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Talk:Neoconservatism

So after reading all of this. A Neo Con is basically a revolutionized conservative?

Neo Cons are basically Alder Pyles in The Quiet American. They are Wilsonian Idealists that were popular back in the 20's and 30's.

Excessive obscure quotes and pov pushing
These quotes by Praveen  were recently added, the quotes are obscure and only published once in a news blog.

The quote is also in about 10 other wikiquote articles.

Badly sourced, fails WQ:CRITICISM, random quotes from non notable person on random news blog, no quotability, this is a high level article, needs verification and be sourced by a Secondary RS

This is a high level article. This article should have more quotes from books, rather than websites or newspapers, that have timeless quotability.

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authors: დამოკიდებულება

title: Talk:Neoconservatism


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William Blackstone

Sir William Blackstone (July 10, 1723 – February 14, 1780) was an English jurist and professor who produced the historical treatise on the common law called Commentaries on the Laws of England.

Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769)

 * Law, in its most general and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action; and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate, or inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we say, the laws of motion, of gravitation, of optics, or mechanics, as well as the laws of nature and of nations. And it is that rule of action, which is prescribed by some superior, and which the inferior is bound to obey.
 * Introduction, Section II: Of the Nature of Laws in General

 * Man was formed for society and is neither capable of living alone, nor has the courage to do it.
 * Introduction, Section II: Of the Nature of Laws in General

 * Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being...This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.
 * Introduction, Section II: Of the Nature of Laws in General

 * If the parliament will positively enact a thing to be done which is unreasonable, I know of no power that can control it: and the examples usually alleged in support of this sense of the rule do none of them prove, that where the main object of a statute is unreasonable the judges are at liberty to reject it; for that were to set the judicial power above that of the legislature, which would be subversive of all government. But where some collateral matter arises out of the general words, and happens to be unreasonable; there the judges are in decency to conclude that this consequence was not foreseen by the parliament, and therefore they are at liberty to expound the statute by equity, and only quoad hoc disregard it.
 * Introduction, Section III: Of the Laws of England.

 * The absolute rights of man, considered as a free agent, endowed with discernment to know good from evil, and with power of choosing those measures which appear to him to be most desirable, are usually summed up in one general appellation, and denominated the natural liberty of mankind. This natural liberty consists properly in a power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, unless by the law of nature: being a right inherent in us by birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation, when he endowed him with the faculty of freewill. But every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase; and, in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself to conform to those laws, which the community has thought proper to establish.
 * Book I, ch. 1: Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals.

 * Of great importance to the public is the preservation of this personal liberty; for if once it were left in the power of any the highest magistrate to imprison arbitrarily whomever he or his officers thought proper, (as in France it is daily practised by the crown,) there would soon be an end of all other rights and immunities. Some have thought that unjust attacks, even upon life or property, at the arbitrary will of the magistrate, are less dangerous to the commonwealth than such as are made upon the personal liberty of the subject. To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom; but confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government.
 * Book I, ch. 1: Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals.

 * So great moreover is the regard of the law for private property, that it will not authorize the least violation of it; no, not even for the general good of the whole community. If a new road, for instance, were to be made through the grounds of a private person, it might perhaps be extensively beneficial to the public; but the law permits no man, or set of men, to do this without consent of the owner of the land. In vain may it be urged, that the good of the individual ought to yield to that of the community; for it would be dangerous to allow any private man, or even any public tribunal, to be the judge of this common good, and to decide whether it be expedient or no. Besides, the public good is in nothing more essentially interested, than in the protection of every individual's private rights, as modelled by the municipal law. In this, and similar cases the legislature alone can, and indeed frequently does, interpose, and compel the individual to acquiesce. But how does it interpose and compel? Not by absolutely stripping the subject of his property in an arbitrary manner; but by giving him a full indemnification and equivalent for the injury thereby sustained.
 * Book I, ch. 1: Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals.

 * What they do, no authority upon earth can undo.
 * Book I, ch. 2: Of the Parliament.

 * In this distinct and separate existence of the judicial power, in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed, but not removable at pleasure, by the crown, consists one main preservative of the public liberty; which cannot subsist long in any state, unless the administration of common justice be in some degree separated both from the legislative and the also from the executive power. Were it joined with the legislative, the life, liberty, and property of the subject would be in the hands of arbitrary judges, whose decisions would be then regulated only by their own opinions, and not by any fundamental principles of law; which, though legislators may depart from, yet judges are bound to observe. Were it joined with the executive, this union might soon be an overbalance for the legislative. For which reason... effectual care is taken to remove all judicial power out of the hands of the king's privy council; who, as then was evident from recent instances might soon be inclined to pronounce that for law, which was most agreeable to the prince or his officers. Nothing therefore is to be more avoided, in a free constitution, than uniting the provinces of a judge and a minister of state.
 * Book I, ch. 7: Of the King's Prerogative.

