Just Thinking Chronology

To quote somebody

The outside of a horse, is good for the inside of a man.

To quote Ronald Reagan

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

The Soviet Union is an Evil Empire, and Soviet communism is the focus of evil in the modern world.

It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of human history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens.

The West will not contain communism, it will transcend communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.

I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow men.

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

Why should we be frightened? No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans, those Americans living in this land today.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only rearrange them.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.

We must not look to government to solve our problems. Government is the problem.

We've lost sight of the rule that individual freedom and ingenuity are at the very core of everything that we've accomplished. Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

A government can't control the economy without controlling people.

Government has laid its hand on health, housing, farming, industry, commerce, education, and to an ever-increasing degree interferes with the people's right to know. Government tends to grow, government programs take on weight and momentum as public servants say, always with the best of intentions. But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector of the economy.

The size of the federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.

We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.

Why is it inflationary if the people keep their own money, and spend it the way they want to, [but] not inflationary if the government takes it and spends it the way it wants to?

History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government. . . . When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.

Governments don't reduce deficits by raising taxes on the people; governments reduce deficits by controlling spending and stimulating new wealth.

The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

It's time we reduced the federal budget and left the family budget alone.

Every dollar the Federal Government does not take from us, every decision it does not make for us will make our economy stronger, our lives more abundant, our future more free.

It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas—a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.

We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.

We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life -- the unborn -- without diminishing the value of all human life . . . there is no cause more important.

Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.

We have the means to change the laws we find unjust or onerous. We cannot, as citizens, pick and choose the laws we will or will not obey.

Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.

Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

People don't start wars, governments do.

Nations do not mistrust each other because they are armed; they are armed because they mistrust each other.

I've always believed that a lot of the trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.

I've often wondered, what if all of us in the world discovered that we were threatened by a greater power from outer space from another planet -- wouldn't we all of a sudden find that we didn't have any differences between us at all?

Putting people first has always been America's secret weapon. It's the way we've kept the spirit of our revolutions alive -- a spirit that drives us to dream and dare, and take great risks for a greater good.

We think there is a parallel between the Federal involvement in education and the decline in quality over recent years.

Let us resolve that we will stop spreading dependency and start spreading opportunity; that we will stop spreading bondage and start spreading freedom.

The best minds in government? If any were, business would hire them away.

Excellence does not begin in Washington.

Poverty is a career for lot's of well paid people.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.

The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve, and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms.

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.

The United States is unique because we are an empire of ideals.

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

It is time to realize we are too great a nation for small dreams. We're not -- as some would have us believe -- doomed to an inevitable fate.

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.

Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.

There is today in the United States as much forest as there was when Washington was at Valley Forge.

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.

There were so many candidates on the platform that there were not enough promises to go around.

Middle age is when you're faced with two temptations and you choose the one that will get you home by nine o'clock.

I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.

We're the party that wants to see an America in which people still can get rich.

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.

Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.

To quote Abraham Lincoln

If I were two faced, would I be wearing this one?

God must love the common man, he made so many of them.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

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

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could do for themselves.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

Wanting to work is so rare a merit that it should be encouraged.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.

If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend.

You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.

To quote John Adams

To quote King Solomon

A merry heart does good, like medicine. But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman.

A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.

Prepare your outside work. Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.

In all labor there is profit. But idle chatter leads only to poverty.

He who has a slack hand becomes poor. But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

The hand of the diligent will rule. But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.

The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

The desire of the lazy man kills him. For his hands refuse to labor.

Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.

I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.

The rich rules over the poor. And the borrower is servant to the lender.

The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty. But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

Getting treasures by a lying tongue. Is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.

Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished. But he who gathers by labor will increase.

He who has a generous eye will be blessed. For he gives of his bread to the poor.

He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given.

He who walks with wise men will be wise. But the companion of fools will be destroyed.

As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.

Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Pride goes before destruction. And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard. Rather than the shout of the ruler of fools.

A soft answer turns away wrath. But a harsh word stirs up anger.

It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel. The beginning of strife is like releasing water; Therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts.

The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.

Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.

In the multitude of words sin is not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is wise.

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. But the simple pass on and are punished.

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

A righteous man regards the life of his animal. But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

War on Drugs

Alright, here's the story.

Evidence of the smoking of cannabis can be found as far back as the

Neolithic age, where charred hemp seeds were found in a ritual brazier at a burial site in present day Romania.

