“The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom. That’s a personal evaluation, of course.”

— Robert A. Heinlein , book Beyond This Horizon

Source: Beyond This Horizon (1948; originally serialized in 1942), Chapter 9, “When we die, do we die all over?”, p. 97

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Robert A. Heinlein 557

American science fiction author 1907–1988

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

Context: The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an "equalizer." Egalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never needed — but do not forget what the common people of this nation knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny.

Abbey's Road (1979)

“The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 12; translated by W. K. Marriot

“To be armed for personal defence is the right of every man, to be armed to defend freedom and the existence of the common fatherland is the right of every citizen.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

On the organisation of the National Guard (5 December 1790)
Misc Quotes

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Robert J. Birgeneau (1942) Canadian physicist

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“Never reach out your hand unless you're willing to extend an arm.”

Pope Paul VI (1897–1978) 262nd Pope of the Catholic Church

“There is no better place than in the arms of the one you love.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Non c'è posto migliore che tra le braccia di chi ami.
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“I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

The Robert Heinlein Interview (1973)
Context: I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand's; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything, now.