 * The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of our island.
 * Book I, ch. 13: Of the Military and Maritime States.

 * Time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.
 * Book I, ch. 18: Of Corporations.

 * There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe. And yet there are very few, that will give themselves the trouble to consider the original and foundation of this right.
 * Book II, ch. 1: Of Property in General.

 * That the king can do no wrong, is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.
 * Book III, ch. 17: Of Injuries Proceeding from, or Affecting, the Crown.

 * All the several pleas and excuses, which protect the committer of a forbidden act from the punishment which is otherwise annexed thereto, may be reduced to this single consideration, the want or defect of will. An involuntary act, as it has no claim to merit, so neither can it induce any guilt: the concurrence of the will, when it has its choice either to do or to avoid the fact in question, being the only thing that renders human actions either praiseworthy or culpable. Indeed, to make a complete crime, cognizable by human laws, there must be both a will and an act.
 * Book IV, ch. 2: Of the Persons Capable of Committing Crimes.

 * Of crimes injurious to the persons of private subjects, the most principal and important is the offense of taking away that life, which is the immediate gift of the great creator; and which therefore no man can be entitled to deprive himself or another of, but in some manner either expressly commanded in, or evidently deducible from, those laws which the creator has given us; the divine laws, I mean, of either nature or revelation.
 * Book IV, ch. 14: Of Homicide.

 * The founders of the English laws have with excellent forecast contrived, that no man should be called to answer to the king for any capital crime, unless upon the preparatory accusation of twelve or more of his fellow subjects, the grand jury: and that the truth of every accusation, whether preferred in the shape of indictment, information, or appeal, should afterwards be confirmed by the unanimous suffrage of twelve of his equals and neighbours, indifferently chosen, and superior to all suspicion. So that the liberties of England cannot but subsist, so long as this palladium remains sacred and inviolate, not only from all open attacks, (which none will be so hardy as to make) but also from all secret machinations, which may sap and undermine it; by introducing new and arbitrary methods of trial, by justices of the peace, commissioners of the revenue, and courts of conscience. And however convenient these may appear at first, (as doubtless all arbitrary powers, well executed, are the most convenient) yet let it be again remembered, that delays, and little inconveniences in the forms of justice, are the price that all free nations must pay for their liberty in more substantial matters; that these inroads upon this sacred bulwark of the nation are fundamentally opposite to the spirit of our constitution; and that, though begun in trifles, the precedent may gradually increase and spread, to the utter disuse of juries in questions of the most momentous concern.
 * Book IV, ch. 27: Of Trial, And Conviction.

 * It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.
 * Book IV, ch. 27.

Quotes about William Blackstone

 * In the history of American institutions, no other book — except the Bible — has played so great a role as Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Before the American Revolution, according to Edmund Burke, it had sold nearly as many copies in the colonies as in England. Even without Blackstone, the Americans surely would have fought their Revolution and doubtless would have preserved English institutions in America. But the convenient appearance of the Commentaries within the decade before the Declaration of Independence made it much easier for Americans to see what they were preserving; and made it feasible to perpetuate those institutions in remote villages without trained lawyers or law libraries. From Blackstone we can learn even more about what the American colonists were defending than by reading the violent tracts of Thomas Paine.
 * Daniel J. Boorstin, 'Preface to the Beacon Press Edition', The Mysterious Science of the Law: An Essay on Blackstone's Commentaries Showing How Blackstone, Employing Eighteenth-Century Ideas of Science, Religion, History, Aesthetics, and Philosophy, Made of the Law at Once a Conservative and a Mysterious Science (1941; 1958), p. i

 * I say...upon this point, what JUDGE BLACKSTONE says; and that is, that the right to resist oppression always exists, but that those who compose the nation at any given time must be left to judge for themselves when oppression has arrived at a pitch to justify the exercise of such right.
 * William Cobbett, ‘To the Freemen of Coventry’, Political Register (4 April 1818), p. 404

 * He was the greatest exponent of the common law that we have ever had... To this we owe his immortal Commentaries on the Laws of England. In four books. They were the product of his lectures over a period of twelve years. The work was at once acclaimed as a classic by lawyers and by men of letters. It has remained a classic ever since. I have an early edition in my library. I refer to it constantly when I want to know what the law was in his day. I am always amazed at the breadth of his knowledge, the research which he did, the style of his prose, and his statement of principles. It is the greatest law-book that we have ever had.
 * Lord Denning, What Next in the Law (1982), pp. 13, 15

