Abraham Lincoln on Losing Freedom

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Lincoln on Mercy vs. Justice

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.  (Abraham Lincoln)

FDR on Individual Freedom

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.  (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

Jefferson on Liberty

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?  That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?  (Thomas Jefferson)

Jefferson on Conscience

The true fountains of evidence are the head and heart of every rational and honest man.  It is there nature has written her moral laws, and where every man may read them for himself.  (Thomas Jefferson)

Benjamin Franklin on Political Compromise

It was understood by the framers of the Constitution of the United States that it did not represent a perfect instrument in every respect. Advocating for ratification of the original Constitution, Franklin said,"The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good." (Benjamin Franklin)

John Adams on Understanding

If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?  (John Adams)