We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection
Samuel AdamsRead
It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
Interpretation
Change often begins with a passionate minority rather than the majority. A small, determined group can inspire significant societal shifts.
This quote by Samuel Adams emphasizes the power and effectiveness of a devoted minority in bringing about change and inspiring others. It suggests that it is not always the majority that drives progress, but rather a small, motivated group that can ignite ideas of freedom and instigate thoughts that encourage others to pursue change.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about grassroots movements and their impact.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection
Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters.
If taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the character of free subjects to the miserable state of tributary slaves? We claim British rights not by charter only! We are born to them.
Let no man thirst for good beer.
He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.
We boast of our freedom, and we have your example for it. We talk the language we have always heard you speak.
The great man, Genghis Khan, only knew how to shoot eagles with an arrow. The past is past. To see real heroes, look around you.
Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, lessens the friction of social contacts. . . . It is only in lies, wholeheartedly and bravely told, that human nature attains through words and speech the forebearance, the nobility, the romance, the idealism, that-being what it is-it falls so short of in fact and in deed.
With the supermarket as our temple and the singing commercial as our litany, are we likely to fire the world with an irresistible vision of America's exalted purpose and inspiring way of life?
The actual life of a thought lasts only until it reaches the point of speech...As soon as our thinking has found words it ceases to be sincere...When it begins to exist in others it ceases to live in us, just as the child severs itself from its mother when it enters into its own existence.
If we must accept fate we are not less compelled to affirm liberty, the significance of the individual, the grandeur of duty, the power of character.
We're born naked, and the rest is drag.
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