 * As a judge he showed himself most workmanlike, and it would be hard to find any decision in which he failed to attain a high standard. He was certainly outstanding among his colleagues, who, though sound lawyers, did not rise above mediocrity, and were at any rate overshadowed by their contemporaries in the Court of King's Bench.
 * Harold Hanbury, 'Blackstone as a Judge', The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 3, No. 1 (January 1959), p. 26

 * It can be said with confidence that he showed a very firm grasp of every branch of law which he was called upon to handle. No problem found him wanting in anxious consideration and sensible conclusion. If there were few diamonds in his judicial necklace, at least there were no gewgaws.
 * Harold Hanbury, 'Blackstone as a Judge', The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 3, No. 1 (January 1959), p. 27

 * We are no admirers of the political doctrines laid down in Blackstone's Commentaries. But if we consider that those Commentaries were read with great applause in the very schools where, seventy or eighty years before, books had been publicly burned by order of the University of Oxford for containing the damnable doctrine that the English monarchy is limited and mixed, we cannot deny that a salutary change had taken place.
 * Thomas Babington Macaulay, 'Sir James Mackintosh', The Edinburgh Review (July 1835), quoted in T. B. Macaulay, Critical and Historical Essays Contributed to The Edinburgh Review, Vol. II (1843), p. 278

 * My good lord, till of late I could never, with any satisfaction to myself, answer that question; but, since the publication of Mr. Blackstone's Commentaries I can never be at a loss. There your son will find analytical reasoning diffused in a pleasing and perspicuous style. There he may imbibe imperceptibly the first principles on which our excellent laws are founded, and THERE he may become acquainted with an uncouth crabbed author, Coke upon Littleton, who has disappointed and disheartened many a Tyro, but who cannot fail to please in a modern dress.
 * Lord Mansfield, reply to a peer who asked him what books he would advise his son to read, who was determined to be a lawyer, quoted in John Holliday, The Life of William Late Earl of Mansfield (1797), pp. 89-90

 * Blackstone's declaration respecting the civil death of married women haunted many other outstanding leaders in the woman movement of the middle period. Although Matilda Joslyn Gage tried to meet it by a curious display of logic, she regarded it as a statement of the law. "After marriage," she declared in 1852, "the husband and wife are considered as one person in law, which I hold to be false from the very laws applicable to married parties. Were it so, the act of one would be as binding as the act of the other;...were it so, a woman could not legally be a man's inferior. Such a thing would be a veritable impossibility. One-half of a person cannot be made the protection or direction of the other half. Blackstone says 'a woman may indeed be attorney for her husband, for that implies no separation from, but rather a representation of, her lord. And a husband may also bequeath anything to his wife by will; for it cannot take effect till the coverture is determined by his death." After stating at considerable length the reasons showing their unity, the learned commentator proceeds to cut the knot, and show they are not one, but are considered as two persons, one superior, the one inferior, and not only so, but the inferior in the eye of the law as acting from compulsion"...At the Woman's Rights Convention held in Syracuse the following year, 1853, Mrs. Gage recurred to the subject and spoke as if equity and legislation had made no changes in the "disabilities" of married women at common law. She affirmed that "the legal disabilities of women" are numerous; that they are only known to those who bear them; that they "are acknowledged by Kent, Story, and many other legal authorities." Without directing attention to those pages of Kent and Story which set forth at length the equitable principles by which common-law rules could be and often were nullified, Mrs. Gage went on with her oration: "A wife has no management in the joint earnings of herself and her husband; they are entirely under control of the husband, who is obliged to furnish the wife merely the common necessaries of life; all that she receives beyond these is looked upon by the law as a favor, and not held as her right. A mother is denied the custody of her own child; a most barbarous and unjust law, which robs her of the child placed in her care by the great Creator himself. A widow is allowed the use merely of one-third of the real estate left at the husband's death; and when her minor children have grown up she must surrender the personal property, even to the family Bible, and the pictures of her dear children. In view of such laws the women engaged in this movement ask that the wife shall be made heir to the husband to the same extent that he is now her heir...."The present law of divorce is very unjust; the husband, whether the innocent or the guilty party, retaining all the wife's property, has also the control of the children unless by special decree of the court they are assigned to the mother." For the gentle Quaker, Lucretia Mott, one of the most persuasive American women of her time, Blackstone was no less an unquestioned authority than he was for Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage. After hearing Richard H. Dana deliver a lecture in 1849 ridiculing "the new demand of American womanhood for civil and political rights," Mrs. Mott also delivered a lecture, in reply to the Boston orator.
 * Mary Ritter Beard, Woman as force in history (1946)

