Quotes about protection
A collection of quotes on the topic of protection, people, use, doing.
Quotes about protection
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
Statement to the press (23 November 1991), the day before his death, as quoted at The Biography Channel http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/338:294/1/Freddie_Mercury.htm.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997) French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and …
Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology
Other
Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto
Source: Naruto, Vol. 21: Pursuit
Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor
Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)
Source: Resurrection, 1971-1996
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
“A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
"Weird Al" Yankovic (1959) American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist
Ask Al Archives: May 2000 http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#0500.
Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890–1995) American philanthropist and mother of John F. Kennedy
Variant: It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union
Address to the court in People v. Lloyd (1920)
“Your silence will not protect you.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist
essay "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action", in Sister Outsider
Source: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935) Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory
from Non-resistance or struggle http://tsiolkovsky.org/en/the-cosmic-philosophy/non-resistance-or-struggle-1935/ -- a manuscript written in 1935
Michael Parenti (1933) American academic
Source: Democracy for the Few (2010 [1974]), sixth edition, Chapter 1, p. 4
Al Gore (1948) 45th Vice President of the United States
Quotes, IPI speech (2000)
Context: The disruption of the world's ecological systems — from the rise of global warming and the consequent damage to our climate balance, to the loss of living species and the depletion of ocean fisheries and forest habitats — continues at a frightening rate. Practically every day, it becomes clearer to us that must act now to protect our Earth, while preserving and creating jobs for our people.
And at the very same time that these threats are developing, the traditional nation-state itself is changing — as power moves upwards and downwards, to everything from supra-national organizations and coalitions all the way down to feuding clans. Susceptible to tyrants willing to exploit ethnic and religious rivalries, the weakest of these states have either imploded into civil war or threatened to lash out across their borders.
To meet these challenges requires cooperation on a scale not seen before. A realistic reading of the world today demands reinvigorated international and regional institutions. It demands that we confront threats before they spiral out of the control. And it requires American leadership — to protect our interests and uphold our values.
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
Source: The Art of War, Chapter X · Terrain
“To be human is to care for your fellow human beings and protecting the environment.”
Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer
Keanu Reeves (1964) Canadian actor, director, producer and musician
Source: Discovering Buddhism, 2004 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=226w04QMPzQ
“Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other.”
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Theologician from Wales
Genesis 2:21.
Commentaries
Variant: Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.
Source: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Lynn Margulis (1938–2011) American evolutionary biologist
Source: Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
Source: Revolution at the Gates: Selected Writings of Lenin from 1917
“It is my belief that books are living things…. And as living things, they need to be protected.”
Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer
“Michael Servetus, alone, but trusting in Christ’s most sure protection.”
Michael Servetus (1511–1553) Spanish physician and theologian
While in prison, Servetus signed his last letter with these words.
Michael Servetus—A Solitary Quest for the Truth (2006)
Alex Carey (1922–1988) Australian psychologist
Source: Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty (1995), p. 18
William Blum book Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
third edition (2006), p. 1
Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist
The Lover of God's Law Filled with Peace (January 1888) http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols34-36/chs2004.pdf
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
"Fragments of a Tariff Discussion", Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 1, p. 415 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:423?rgn=div1;view=fulltext; according to the source Lincoln's "scraps about protection were written by Lincoln, between his election to Congress in 1846, and taking his seat in Dec. 1847". <br class="br">1840s
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1845/mar/17/agricultural-interest in the House of Commons (17 March 1845). <br class="br">1840s
“I believe the only way to protect my own rights is to protect the rights of others.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
1950s, Remarks at the United Negro College Fund luncheon (1953)
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), pp. 73-74
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
A private statement made on March 24, 1942.
Disputed, (1941-1944) (published 1953)
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
Remarks by the President In Photo Opportunity with the National Security Team http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010912-4.html, September 12, 2001 <br class="br">2000s, 2001
Paul Robeson (1898–1976) American singer and actor
As quoted in Paul Robeson, The Whole World in His Hands (1981) by Susan Robeson, p. 60
Robert S. McNamara (1916–2009) American businessman and Secretary of Defense
Source: Herbert Y. Schandler (1975), US Policy on the Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1945-1975. p. 55
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"Freedom of the Park", Tribune (7 December 1945)
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician
Speech to the Royal Society (27 September 1988) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107346 <br class="br">Third term as Prime Minister
Sergey Lavrov (1950) Russian politician and Foreign Minister
Intervention in Libya at odds with UN resolution (March 2011) http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110328/163245789.html
Max Planck (1858–1947) German theoretical physicist
As quoted in God’s Laughter (1992) by Gerhard Staguhn, p. 152
Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901) Japanese author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and journalist who founded Keio University
From Fukuzawa Yukichi on Japanese Women (1988), trans. Kiyooka Eiichi.
Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer
Interview in New Statesman & Society (21 April 1995), discussing her books Intercourse and Right Wing Women.
Aaron Swartz (1986–2013) computer programmer and internet-political activist
Freedom to Connect speech (2012)
Context: The people rose up, and they caused a sea change in Washington — not the press, which refused to cover the story — just coincidentally, their parent companies all happened to be lobbying for the bill; not the politicians, who were pretty much unanimously in favor of it; and not the companies, who had all but given up trying to stop it and decided it was inevitable. It was really stopped by the people, the people themselves. They killed the bill dead, so dead that when members of Congress propose something now that even touches the Internet, they have to give a long speech beforehand about how it is definitely not like SOPA; so dead that when you ask congressional staffers about it, they groan and shake their heads like it’s all a bad dream they’re trying really hard to forget; so dead that it’s kind of hard to believe this story, hard to remember how close it all came to actually passing, hard to remember how this could have gone any other way. But it wasn’t a dream or a nightmare; it was all very real.
And it will happen again. Sure, it will have yet another name, and maybe a different excuse, and probably do its damage in a different way. But make no mistake: The enemies of the freedom to connect have not disappeared. The fire in those politicians’ eyes hasn’t been put out. There are a lot of people, a lot of powerful people, who want to clamp down on the Internet. And to be honest, there aren’t a whole lot who have a vested interest in protecting it from all of that. Even some of the biggest companies, some of the biggest Internet companies, to put it frankly, would benefit from a world in which their little competitors could get censored. We can’t let that happen.
Zeno of Elea (-490–-425 BC) ancient Greek philosopher, mostly known for his eponym paradoxes
As quoted in Parmenides by Plato, a portrayal of a discussion which begins between Socrates and Zeno, and then primarily Parmenides; as translated by Benjamin Jowett, Parmenides (1871)
My writing is an answer to the partisans of the many and it returns their attack with interest, with a view to showing that the hypothesis of the many, if examined sufficiently in detail, leads to even more ridiculous results than the hypothesis of the One.
As translated in A History of Philosophy, Vol. I : Greece and Rome (1953) by Frederick Charles Copleston.
Context: The truth is, that these writings of mine were meant to protect the arguments of Parmenides against those who make fun of him and seek to show the many ridiculous and contradictory results which they suppose to follow from the affirmation of the one. My answer is addressed to the partisans of the many, whose attack I return with interest by retorting upon them that their hypothesis of the being of many, if carried out, appears to be still more ridiculous than the hypothesis of the being of one. Zeal for my master led me to write the book in the days of my youth, but some one stole the copy; and therefore I had no choice whether it should be published or not; the motive, however, of writing, was not the ambition of an elder man, but the pugnacity of a young one.
“I will protect my people if I live. For myself I do not fear for I have the word of Usen.”
Geronimo (1829–1909) leader of the Bedonkohe Apache
On being informed that there were authorizations to kill him while he was a prisoner in San Antonio, prior to news of further instructions to transport him to Florida, as quoted in Geronimo and the End of the Apache Wars (1990), by Charles Leland Sonnichsen, p. 102; "Usen" is the Apache word for God, and "Nantan" their word for a leader, spokesman, or "chief".
Context: I will protect my people if I live. For myself I do not fear for I have the word of Usen. Who is the White Nantan to think he can pit his power against that of Usen?
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"As I Please," The Tribune (17 January 1947)
"As I Please" (1943–1947)
Context: This business of making people conscious of what is happening outside their own small circle is one of the major problems of our time, and a new literary technique will have to be evolved to meet it. Considering that the people of this country are not having a very comfortable time, you can't perhaps, blame them for being somewhat callous about suffering elsewhere, but the remarkable thing is the extent to which they manage to be unaware of it. Tales of starvation, ruined cities, concentration camps, mass deportations, homeless refugees, persecuted Jews — all this is received with a sort of incurious surprise, as though such things had never been heard of but at the same time were not particularly interesting. The now-familiar photographs of skeleton-like children make very little impression. As time goes on and the horrors pile up, the mind seems to secrete a sort of self-protecting ignorance which needs a harder and harder shock to pierce it, just as the body will become immunised to a drug and require bigger and bigger doses.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Source: Address to the electors of Buckinghamshire (12 December 1832), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume I. 1804–1859 (London: John Murray, 1929), p. 225
Isabel II do Reino Unido (1926–2022) queen of the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and head of the Commonwealth of Nations
Address to the UK on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, which occurred during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, 08/05/2020 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-queen-ve-day-speech-read-full-a9506226.html.
