Here is a collection of our favorite inspirational quotes.

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few…Texas oil  millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible nd they are stupid."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nov. 8, 1954

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.

Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain

“If we lived in a country that allowed government to hold people in jail indefinitely only based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they were up to no good — then, no doubt, no doubt, the government would discover and arrest more terrorists. But that probably would not be a country in which people would want to live. That would not be a country that we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die for. That country would not be America.”

“Originally, [racial profiling] was called driving while black, but then some Latino Americans said, –hey, what about driving while brown? Then we found out it wasn’t just about driving. What about walking around, or going through the airport?”

Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)

“In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger.”

President James Madison, Federalist 51

And then there are our favorite Murrow quotes:

“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”

“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”

“The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”

Edward R. Murrow, Legendary Newsman

Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous."

William Proxmire, US Senator, Reformer (1915-2005)

There is no creative impulse in the absence of discontent.

Deepak Chopra, Author, on The Colbert Report 12.19.06

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Benjamin Franklin, Patriot, Inventor, Founding Father

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.

President Abraham Lincoln

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.

Samuel Adams, Patriot, Minute Man

When Fascism Comes to America, It Will Be Wrapped in a Flag Carrying a Cross

Sinclair Lewis, Author

We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.

Immanuel Kant, Russian Philosopher

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made of the habits of the poor by the well-house, well-warmed and well-fed.

Herman Melville, Author

Love many. Trust few. Do wrong to none.

Yao-Man Chan, contestant on Survivor Fiji

You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry. Most people do.

Norman Juster