 * The fact still remains, that Blackstone first rescued the law of England from chaos. He did, and did exceedingly well, for the end of the eighteenth century, what Coke tried to do, and did exceedingly ill, about 150 years before; that is to say, he gave an account of the law as a whole, capable of being studied, not only without disgust, but with interest and profit. If we except the Commentaries of Chancellor Kent, which were suggested by Blackstone, I should doubt whether any work intended to describe the whole of the law of any country possessed anything like the same merits. His arrangement of the subject is, I think, defective, for reasons which have often been given, but a better work of the kind has not yet been written, and, with all its defects, the literary skill with which a problem of extraordinary difficulty has been dealt with is astonishing.
 * James Fitzjames Stephen, A History of the Criminal Law of England, Vol. II (1883), pp. 214-215

title: William Blackstone


text:
George Mason

George Mason (sometimes referred to as George Mason IV) (December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792) was a Virginia planter, politician, and a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three men who refused to sign. His writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and his Objections to this Constitution of Government (1787) in opposition to ratification of the constitution, have been a significant influence on political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights served as a basis for the United States Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed the father.

Quotes

 * There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.
 * Letter to the Committee of Merchants in London (6 June 1766)

 * Our All is at Stake, and the little Conveniences and Comforts of Life, when set in Competition with our Liberty, ought to be rejected not with Reluctance but with Pleasure.
 * Letter to George Washington (5 April 1769)

 * We owe to our Mother-Country the Duty of Subjects but will not pay her the Submission of Slaves.
 * Letter to a member of the Brent family (6 December 1770)

 * I determined to spend the Remainder of my Days in privacy and Retirement with my Children, from whose Society alone I could expect Comfort.
 * Letter to a member of the Brent family (2 October 1778)

 * This cold weather has set all the young Folks to providing Bedfellows. I have signed two or three Licences every Day [as a Fairfax Justice of the Peace] since I have been at Home. I wish I knew where to get a good one myself; for I find cold Sheets extremely disagreeable.
 * Letter to his cousin, James Mercer (5 February 1780)

 * I quitted my seat in the House of Delegates, from a Conviction that I was no longer able to do any essential Service.
 * Letter to Edmund Randolph (19 October 1782)

 * I have been for some time in Retirement, and shall not probably return again to public Life; yet my Anxiety for my Country, in these Times of Danger, makes me sometimes dabble a little in Politicks, and keep up a Correspondence with some Men upon the public Stage.
 * Letter to his son, George Mason V. (8 January 1783)

 * I am now pretty far advanced in life, and all my views are centered in the Happiness and well-fare of my children; you will, therefore, find from me every Indulgence which you have a right to expect from an affectionate Parent.
 * Letter to his son, George Mason V. (8 January 1783)

 * I thank God, I have been able, by adopting Principles of strict Economy and Frugality, to keep my principal, I mean my Country-Estate, unimpaired.
 * Letter to his son, George Mason V. (8 January 1783)

 * Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.
 * Letter to William Cabell (6 May 1783)

 * I retired from public Business from a thorough Conviction that it was not in my power to do any Good, and very much disgusted with Measures, which appeared to me inconsistent with common Policy and Justice.
 * Letter to Arthur Campbell (7 May 1783)

 * I most sincerely console with you for the loss of your dear little girl, but it is our duty to submit with all the resignation human nature is capable of to the dispensation of Divine Providence which bestows upon us our blessings, and consequently has a right to take them away.
 * Letter to his daughter Sarah Mason McCarty after the death of an infant daughter (10 February 1785), published in The Life of George Mason, 1725-1792 Vol. 2 (1892) by Kate Mason Rowland, p. 74

 * A few years' experiences will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings. Of this awful truth, no person has lived to my age without seeing abundant proof. Your dear baby has died innocent and blameless, and has been called away by an all-wise and merciful Creator, most probably from a life of misery and misfortune, and most certainly to one of happiness and bliss.
 * Letter to his daughter Sarah Mason McCarty after the death of an infant daughter (10 February 1785), published in The Life of George Mason, 1725-1792 Vol. 2 (1892) by Kate Mason Rowland, p. 74

 * I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.
 * Letter to his son, George Mason, V (27 May 1787)

 * Attend with Diligence and strict Integrity to the Interest of your Correspondents and enter into no Engagements which you have not the almost certain Means of performing.
 * Letter to his son, John Mason (12 June 1788)