Jeff Foster (1980) Spiritual teacher
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5RcCpknF7y/
Laurell K. Hamilton book Incubus Dreams
Psychic mentor Marianne, to Anita; p. 61
Source: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, Incubus Dreams (2004)
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)
As quoted by Thomas A. Bruno in Take your dreams and Run (South Plainfield: Bridge, 1984), p. 2-3. Source: Dr. Preston Williams (2002): By the Way - A Snapshot Diagnosis of the Inner-City Dilemma, p. 38-39. Xulun Press, Fairfax, Virginia http://books.google.de/books?id=Xn9jxqatFecC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=woodrow+wilson+We+Grow+Great+By+Dreams%27&source=bl&ots=TtioQ-yO0-&sig=qHWPj4-8g3hSjcV-qJTbzNg6nuI&hl=de&sa=X&ei=1QZ0U4DBOaf80QWSqYDQAw&ved=0CHYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=woodrow%20wilson%20We%20Grow%20Great%20By%20Dreams'&f=false <br class="br">1880s
“My unhappiness protects me from life.”
Orhan Pamuk (1952) Turkish novelist, screenwriter, and Nobel Prize in Literature recipient
“Competition does a much more effective job than government at protecting consumers.”
Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author
Bogeyman Economics
1980s–1990s, Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays (1987)
Source: Compassion Versus Guilt, and Other Essays: And Other Essays
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
As cited in The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (2007), Alan Greenspan, Penguin Press, Chapter 4 (Private Citizen), p. 87 : ISBN 15942 01315
1980s
“The best protection any woman can have… is courage.”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) Suffragist and Women's Rights activist
Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist
Speech in San Francisco (July 1871)<!-- also quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, p. 276 -->
Variant: Woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself.
Irène Némirovsky (1903–1942) French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz
Source: The Wine of Solitude
“Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
Remarks at the National Conference of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO (30 March 1981)) (source: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/33081b.htm) <br class="br">1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)
“Anything may happen when womanhood has ceased to be a protected occupation.”
Virginia Woolf book A Room of One's Own
Source: A Room of One's Own
“C++ protects against accident, not against fraud.”
Bjarne Stroustrup book The C++ Programming Language
The C++ Programming Language
Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly
“There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Memoirs of Childhood and Youth (1924)
Context: One thing that specially saddened me was that the unfortunate animals had to suffer so much pain and misery. The sight of an old limping horse, tugged forward by one man while another kept beating it with a stick to get it to the knacker's yard at Colmar, haunted me for weeks. It was quite incomprehensible to me — this was before I began going to school — why in my evening prayers I should pray for human beings only. It was quite incomprehensible to me — this was before I began going to school — why in my evening prayers I should pray for human beings only. So when my mother had prayed with me and had kissed me good-night, I used to add silently a prayer that I had composed myself for all living creatures. It ran thus: "O, heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath; guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in peace."
Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince
Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 18
Variant translations of portions of this passage:
Every one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with integrity and not with craft. Nevertheless our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word.
Ch. 18. Concerning the Way in which Princes should keep Faith (as translated by W. K. Marriott)
A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.
You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second.
Context: A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from snares, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognise snares, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this.
Context: How laudable it is for a prince to keep good faith and live with integrity, and not with astuteness, every one knows. Still the experience of our times shows those princes to have done great things who have had little regard for good faith, and have been able by astuteness to confuse men's brains, and who have ultimately overcome those who have made loyalty their foundation. You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second. It is therefore necessary to know well how to use both the beast and the man. This was covertly taught to princes by ancient writers, who relate how Achilles and many others of those princes were given to Chiron the centaur to be brought up, who kept them under his discipline; this system of having for teacher one who was half beast and half man is meant to indicate that a prince must know how to use both natures, and that the one without the other is not durable. A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from snares, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognise snares, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this. Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.... those that have been best able to imitate the fox have succeeded best. But it is necessary to be able to disguise this character well, and to be a great feigner and dissembler.
Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist
Source: Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way