Quotes about security
A collection of quotes on the topic of security, people, use, nation.
Quotes about security
Adolf Hitler book Mein Kampf
1920s, Zweites Buch (1928)
Source: Mein Kampf
Context: Jewry is a Folk with a racial core that is not wholly unitary. Nevertheless, as a Folk, it has special intrinsic characteristics which separate it from all other Folks living on the globe. Jewry is not a religious community, but the religious bond between Jews; rather is in reality the momentary governmental system of the Jewish Folk. The Jew has never had a territorially bounded State of his own in the manner of Aryan States. Nevertheless, his religious community is a real State, since it guarantees the preservation, the increase and the future of the Jewish Folk. But this is solely the task of the State. That the Jewish State is subject to no territorial limitation, as is the case with Aryan States, is connected with the character of the Jewish Folk, which is lacking in the productive forces for the construction and preservation of its own territorial State.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) French soldier and military theorist
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 147
Oswald Mosley (1896–1980) British politician; founder of the British Union of Fascists
Excerpt from My Life by Oswald Mosley (1968), Ch.16.
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
Translation by Lionel Giles
Source: The Art of War, Chapter IV · Disposition of the Army
Wilhelm Reich book Listen, Little Man!
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Context: You beg for happiness in life, but security is more important to you, even if it costs you your spine or your life. Your life will be good and secure when aliveness will mean more to you than security; love more than money; your freedom more than party line or public opinion; when your thinking will be in harmony with your feelings; when the teachers of your children will be better paid than the politicians; when you will have more respect for the love between man and woman than for a marriage license.
Daniel Kahneman book Thinking, Fast and Slow
Source: Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), Chapter 19, "The illusion of understanding", page 201 (ISBN 9780141033570).
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author
"Security" (1951); excerpted in Outlaw Journalist: The Life & Times of Hunter S. Thompson (2008), page 15
1950s
Alex Jones (1974) American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker
Alex Jones: The "Justin Biebler" Rant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDMB0KyhPN8, 21 February 2011. <br class="br">2011
Hammurabi (-1810–-1750 BC) sixth king of Babylon
Charles L. Souvay, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Volume VII.
About
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
"If his forces are united, separate them" is also interpreted: "If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them."
Source: The Art of War, Chapter I · Detail Assessment and Planning
Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015) Uruguayan writer
As quoted in Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone (2009), p. 17
“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929) German politician, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Speech in the Reichstag (6 April 1916), quoted in W. M. Knight-Patterson, Germany. From Defeat to Conquest 1913-1933 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1945), p. 75
1910s
Gilles Villeneuve (1950–1982) Canadian racecar driver
Interview during the driver's strike at the 1982 South African Grand Prix, Donaldson, pg. 297
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Remarks Against Going to War with Iraq (2 October 2002).
2000-03
Juan Donoso Cortés (1809–1853) Spanish author, political theorist and diplomat
Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism (1879)
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
“Love is a God, who cooperates in securing the safety of the city.”
Zeno of Citium (-334–-263 BC) ancient Greek philosopher
As quoted in Deipnosophists by Athenaeus, xiii. 561c.
Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German field marshal of World War II
Strategies he promoted which have been called Blitzkrieg (Lightning War), as quoted in Europe Since 1914 (1966) by Gordon Alexander Craig
Justin Bieber (1994) Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor
Interview with The Sun, as quoted by MTV http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/justin-bieber/201278-justin-bieber-my-world-20, March 2010
John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint
En una noche oscura,
con ansias, en amores inflamada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!,
salí sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada;
One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace! —
I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.
In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, — ah, the sheer grace! — in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled.
Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest.
Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled.
The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead
Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)
Dark Night of the Soul
François Quesnay (1694–1774) French economist
Questney, cited in: J. D. Vassie, Paul Chadburn (1935). Economics, Modern Business, p. 137.
“When times are stable, and the sea is calm and secure, no one is really tested.”