 * That the people have a Right to mass and to bear arms; that a well-regulated militia composed of the Body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper natural and safe defense of a free state, that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided.
 * Draft proposal, 3 Elliot, Debates at 659

Virginia Charters (1773)

 * Extracts from the Virginia Charters written by Mason (July 1773)

 * Every gentleman here is born a petty tyrant. Practised in acts of despotism and cruelty, we become callous to the dictates of humanity and all the finer feelings of the soul. Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes. Habituated from our Infancy to trample upon the Rights of Human Nature, every generous, every liberal Sentiment, if not extinguished, is enfeebled in our Minds; and in such an infernal school are to be educated our future legislators and rulers. The laws of impartial Providence may even by such means as these avenge upon our posterity the injury done to a set of wretches whom our injustice hath debased to a level with the brute creation. These remarks were extorted by a kind of irresistible, perhaps an enthusiastic impulse; and the author of them, conscious of his own good intentions, cares not whom they please or offend.

Remarks on Annual Elections (1775)

 * ''Remarks on Annual Elections for the Fairfax Independent Company (April 1775)

 * Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.

 * In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim — that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.

 * We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.

 * All men are by nature born equally free and independent.

Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)

 * "A declaration of rights made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention; which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government." (12 June 1776)

 * That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
 * Article 1

 * All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; [...] magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.
 * Article 2

 * Government is, or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration and [...] when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.
 * Article 3

 * That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.
 * Article 4

 * That the legislative and executive powers of the State should be separate and distinct from the judiciary; and that the members of the two first may be restrained from oppression, by feeling and participating the burdens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, return into that body from which they were originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular elections, in which all, or any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or ineligible, as the laws shall direct.
 * Article 5

 * That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses, without their own consent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assembled, for the public good.
 * Article 6

 * That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.
 * Article 7

 * That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man bath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of twelve men of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.
 * Article 8

 * That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
 * Article 9

 * That general warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offense is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.
 * Article 10

 * Those in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred.
 * Article 11

 * The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.
 * Article 12

 * That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free State; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
 * Article 13

 * That the people have a right to uniform government; and, therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.
 * Article 14

 * That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
 * Article 15

 * That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.
 * Article 16

Debates in the Federal Convention (1787)

 * The Journal of the Debates in the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, May-September, 1787, Vol. 2 (1908) as recorded by James Madison

 * Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.
 * May 31

 * Whatever power may be necessary for the National Government a certain portion must necessarily be left in the States. It is impossible for one power to pervade the extreme parts of the U.S. so as to carry equal justice to them.
 * June 7

 * Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.
 * August 22

 * The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.
 * August 22

 * Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.
 * August 22

Addresses to the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

 * Does any man suppose that one general national government can exist in so extensive a country as this? I hope that a government may be framed which may suit us, by drawing a line between the general and state governments, and prevent that dangerous clashing of interest and power, which must, as it now stands, terminate in the destruction of one or the other. When we come to the judiciary, we shall be more convinced that this government will terminate in the annihilation of the state governments: the question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people. If such amendments be introduced as shall exclude danger, I shall most gladly put my hand to it. When such amendments as shall, from the best information, secure the great essential rights of the people, shall be agreed to by gentlemen, I shall most heartily make the greatest concessions, and concur in any reasonable measure to obtain the desirable end of conciliation and unanimity…
 * Address to the Convention (4 June 1788)

 * No man has greater regard for the military gentlemen than I have. I admire their intrepidity, perseverance, and valour. But when once a standing army is established, in any country, the people lose their liberty. When against a regular and disciplined army, yeomanry are the only defense — yeomanry, unskillful & unarmed, what chance is there for preserving freedom? Give me leave to recur to the page of history, to warn you of your present danger. Recollect the history of most nations of the world. What havoc, desolation, and destruction, have been perpetrated by standing armies? An instance within the memory of some of this house, — will shew us how our militia may be destroyed. Forty years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British parliament was advised by an artful man, [Sir William Keith] who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people. That it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. But that they should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let them sink gradually, by totally defusing and neglecting the militia. [Here MR. MASON quoted sundry passages to this effect.] This was a most iniquitous project. Why should we not provide against the danger of having our militia, our real and natural strength, destroyed?
 * June 14

 * Mr. Chairman — A worthy member has asked, who are the militia, if they are not the people, of this country, and if we are not to be protected from the fate of the Germans, Prussians, &c. by our representation? I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor; but may be confined to the lower and middle classes of the people, granting exclusion to the higher classes of the people. If we should ever see that day, the most ignominious punishments and heavy fines may be expected. Under the present government, all ranks of people are subject to militia duty.
 * June 16

 * The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind.
 * June 17

 * As much as I value a union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.
 * June 17

Discussion with Jefferson (1792)

 * The constitution as agreed to till a fortnight before the convention rose was such a one as he could have set his hand and heart to.

