When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.

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Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

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When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.

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When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

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When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither.

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Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

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The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart.

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A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.

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To consider judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions is a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.

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Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.

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