Ezra Taft Benson Quotes

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

The tree of liberty could not grow were it not watered with the blood of tyrants

The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth.

Give me liberty or give me death.

The altar of liberty totters when it is cemented only with blood

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.

War kills men, and men deplore the loss; but war also crushes bad principles and tyrants, and so saves societies.

He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third.

The nation was awakened by that deafening shot.

I say to you that the price of liberty is and always has been blood, human blood, and if our liberties are lost, we shall never regain them except at the price of blood. They must not be lost.

In the Bible, God offered the Pharaoh freedom if he would just let the oppressed people free to go to the land of milk and honey. But the Pharaoh disobeyed, and he was destroyed.

To maintain this Separation (from England) is to maintain the Religion, Liberty and Property of ourselves and our Posterity; to renounce it is to Sink into the lowest meanness and Slavery. May God remove every such thought from every American Breast! Welcome first the Life of the most uncivilized Savages! Welcome Death itself and everlasting Oblivion to our race!

I swear in front of my mother’s grave and in the presence of God, that I shall not hesitate to join her if this be necessary for the defense of the sovereignty which the nation has won at the cost of so much blood. I deem it a debt of conscience and honor to give my life for the sake of national sovereignty.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves

Liberty has its roots in blood.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

A traitor is a good fruit to hang from the boughs of the tree of liberty.

This nation openly endorses, tolerates and legalizes the very abuses against which she originally waged a bloody revolution.

The time has come for you to decide whether Italians shall die for Mussolini and Hitler, or live for Italy and for civilization.

Caracas no longer exists, but its ashes, its monuments, the land it stood on, have remained glowing with liberty and covered with the glory of martyrdom. This comfort compensates for all the losses.

Gentlemen, you may soon have the alternative to live as slaves or die as free men

The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.

Special interests and the demented philosophy of conquest have driven most wars throughout history. Rarely has the cause of liberty, as it was in our own revolution, been the driving force.

Fellow citizens: The hour to try your souls and to redeem your pledges has arrived. Stand together in face of the brutal, cowardly enemies of your race! Bring English tyranny to its knees. Pay no rent under any pretext! The government, with its bayonets, will learn in a single Winter how powerless are armed forces against the will of a united determined, and self-reliant nation.

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find that far more, and far more hideous, crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.