The opium poppy

is thought to have first been cultivated in Mesopotamia c. 3400 B.C.

In ancient times, South American natives used coca

for religious and medicinal purposes.

Spanish conquistadors introduced coca to Europe, where it was used only occasionally until the 19th Century.

The history of Cannabis

extends so far back into time, it's cultivation may legitimately contend for the title "Worlds Oldest Profession."

America's first drug law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a "must grow" law ordering all farmers to grow marijuana (or Indian hempseed, as it was called). Some farmers were jailed for not growing hemp during the nation's hemp shortage of 1763-1767, and during that time, hemp was legal tender (you could pay your taxes with hemp). Hemp was considered a critical crop primarily because it made excellent rope material. The US Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp plantations growing the plant for rope, cloth, canvas and the cordage used in baling cotton.

Thomas Jefferson cultivated

opium poppies at his garden in

Monticello. The seeds from its plants, including the poppies, were sold at the gift-shop of Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants until 1991 - when a drug-bust at the nearby University of Virginia panicked the Board of Directors into ripping up the plants and burning the seeds.

Opium was legally available for purchase at low prices from physicians, pharmacies, grocery, general stores, mail order, and in countless patent medicines.

in the 1830's Great Britain was the leading drug trafficker in the world. Growing it's own opium in India, the East India Company shipped tons of opium into China in exchange for tea, and Chinese manufactured goods. This trade continued despite being made illegal by the Chinese in 1836 by virtue of generous bribes made to Chinese officials. Faced with millions of opium addicts throughout the country, the Chinese cracked down both on the use of, and illegal import of opium, much to the displeasure of the British, who despite having made opium trade and consumption illegal in England because of it's known harmful effects, were enjoying the profits from their trade in it with the Chinese. The resultant friction between the two countries led to The Opium War in 1839.

Opium addiction in America during the late 19th century was rampant.

In America prior to 1890, laws concerning opiates were strictly imposed on a local city or state-by-state basis. One of the first was in San Francisco in 1875 where it became illegal to smoke opium in opium dens, it did not ban the sale, import or use otherwise. In the next 25 years different states enacted opium laws ranging from outlawing opium dens altogether to making possession of opium, morphine and heroin without a physician’s prescription illegal.

The first Congressional Act took place in 1890 that levied taxes on morphine and opium. From that time on the Federal Government has had a series of laws and acts directly aimed at opiate use, abuse and control.

The active ingredient of the coca plant was first isolated in 1859.

In 1863, the coca wine

Vin Mariani went on sale throughout France. It contained 6 mg cocaine per ounce of wine in France, but exported Vin Mariani contained 7.2 mg per ounce to compete with the higher cocaine content of American competitors.

Coca-Cola

was introduced in 1886 and was promoted as a temperance drink "offering the virtues of coca without the vices of alcohol." Until 1903, a typical serving contained around 60mg of cocaine. The new beverage was invigorating and popular. Today, Coca-Cola is still flavored with an extract of coca-leaves, but contains none of the drug itself.

Cocaine was also sold over-the-counter. Until 1914, one could buy it at department stores. It was widely used in tonics, toothache cures and patent medicines, and in chocolate cocaine tablets.

In 1906, the Pure Food & Drug Act forced the patent medicine industry to list on the label the presence of certain dangerous drugs such as alcohol, opiates, cocaine, and cannabis.

The

Anti Saloon League was founded in Oberlin Ohio in 1893. In two short years it had gown into powerful, national, single issue organization. Having allied itself with churches across the nation, as well as the Women's Christian Temperance Union,

the Anti Saloon League announced its campaign to achieve national prohibition of alcohol by means of a constitutional amendment. In 1916 it achieved the two-thirds majority in both Houses of Congress required to pass the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Ratified and made operative 1/16/19 by the 18th Amendment

and repealed 12/5/33 by the 21st Amendment to the Constitution "The Noble Experiment", Prohibition

is mostly conceded to have failed miserably. While

deaths of men from cirrhosis declined dramatically, organized crime,

flourished, and alcohol remained readily available.

The drug now known as amphetamine was first synthesized in Germany in 1887. Medical uses were not discovered until 1927, when its effectiveness in raising blood pressure, as well as its effects in enlarging the nasal and bronchial passages and in stimulating the central nervous system were discovered. The drug was accordingly marketed in 1932, under the trade name Benzedrine.

