollar a year addiction to the War on Drugs." - Polly Wilmoth Waco, TX "It behoves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own." - Thomas Jefferson "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy "For every complex problem there is an easy answer, and it is wrong." - H.L. Mencken "Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties." - Abraham Lincoln "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." - President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) Mistrust those in whom the impulse to punish is strong. -Friedrich Nietzsche The good Lord set definite limits on man's wisdom, but set no limits on his stupidity--and that's just not fair! - Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.- P. J. O'Rourke To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men. - Abraham Lincoln When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro - Unknown Let the people know the truth and the country is safe. - Abraham Lincoln For fascism arrives without fanfare, like tooth decay or dry rot, behind closed walls, until the very foundation is washed away, forever. Unknown Other men's sins are before our eyes; our own are behind our backs. - Seneca Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn! - Robert Burns A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man. - Tacitus Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. -- Thomas Jefferson Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. - Thomas Jefferson We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. - Thomas Jefferson This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, not tolerate error as long as reason is left free to combat it. - Thomas Jefferson Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat-to advance. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. - Thomas Jefferson Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits. - Mark Twain He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason. - Cicero Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. - Thomas Jefferson No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. - Abraham Lincoln Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered. - Cicero We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions--bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. - George Washington Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid. - Mark Twain There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking. - Alfred Korzybski Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. - Abraham Lincoln If you say, "Would there were no wine" because of the drunkards, then you must say, going on by degrees, "Would there were no steel," because of the murderers, "Would there were no night," because of the thieves, "Would there were no light," because of the informers, and "Would there were no women," because of adultery. - St. John Chrysostom: Homilies, c.388 Frequent punishments are always a sign of weakness or laziness on the part of a government. - Jean Jacques Rousseau Records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became truth. - George Orwell, 1984 I'd rather that England should be free than that England should be compulsorily sober. With freedom we might in the end attain sobriety, but in the other alternative we should eventually lose both freedom and sobriety. - W.C. Magee (Archbishop of York): Sermon at Peterborough, 1868. Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

- Abraham Lincoln: Speech in the Illinois House of Representatives, Dec 18, 1840. Prohibition only drives drunkenness behind doors and into dark places and does not cure it or even diminish it. - Mark Twain: Letter from New York to the Alta Californian, May 28, 1867. Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigor of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. - Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776 The passing of an unjust law is the suicide of authority. - Pastoral Letter of the American Roman Catholic Herarchy, Feb. 1920 There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. - Bertrand Russell: Outline of Intellectual Rubbish. Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with a habit. - Bertrand Russell: Saturday Review, 1951. While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty. - Charles Evans Hughes: U.S. Supreme Court Member, May 1908. Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. - Woodrow Wilson: Address, New York Press Club, May 9, 1912. The one means that wins the easiest victory over reason: terror and force. - Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. Propaganda must not serve the truth, especially as it might bring out something favorable for the opponent. - Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. - Thomas Jefferson Be not so bigoted to any custom as to worship it at the expense of truth. - Johann Georg Von Zimmermann Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim. - George Santayana A wise man will look upon himself ten years past and exclaim, "What a fool was I." Whereas, a fool will discern no difference. - Unknown We hear about constitutional rights, free speech, and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to myself, "That man is a Red, that man is a Communist. You never hear a real American talk like that." - Frank Hague: N.Y. World-Telegram, April 2, 1938. There is no need for propaganda to be rich in intellectual content. - P.J. Goebbels: Speech at Nuremberg, Aug. 20, 1926. Morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose. - Friedrich Nietzsche: The Antichrist. I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. - Thomas Jefferson Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

- Abraham Lincoln Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.

- Abraham Lincoln Smart is when you believe only half of what you hear. Brilliant is when you know which half to believe. - Orben's Current Comedy The victors called the revolution a triumph of liberty; but now and then liberty in the slogans of the strong means freedom from restraint in the exploitation of the weak. - Will Durant We know nothing of what will happen in future, but by the analogy of experience. - Abraham Lincoln Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. - Mark Twain To Home Page