T. B. Joshua (1963) Nigerian Christian leader
Inspiration from his late mother - "'ATTRIBUTING THE SATELLITES SUCCESS TO ME IS BLASPHEMY' – T.B. JOSHUA" http://www.modernghana.com/print/247180/1/attributing-the-satellites-success-to-me-is-blasph.html Modern Ghana (November 4 2009)
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
From a review of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, New English Weekly (21 March 1940)
John Locke book Two Treatises of Government
Second Treatise of Civil Government, Ch. XIX, sec. 222
Two Treatises of Government (1689)
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
Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) American–Canadian journalist, author on urbanism and activist (1916-2006)
Political questionnaire response (1952)
Ali book Nahj al-Balagha
Nahj al-Balagha
Claire Holt (1988) Australian actress and model
Exclusive: The Australian Actress Hollywood Can't Get Enough Of (June 10, 2016)
Michael Parenti (1933) American academic
3 CONSPIRACY: PHOBIA AND REALITY, The JFK Assassination II: p. 174
Dirty truths (1996), first edition
Zhang Zai (1020–1077) Chinese philosopher
Complete Works of Master Zhang, "Supplements to Reflections on Things at Hand", as quoted in Wang Chunyong's Famous Chinese Sayings Quoted by Wen Jiabao, trans. Chan Sin-wai (Hong Kong: Chung Hwa Book Co., 2009), p. 10
“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”
David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon
David Lane
Variant: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.
Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) American general and politician, 7th president of the United States
Response to request from a church organization of New York, on refusing to proclaim a national day of fasting and prayer, in relation to an outbreak of cholera. Correspondence 4:447 (1832); quoted in A Subaltern's Furlough : Descriptive of Scenes in Various Parts of the United States, Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during the Summer and Autumn of 1832 (1833) by Edward Thomas Coke, Ch. 9, p. 145 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbtn:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbtn0265adiv14)) <br class="br">1830s <br class="br">Context: While I concur with the Synod in the efficacy of prayer, and in the hope that our country may be preserved from the attacks of pestilence "and that the judgments now abroad in the earth may be sanctified to the nations," I am constrained to decline the designation of any period or mode as proper for the public manifestation of this reliance. I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government.
“The Laws ought to be so framed, as to secure the Safety of every Citizen as much as possible.”
Catherine the Great (1729–1796) Empress of Russia
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768), Item 33
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
" My Philanthropic Pledge http://givingpledge.org/pdf/letters/Buffett_Letter.pdf" at the The Giving Pledge (2010) <br class="br">Context: Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.<br>My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U. S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.<br>The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian writer
Interview With Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on Ukraine (May 1994)
Nathuram Godse (1910–1949) Assassin of Mahatma Gandhi
Nathuram Godse: Why I Assassinated Gandhi (1993)
I. K. Gujral (1919–2012) Indian politician
Lakshman Kadirgamar's observations on Gujral Dictrine as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, at his Krishna Menon Memorial lecture delivered at Kota, Rajasthan in December 1996 quoted in :Democracy, Sovereignty and Terror: Lakshman Kadirgamar on the Foundations of International Order"
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Source: Election address; letter to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Marlborough (8 March 1880), quoted in The Times (9 March 1880), p. 8
David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon
Drugs and Governments
Focus Fourteen
“Satan can control you if you let outward things determine your security.”
Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist
1790s, First Principles of Government (1795)
Context: An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
“Yet one thing secures us what ever betide, the scriptures assures us that the Lord will provide.”
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics
“Security is a false God. Begin to make sacrifices to it and you are lost.”
Paul Bowles (1910–1999) American composer, writer, translator
William T. Sherman (1820–1891) American General, businessman, educator, and author.
1860s, 1864, Letter to the City of Atlanta (September 1864)
Source: Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman
Context: You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop
Context: You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. The United States does and must assert its authority, wherever it once had power; for, if it relaxes one bit to pressure, it is gone, and I believe that such is the national feeling.
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Burns
“Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure…”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42 (1996), p. 443
Attributed from posthumous publications
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
Fifth annual Message http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washs05.asp (3 December 1793) <br class="br">1790s <br class="br">Source: The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799 Volume 39 (General Index O-Z List of Letters) - Leather Bound
“Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security.”
Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer
David Hume book An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
§ 9.13 : Conclusion, Pt. 1
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Comments on energy and environmental policies, in the Second Presidential Debate (7 October 2008) http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/presidential.debate.transcript <br class="br">2008
Matthew Perry (actor) (1969) American actor
Matt LeBlanc, interview in Donna Freydkin (April 1, 2004) "A brush with happiness", USA Today, Gannett Co., Inc., p. 01D.
About
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2014, Remarks to the People of Estonia (September 2014)
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1900s, Inaugural Address (1905)
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
United Nations, General Debate of the 64th Session (2009), United States of America, H.E. Mr. Barack Obama, President p. 6 http://un.org/ga/64/generaldebate/pdf/US_en.pdf, (23 September 2009) <br class="br">2009
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2004, Democratic National Convention speech (July 2004)
Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) American diplomat
"Four Things," Poems, vol. 1 (vol. 9 of The Works of Henry Van Dyke) (1920).
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2015, State of the Union Address (January 2015)
Roger Scruton (1944–2020) English philosopher
"Conservatism and the Conservatory," https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/427945/conservatism-and-conservatory, National Review (December 2015).
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1910s, Proposed Roads To Freedom (1918), Ch. IV: Work and Pay, discussing Universal Basic Income (UBI)
“But the people of the Baltic nations also knew that freedom needs a foundation of security.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2014, Remarks to the People of Estonia (September 2014)
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1900s, Letter to Winfield T. Durbin (1903)
James Tobin (1918–2002) American economist
James Tobin, "Keynes' Policies in Theory and Practice", Challenge (1983).
1970s and later
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1910s, Why Men Fight https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Why_Men_Fight (1917), pp. 18-19
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Source: Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1862/aug/01/the-administration-of-viscount in the House of Commons (1 August 1862).
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1910s, Address to the Knights of Columbus (1915)
Context: The foreign-born population of this country must be an Americanized population. No other kind can fight the battles of America either in war or peace. It must talk the language of its native-born fellow-citizens; it must possess American citizenship and American ideals. It must stand firm by its oath of allegiance in word and deed and must show that in very fact it has renounced allegiance to every prince, potentate, or foreign government. It must be maintained on an American standard of living so as to prevent labor disturbances in important plants and at critical times. None of these objects can be secured as long as we have immigrant colonies, ghettos, and immigrant sections, and above all they cannot be assured so long as we consider the immigrant only as an industrial asset. The immigrant must not be allowed to drift or to be put at the mercy of the exploiter. Our object is not to imitate one of the older racial types, but to maintain a new American type and then to secure loyalty to this type. We cannot secure such loyalty unless we make this a country where men shall feel that they have justice and also where they shall feel that they are required to perform the duties imposed upon them. The policy of 'Let alone' which we have hitherto pursued is thoroughly vicious from two standpoints. By this policy we have permitted the immigrants, and too often the native-born laborers as well, to suffer injustice. Moreover, by this policy we have failed to impress upon the immigrant and upon the native-born as well that they are expected to do justice as well as to receive justice, that they are expected to be heartily and actively and single-mindedly loyal to the flag no less than to benefit by living under it.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2011, UN speech to General Assembly (September 2011)
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2014, 25th Anniversary of Polish Freedom Day Speech (June 2014)
“So long as you are secure you will count many friends; if your life becomes clouded you will be alone.”
Donec eris sospes, multos numerabis amicos:
tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.
I, ix, 5
Tristia (Sorrows)
Friedrich Nietzsche Untimely Meditations
(A. Ludovici trans.), “David Strauss,” § 1.2
Untimely Meditations (1876)
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (1949) Austrian school economist and libertarian anarcho-capitalist philosopher
"The Private Production of Defense" http://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/Hoppe.pdf (15 June 1999)
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2014, Address to European Youth (March 2014)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
1950s, What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)
“He who offends others, does not secure himself.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), X Studies and Sketches for Pictures and Decorations
Olof Palme (1927–1986) Swedish 20th century prime minister
Source: Nancy I. Lieber, Institute for Democratic Socialism (U.S.) (1982) Eurosocialism and America: political economy for the 1980s. p. 222.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2017, Farewell Address (January 2017)