Methamphetamine, more potent and easy to make, was discovered in Japan in 1919. The crystalline powder is still legally produced in the U.S., and sold under the trade name Desoxyn.

Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD-25 (being the twenty-fifth substance in a series of lysergic acid derivatives) was synthesized by Albert Hoffman in 1938.

In April of 1943, Dr. Hoffman reported the following experience, "I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away."

Whoa !!!!!

Dr. Hoffman subsequently performed numerous experiments in which he ingested and reported on the effects of the drug. As an aside, he celebrated his one hundredth birthday January 11, 2006 together with his children, Benson

and

Abbie. (Kidding)

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was formed in 1930. Its first commissioner Henry J. Anslinger and many of its agents were veterans of various agencies and departments charged with enforcing Prohibition. The agency lobbied for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 (you really ought to read the testimony) which effectively criminalized the sale of Cannabis. It was merged with the Bureau of Drug Abuse control to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in 1968, which was subsequently merged into the newly formed Drug Enforcement Administration

(DEA) in 1973.

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

was adopted in 1961.

The

Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law in 1970, and has subsequently

amended,

expanded, amended,

amended again, and expanded.

Then, just to be safe,

expanded.

Local, State, Federal, and International Law has grown almost exponentially.

Both costs associated with

enforcing drug laws and

profits

from illegal drug trafficking have also grown exponentially, with no

hint of abating.

Political consequences abound.

Research abounds.

The estimated number of arrests for drug abuse violations for adults has been increasing, while the number for juveniles stabilized.

In 2002 about a quarter of convicted property and drug offenders had committed their crimes to get money for drugs, compared to 5% of violent and public order offenders. In 1997, 19% of State prisoners and 16% of Federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs. These percentages represent a slight increase from 1991, when 17% of State and 10% of Federal prisoners identified drug money as a motive for their current offense. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that in 2005, 4.0% of the 14,860 homicides in which circumstances were known were narcotics related. Murders that occurred specifically during a narcotics felony, such as drug trafficking or manufacturing, are considered drug related.

Drug use in this country from 1979 until 2001 was as follows.

As Will Rogers

once famously said, "We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then

tax it out of business."

To quote Sun Tzu

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.

Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near

Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

Know your enemy and know yourself

and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.

Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near. If you are near, make him believe you are far.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.

It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents

are recruited and used.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

To quote Steven Wright

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

I was a peripheral visionary.

I could see the future, but only way off to the side.

I watched the Indy 500,

and I was thinking that if they left earlier they wouldn't have to go so fast.

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

It's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it.

Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

I went for a walk last night and my kids asked me how long I'd be gone. I said, "The whole time."

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them?

If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?

How come Superman could stop bullets with his chest, but always ducked when someone threw a gun at him?

I got food poisoning today. I don't know when I'll use it.

All those who believe in psycho kinesis raise my hand.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.

To quote P.J. O'Rourk

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

America wasn't founded so that we could all be better. America was founded so we could all be anything we damned well pleased.

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.

Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.

Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope.

Maybe a nation that consumes as much booze and dope as we do and has our kind of divorce statistics

should pipe down about ''character issues.''

One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license.

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money.

The principle feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things -- war and hunger and date rape -- liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things. It's a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don't have to be brave, smart, strong or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal.

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.

Even very young children need to be informed about dying. Explain the concept of death very carefully to your child. This will make threatening him with it much more effective.

Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.

Whatever it is that the government does, sensible Americans would prefer that the government does it to somebody else. This is the idea behind foreign policy.

I am a journalist and, under the modern journalist's code of Olympian objectivity (and total purity of motive), I am absolved of responsibility. We journalists don't have to step on roaches. All we have to do is turn on the kitchen light and watch the critters scurry.

If you are young and you drink a great deal it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat - in other words, turn you into an adult.

No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.

The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.

Social Security is a government program with a constituency made up of the old, the near old and those who hope or fear to grow old. After 215 years of trying, we have finally discovered a special interest that includes 100 percent of the population.

Now we can vote ourselves rich.

The Clinton administration launched an attack on people in Texas because those people were religious nuts with guns. Hell, this country was founded by religious nuts with guns. Who does Bill Clinton think stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock?

The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person.

There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL convertible.

You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going.

To quote Theodore Roosevelt

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do!

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

Believe you can and you're halfway there.

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit softly.

A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

There is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not Guilty.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.

No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it.

Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done.