Wisdom of the Ages

Revolution

The surest way to prevent seditions, if the times do bear it, is to take away the matter of them. Francis Bacon

A reform is a correction of abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power. Edward Bulwer-Lytton

The first step to empire is revolution, by which power is conferred. Edmund Burke

An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters. Henry Clay

Liberty

Liberty can neither be got, nor kept, but by so much care, that mankind are generally unwilling to give the price for it. Lord Halifax

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather bed. Thomas Jefferson

Unless that liberty, which is of such a kind as arms can neither procure nor take away, which alone is the fruit of piety, of justice, of temperance, and unadulterated virtue, shall have taken deep root in your minds and hearts, there will not long be wanting one who will snatch from you by treachery what you have acquired by arms. Milton

The Athenians will not sell their liberties for all the gold either above or under ground. Aristides

Democracy

Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely. Aristotle

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. G.K. Chesterton

The governments of the past could fairly be characterized as devices for maintaining in perpetuity the place and position of certain privileged classes ... the government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people. With the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes. Calvin Coolidge

Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. Harry Emerson

There is what I call the American idea ... This idea demands ... a democracy - that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people. Theodore Parker

Justice

I'm armed with more than complete steel. The justice of my quarrel. Christopher Marlowe

Where the offence is, let the great axe fall. William Shakespeare

When justice on offenders is not done,
Law government, and commerce are o'er-thrown. Sir John Denham

Pardon one offense and you encourage the commission of many. Publilius Syrus

Injustice often arises through chicanery, that is through an over-subtle and even fraudulent construction of the law. This it is that gave rise to justice. Cicero.

Power

Power is so far from being desirable in itself, that it sometimes ought to be refused, and sometimes to be resigned. Cicero

I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others. Thomas Jefferson

Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate'er it touches. Percy Bryce Shelley

My opinion is that power should always be distrusted, in whatever hands it is placed. Sir William Jones

All empire is no more than power in trust. Dryden.

Peace

Peace is liberty in tranquility. Cicero

Peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world. Woodrow Wilson

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. Calgacus

Yet there we follow but the bent assign'd
By fatal Nature to man's warring kind:
Mark! where his carnage and his conquests cease!
He makes a solitude, and calls it - peace! Byron