 * 1. The president was to be elected for 7 years, then ineligible for 7 more.
 * 2. Rotation in the senate.
 * 3. A vote of 2/3 in the legislature on particular subjects and expressly on that of navigation. The 3 New England states were constantly with us in all questions (Rhode Island not there, and New York seldom) so that it was these 3 states with the 5 Southern ones against Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

 * With respect to the importation of slaves it was left to Congress. This disturbed the 2 Southernmost states who knew that Congress would immediately suppress the importation of slaves. Those 2 states therefore struck up a bargain with the 3 New England states. If they would join to admit slaves for some years, the 2 Southernmost states would join in changing the clause which required 2/3 of the legislature in any vote. It was done. These articles were changed accordingly, and from that moment the 2 Southern states and the 3 Northern ones joined Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and made the majority 8 to 3 against us instead of 8 to 3 for us as it had been through the whole Convention. Under this coalition, the great principles of the Constitution were changed in the last days of the Convention.

title: George Mason


text:
Charles James Napier

Sir Charles James Napier (10 August 1782 – 29 August 1853) was a British general and Commander-in-Chief in India. The city of Napier, New Zealand, is named after him. He is famous for conquering the Sindh province of British India, now in present-day Pakistan.

Quotes

 * Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.
 * Napier, William. (1851) History of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration of Scinde, London: Chapman and Hall p. 35 at books.google.com. Retrieved 11 October 2013

 * the great receipt for quieting a country is a good thrashing first and great kindness afterwards: the wildest chaps are thus tamed.
 * The life and opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier, Volume 3, page 34

 * The human mind is never better disposed to gratitude and attachment than when softened by fear.
 * Farwell, Byron: Queen Victoria's Little Wars, p. 29

 * Come here instantly. Come here at once and make your submission, or I will in a week tear you from the midst of your village and hang you.
 * After the Battle of Miani, where most of the Mirs surrendered. One leader held back and was told this by Napier.
 * Farwell, Byron: Queen Victoria's Little Wars, p. 29

 * War is detestable and not to be desired by a nation’, adding, 'It falls not so heavily upon soldiers – it is our calling; but its horrors alight upon the poor, upon the miserable, upon the unhappy, upon those who feel the expense and the suffering, but have not the glory.
 * Shadwell, The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde. Vol. I, 108.

 * Manchester is the chimney of the world. Rich rascals, poor rogues, drunken ragamuffins and prostitutes form the moral; soot made into paste by rain the physique, and the only view long chimney: what a place! The entrance to hell realised!
 * The life and opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier, Volume 2

Misattributed

 * Peccavi
 * In 1843, after annexing the then-Indian village Miani of Sindh against orders, legend has it that British General Sir Charles Napier sent home a one word telegram, "Peccavi", taking use of its Latin meaning "I have sinned" and the heterograph "I have Sindh." This pun appeared under the title 'Foreign Affairs' in Punch magazine on 18 May 1844. The true author of the pun was, however, Englishwoman Catherine Winkworth, who submitted it to Punch, which then printed it as a factual report.

title: Charles James Napier


text:
Richard Wilbur

Richard Purdy Wilbur (1 March 1921 - 14 October 2017) was an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989.

Quotes

The dancer kneeling on nothing into the wings''', And Nijinsky hadn't the words to make the laws For learning to loiter in air; he merely said, "I merely leap and pause."
 * Hebetude. '''It is a graph of a theme that flings
 * "Grace" in The Poems of Richard Wilbur (1963)

Is what you will perceive; what you perceive With any passion, be it love or terror, May take on whims and powers of its own.''' Therefore a numb and grudging circumspection Will serve you best — unless you overdo it, Watching your step too narrowly, refusing To specify a world, shrinking your purview To a tight vision of your inching shoes, Which may, as soon as you come to think, be crossing An unseen gorge upon a rotten trestle.
 * '''Try to remember this: what you project
 * "Walking to Sleep" (1969)

Is that at some point of the pointless journey, Indoors or out, and when you least expect it, Right in the middle of your stride, like that, So neatly that you never feel a thing, The kind assassin Sleep will draw a bead And blow your brains out.
 * What you hope for
 * "Walking to Sleep" (1969)

