Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?

Adversity toughens manhood, and the characteristic of the good or the great man is not that he has been exempt from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them.

Fear is the passion of slaves.

The battle is not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, and the brave. A small, disciplined militia can not only hold out against a larger force, but drive it back, because what they're fighting for rightfully belongs to them.

Human nature will never part with power. Look for an example of a voluntary relinquishment of power from one end of the globe to another - you will find none.

I look on that paper (the Constitution) as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people.

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?