Daniel Webster Quotes

The walls, the bars, the guns and the guards can never encircle or hold down the idea of the people.

Wherever the sword of rebellion is drawn to protect the rights of man, I am a rebel. Wherever the sword of rebellion is drawn to give man liberty, to clothe him in all his just rights, I am on the side of that rebellion.

These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest

We cannot have a situation where people decide to sit in places not allowed and when police remove them they say no. We can’t have that. That is a revolt to the system. Some are crying that they were beaten. Yes you will be thoroughly beaten. When the police say move, you move. If you don’t move, you invite the police to use force.

When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people … the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensable of duties.

The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic but to end the injustice.

The torch of liberty is hot; warms those who hold it high; burns those who try to extinguish it.

Shall we longer bear these cruelties which have been heaped upon us for the last ten years in the face of heaven, and in open violation of the constitution and law of these United States and of this state? God forbid! I will not bear it. If they take away my rights, I will fight for them manfully and righteously until I am used up. We have done nothing against the rights of others.

In reality, though, the first thing to ask of history is that it should point out to us the paths of liberty. The great lesson to draw from revolutions is not that they devour humanity but rather that tyranny never fails to generate them.

Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle....goa ts are used for sacrificial offerings and not lions.

You know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression.

Let us refuse to be silent! Speaking freely is a decisive step forward on the road to freedom.

I'm not going to sit around and be peace and love with somebody's boot on my neck.

The abetters of slavery are weaving the thread in the loom, but God is adjusting the pattern. They are asses harnessed to the chariot of Liberty, and, whether they will or no, must draw it on.

The removal of a tyrant is not merely justifiable; it is the highest duty of every true revolutionist.

The revolt against any oppression usually goes to an opposite extreme for a time; and that is right and necessary.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.

Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stand up and protest.

Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny

Neither God, nor angels, or just men, command you to suffer for a single moment. Therefore it is your solemn and imperative duty to use every means, both moral, intellectual, and physical, that promise success .... Brethren, arise, arise! Strike for your lives and liberties.... Let your motto be resistance, resistance, resistance!

Rather die freemen than live to be the slaves.

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

The unsuccessful strugglers against tyranny have been the chief martyrs of treason laws in all countries.

You cannot play the Song of Freedom on an instrument of oppression.