 * What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you.
 * "Opposites" (1973)

 * In each art the difficulty of the form is a substitution for the difficulty of direct apprehension and expression of the object. The first difficulty may be more or less overcome, but the second is insuperable; thus every poem begins, or ought to, by a disorderly retreat to defensible positions. Or, rather, by a perception of the hopelessness of direct combat, and a resort to the warfare of spells, effigies, and prophecies. The relation between the artist and reality is an oblique one, and indeed there is no good art which is not consciously oblique. If you respect the reality of the world, you know that you can approach that reality only by indirect means.
 * As quoted by John Gery in Ways of Nothingness: Nuclear Annihilation and Contemporary American Poetry (1996)

Burst rightly into song In a world not vague, not lonely, Not governed by me only.'''
 * '''A thrush, because I'd been wrong,
 * "Having Misidentified a Wild-Flower"

They are not only yours'''; the beautiful changes In such kind ways, Wishing ever to sunder Things and things' selves for a second finding, to lose For a moment all that it touches back to wonder.
 * '''Your hands hold roses always in a way that says
 * "The Beautiful Changes"

National Book Award Acceptance Speech (1957)

 * Full text online

 * When a poet is being a poet — that is, when he is writing or thinking about writing — he cannot be concerned with anything but the making of a poem. If the poem is to turn out well, the poet cannot have thought of whether it will be saleable, or of what its effect on the world should be; he cannot think of whether it will bring him honor, or advance a cause, or comfort someone in sorrow. All such considerations, whether silly or generous, would be merely intrusive; for, psychologically speaking, the end of writing is the poem itself.

 * It is true that the poet does not directly address his neighbors; but he does address a great congress of persons who dwell at the back of his mind, a congress of all those who have taught him and whom he has admired; that constitute his ideal audience and his better self. To this congress the poet speaks not of peculiar and personal things, but of what in himself is most common, most anonymous, most fundamental, most true of all men. And he speaks not in private grunts and mutterings but in the public language of the dictionary, of literary tradition, and of the street. Writing poetry is talking to oneself; yet it is a mode of talking to oneself in which the self disappears; and the products something that, though it may not be for everybody, is about everybody.

 * Writing poetry, then, is an unsocial way of manufacturing a thoroughly social product. Because he must shield his poetry in its creation, the poet, more than other writers, will write without recognition. And because his product is not in great demand, he is likely to look on honors and distinctions with the feigned indifference of the wallflower. Yet of course he is pleased when recognition comes; for what better proof is there that for some people poetry is still a useful and necessary thing — like a shoe.

The Beacon (1952)

 * The Beacon, The New Yorker, 17 May 1952, p. 36

A beacon blinks at its own brilliance, Over and over with cutlass gaze Solving the Gordian waters ...
 * Founded on rock and facing the night-fouled sea

The face of darkness pale And now with one grand chop gives clearance to Our human visions. ..
 * The beacon-blaze unsheathing turns

Love Calls Us To The Things Of This World
And spirited from sleep, the astounded soul Hangs for a moment bodiless and simple As false dawn. '''Outside the open window The morning air is all awash with angels.'''
 * The eyes open to a cry of pulleys,

Of halcyon feeling, filling whatever they wear With the deep joy of their impersonal breathing...
 * Now they are rising together in calm swells

From all that it is about to remember, From the punctual rape of every blessed day''', And cries, "Oh, let there be nothing on earth but laundry, Nothing but rosy hands in the rising steam And clear dances done in the sight of heaven."
 * '''The soul shrinks

To accept the waking body'''
 * '''The soul descends once more in bitter love

A World Without Objects is a Sensible Emptiness

Steer for their deserts, passing the last groves loud With the sawmill shrill of the locust, to the whole honey of the arid Sun. '''They are slow, proud, And move with a stilted stride To the land of sheer horizon...'''
 * The tall camels of the spirit

Beasts of my soul who long to learn to drink Of pure mirage, those prosperous islands are accurst That shimmer on the brink Of absence; auras, lustres, And all shinings need to be shaped and borne.
 * O connoisseurs of thirst,

Of the supernova burgeoning over the barn, Lampshine blurred in the steam of beasts, '''the spirit's right Oasis, light incarnate.'''
 * Wisely watch for the sight

The Pardon

In the thick of summer, hid in a clump of pine And a jungle of grass and honey-suckle vine.''' I who had loved him while he kept alive Went only close enough to where he was To sniff the heavy honeysuckle-smell Twined with another odor heavier still And hear the flies' intolerable buzz.
 * '''My dog lay dead five days without a grave

In my kind world the dead were out of range And I could not forgive the sad or strange In beast or man.'''
 * Well, '''I was ten and very much afraid.

