What constitutes the bulwark
of our own liberty and independence?
It is not our crowning battlements,
our bristling sea coasts, our army and our navy.
These are not our reliance against tyranny.
All of these may be turned against us
without making us weaker for the struggle.
Our reliance is in the spirit which prized liberty
as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere.
Destroy this spirit
and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.
Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage
and you prepare your own limbs to wear them.
Accustom to trample on the rights of others
and you have lost the genius of your own independence
and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant
who rises among you.
~ Abraham Lincoln
of our own liberty and independence?
It is not our crowning battlements,
our bristling sea coasts, our army and our navy.
These are not our reliance against tyranny.
All of these may be turned against us
without making us weaker for the struggle.
Our reliance is in the spirit which prized liberty
as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere.
Destroy this spirit
and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.
Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage
and you prepare your own limbs to wear them.
Accustom to trample on the rights of others
and you have lost the genius of your own independence
and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant
who rises among you.
~ Abraham Lincoln
Quote Tags:
Quotes, Freedom, Abraham Lincoln, Liberty, Independence, Spirit, Genius,
Photo ID: 018, FW07, 38
Quotes, Freedom, Abraham Lincoln, Liberty, Independence, Spirit, Genius,
Photo ID: 018, FW07, 38
