Make Yourselves Sheep And The Wolves Will Eat You

“Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you.” -Benjamin Franklin

“Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands.” -Thomas Jefferson

“[A] wise and frugal government… shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” -Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“[The people] are in truth the only legitimate proprietors of the soil and government.” -Thomas Jefferson

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” -James Madison

“In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority” -James Madison

“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation” -James Madison

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny” -James Madison

“The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” -James Madison

“The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.” -James Madison

“The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived” -James Madison

“If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav’d. This will be their great Security.” -Samuel Adams

“Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury and the liberty of the press necessary for your liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings — give us that precious jewel, and you may take every things else! Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.” -Patrick Henry

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” -Benjamin Franklin

“When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” -Benjamin Franklin