Slowly divide (it was the same scene But now it glowed a fierce and mortal green) And saw the dog emerging.
 * Last night I saw the grass

Asking forgiveness of his tongueless head. ... '''I dreamt the past was never past redeeming: But whether this was false or honest dreaming I beg death's pardon now. And mourn the dead.'''
 * I started in to cry and call his name,

title: Richard Wilbur


text:
User:Texashomeboy09~enwikiquote

Yo dawgs. Wats happenin.

title: User:Texashomeboy09~enwikiquote


text:
User talk:70.60.41.211

Thanks for experimenting with Wikiquote, but it is not good practice to experiment with a live article, even if you revert it yourself. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Please see the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our compendium of quotations. Thanks. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 02:45, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:70.60.41.211


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Austin James Schock

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — Jeffq 08:23, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Austin James Schock
Not notable. ~ UDScott 15:48, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Vote closed. Result: delete (2 Deletes; no dissent). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 08:23, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete, unless evidence of notability is produced. ~ UDScott 15:48, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. Concur with UDScott. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 21:44, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Concrete Hippo

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — Jeffq 08:24, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Concrete Hippo
I'm not even sure what this is - is it a hoax? It appears that this page had been previously deleted at wikipedia, but was recreated today (to coincide with the creation of a page on wikiquote). ~ UDScott 22:30, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Vote closed. Result: delete (4 Deletes; no dissent). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 08:24, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. How can a statue have quotes?? ~ UDScott 22:30, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete unless credible evidence provided that this is not a hoax. I found no "Concrete Hippo EP" at All-Music Guide, and based on the corresponding, unsourced Wikipedia article, it sounds rather fantastic (as in "complete fantasy"). Quotes from a statue don't help the case. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 09:06, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Comment: I nominated the WP article for deletion, which may also shed more light on the situation. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:26, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The WP AfD for "Concrete Hippo" resulted in a delete, with the single line of useful information merged with Walsall. During this vote, at least one of the article's editors made 2 attempts to add fictitious references for the looney essay they wrote. I seriously doubt we'll get any real sources for statue "quotes" here. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:27, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete, the partner of a Wikipedia page which had similar hoax content about the statue itself, and is undergoing AfD. -- Mithent 00:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete patent nonsense. CPMcE 00:33, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — Jeffq 08:26, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
No quotes. ~ UDScott 13:46, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Vote closed. Result: delete (2 Deletes; no dissent; no quotes added). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 08:26, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete, unless quotes are added and the lengthy descriptive text is removed. ~ UDScott 13:46, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete if no quotes are added; otherwise Move to The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, which matches both IMDb and Wikipedia. I've replaced the existing text, which appears to have been nothing more than a text copy-and-paste of the WP article plus an inappropriate personal credit at the bottom, with the WP intro including links, and added an IMDb link and 2 categories. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:11, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Edward Rae

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — Jeffq 04:35, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Edward Rae
Not notable. ~ UDScott 14:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Vote closed. Result: delete (2 Deletes; no dissent). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 04:35, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete, unless evidence of notability is presented. ~ UDScott 14:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. Concur with UDScott. There appears to be a published (though possibly obscure) Edward Rae (The Country of the Moors, 1877), but based on the cited quotes, this article is much more likely about a juvenile, who is certainly unnotable without compelling evidence. There is no corresponding WP article. The creator apparently just used the "add new person" inputbox and filled in a couple of schoolyard quotes, leaving the remainder of the template incomplete. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:30, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Category:Animation films

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — Jeffq 04:36, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Category:Animation films
This empty category duplicates the existing (and well-populated) Category:Animated films. I suspect its creator belatedly found the existing category and just moved the former's articles to the latter. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:15, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Vote closed. Result: delete (2 Deletes; no dissent). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 04:36, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:15, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete, concur with Jeffq. ~ UDScott 12:47, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Yellow Submarine (animated movie/soundtrack)

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — Jeffq 04:37, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Yellow Submarine (animated movie/soundtrack)
This article was apparently created before the editor realized we already had a Yellow Submarine. After I complete the merge in a few minutes, there will be no reason to keep this article, as its title is cumbersome and unlikely to be typed in by anyone, so even a redirect is unnecessary. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Vote closed. Result: delete (2 Deletes; no dissent; material merged). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 04:37, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete after merge completed. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 22:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Just to confirm, I have completed the merge. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 01:01, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete, concur with Jeffq. ~ UDScott 12:48, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.