Revolutionary War Quotes:

All counter-revolutionary wars are unjust, all revolutionary wars are just.

- Mao Zedong

source: Zedong Mao (1966). “Mao Tse-tung on War”

topic: War, Revolutionary War, Unjust

Let us therefore rely on the goodness of the cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions.

- George Washington

source: George Washington, John Clement Fitzpatrick, David Maydole Matteson (1776). “The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799”, p.211

topic: Hands, Victory, Revolutionary War

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day, Social Revolution, Manure

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

- Nathan Hale

source: Before being executed as a spy by the British, 22 September 1776, in Henry Phelps Johnston 'Nathan Hale, 1776' (1914) ch. 7.

topic: Inspirational, Life, Country, Independence Day Patriotic, American Revolution

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

- John F. Kennedy

source: Address on first anniversary of Alliance for Progress, 13 Mar. 1962

topic: Inspirational, Peace, Freedom, Social Revolution, American Revolution

The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them.

- Mao Zedong

source: Mao Tse-Tung, Zedong Mao (1977). “Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung”, Pergamon

topic: War, Revolution, Mass, Revolutionary War

Latinos have fought in all of America’s wars, beginning with the Revolutionary War. Many Latinos are fighting and dying for our country today in Iraq, just as several of their ancestors fought for freedom in Mexico over a century ago.

- Joe Baca

topic: Country, War, Fighting, Cinco De Mayo, Revolutionary War

Winning the Revolutionary War, or the Civil War, or World War II were the turning points in our history, the sine qua non of our forward progress.

- Stephen Ambrose

topic: War, Winning, Progress, Forward Progress, Revolutionary War

America's veterans and troops serving abroad today fought hard to preserve our red, white and blue, from the Revolutionary War to today's Global War Against Terrorism, and Congress' action today is appropriate for one of our most sacred symbols.

- Bill Shuster

topic: Veterans Day, War, Blue, Red White And Blue, Revolutionary War

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

- James Madison

source: "The Last Enemy" by Rebecca Sato, www.pbs.org. November 11, 2010.

topic: Inspirational, Fear, War, Founding, Limiting Government

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

- George Washington

topic: Friendship, Confidence, Inspiration, Bff, Courteous

I am determined to defend my rights and maintain my freedom or sell my life in the attempt.

- Nathanael Greene

source: Nathanael Greene, Richard K. Showman, Rhode Island Historical Society (2005). “The papers of General Nathanael Greene”

topic: Rights, Determined, I Am Determined, American Revolution, Revolutionary War

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

- John Adams

topic: Education, Philosophy, War, Social History, American Revolution

We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.

- Nathanael Greene

source: Nathanael Greene, Richard K. Showman (2005). “The Papers of General Nathanael Greene”, University of North Carolina Press

topic: Art, Fighting, Martial Arts, Inspirational Military, Revolutionary War

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Money, Believe, Army, Money And Power, Our Founding Fathers

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations ... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.

- John Adams

source: Letter to Hezekiah Niles, 13 Feb. 1818

topic: Religious, Real, War, American Revolution, 4th Of July Wishes

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

- James Madison

topic: Freedom, War, Mean, Antiwar, Against War

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

- James Madison

source: 1822; cited in U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots (1975).

topic: Education, Wisdom, Knowledge, Knowledge And Ignorance, Knowledge Education

Revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable in class society, and without them it is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible for the people to win political power.

- Mao Zedong

source: "On Contradiction" by Mao Zedong, 1937.

topic: Peace, War, Winning, Social Development, Revolutionary War

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

topic: Peace, War, Negative, Make Peace Not War, Peace Not War

The only path to the final defeat of imperialism and the building of socialism is revolutionary war.

- Bill Ayers

topic: War, Path, Finals, Revolutionary War

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

topic: Bridges, America, Rude, Stamp Act, Minutemen

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.

- George Washington

topic: Friendship, Inspiration, 4th Of July, Making Friends, Courteous

The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.

- C. L. R. James

source: C L R James (2001). “The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution”, p.116, Penguin UK

topic: Running, Rich, Defeated, Revolutionary War, French Revolution

In all their wars against the French they [the Americans] never showed such conduct, attention and perseverance as they do now.

- Thomas Gage

topic: Perseverance, War, History, Revolutionary War

Our flag means all that our fathers meant in the Revolutionary War. It means all that the Declaration of Independence meant. It means justice. It means liberty. It means happiness.... Every color means liberty. Every thread means liberty. Every star and stripe means liberty.

- Henry Ward Beecher

topic: Stars, Father, War, Our Father, Flag Day

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

topic: Love, Peace, War, Make Peace Not War, True Peace

With regard to military discipline, I may safely say that no such thing existed in the Continental Army.

- Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

topic: Military, Army, Discipline, Military Discipline, Revolutionary War

It is only in revolutionary struggle against the capitalists of every country, and only in union with the working women and men of the whole world, that we will achieve a new and brighter future-the socialist brotherhood of the workers.

- Alexandra Kollontai

topic: Country, Struggle, Men, Bright Future, Brighter Future

[It was] the poverty caused by the bad influence of the English bankers on the Parliament which has caused in the colonies hatred of the English and . . . the Revolutionary War.

- Benjamin Franklin

topic: Revolutionary War

Revisiting the Revolutionary War is a bracing reminder that the fate of a continent, and the shape of the modern world, turned on the free choices of remarkably few Americans defying an empire.

- George Will

topic: War, Fate, Choices, Modern World, Defying

More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way.

- George W. Bush

source: George W. Bush (1982). “Public paper of the presidents of the United States”, p.913, Government Printing Office

topic: War, Two, Way, Revolutionary War

They fought their first action in March of 1775. Embarked on eight small ships, they sailed to the Bahamas and captured a British fort near Nassau, seizing gunpowder and supplies. Later, during the Revolutionary War, Marines fought several engagements in their distinctive green coats, such as helping George Washington to cross the Delaware River, and assisting John Paul Jones on the Bonhomme Richard to capture the British frigate Serapis during their famous sea fight.

- Tom Clancy

source: "Marine". Book by Tom Clancy, 1996.

topic: War, Marine, Fighting, Bahamas, Revolutionary War

I had a question. "Why does the name Pearl Harbor sound so familiar?" The lieutenant colonel's eyes narrowed. "Pearl Harbor is the most famous U.S. military base in the world," he said crisply. "It's the only place on U.S. soil that has been attacked in a wars, since the Revolutionary War." None of this was ringing a bell, but you already know I'm totally uneducated. Gazzy leaned over to whisper, "It was a movie with Ben Affleck." Ah. Now I remembered.

- James Patterson

source: James Patterson (2009). “Maximum Ride: Max”, p.137, Random House

topic: Military, War, Eye, Colonels, Revolutionary War

The intelligence community is so vast that more people have top secret clearance than live in Washington. The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War combined.

- Nicholas D. Kristof

topic: War, Years, People, Top Secret, Spanish American War

John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy, but he was actively involved.

- Michele Bachmann

topic: War, Boys, Eras, Revolutionary War

I don't know if you've ever been to England, but as soon as they find out you're from America, they hate you. They just think they're more sophisticated than we are. They're so pissed at us. You know what it is? They're mad because they lost the Revolutionary War, and they should be because there was only like nine of us.

- Jay Mohr

topic: Hate, War, Thinking, Revolutionary War

Before the Civil War, the Southern states were selling a lot of cotton to England and didn't seem to mind British occupation. By and large, the Revolutionary War wasn't at all great for business.

- Henry Rollins

source: "Professional Rebelling in 'Sweet Home Alabama,' I Coming Soon!" by Henry Rollins, digitalissue.laweekly.com. March 15, 2012.

topic: War, Southern, Mind, Revolutionary War

Most people do not realize that there was a paid chaplain in Congress even before the Revolutionary War ended.

- Francis Schaeffer

source: Francis August Schaeffer (1982). “The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian view of the west”

topic: War, Godly, People, Chaplains, Revolutionary War

One night I walked out of the church when the priest said that we should never have fought the Revolutionary war and every war was bad. It was 4th of July. It was an outrageously political statement. I just never felt right when people in the church would take these overtly political positions especially when I felt like I was a good Christian, I was serving my country, and I just didn't feel like I deserved to be lambasted by the priest on the 4th of July.

- Wesley Clark

source: "'I'm Spiritual. I'm Religious. I'm a Good Christian.'". Interview with Steven Waldman, www.beliefnet.com. December 2003.

topic: Christian, Country, War, Revolutionary War

We fought the Revolutionary War for no taxation without representation, it seems to me that we are much worse off today, because we are heavily taxed, and only the king's corporations control this Country, together with mob rule, of the special interests.

- James Montgomery

topic: Country, Kings, War, Special Interests, Mob Rule

If the Founding Fathers and other patriots who fought during the Revolutionary War could see the United States today, I believe they would be proud of the path that the thirteen colonies, now fifty strong states, have taken since then.

- John Linder

topic: Strong, War, Father, Revolutionary War

As soon as I moved to Princeton in 1978, I became fascinated by local history, much of it Revolutionary War-era; and I became fascinated by the presidency of Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University.

- Joyce Carol Oates

topic: War, Princeton University, Eras, Local History, Revolutionary War

During the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress and George Washington - I call him the first George W. - (laughter and applause) - urged citizens to pray and to give thanks and to ask for God's protection.

- James Monroe

topic: Continental, Revolutionary War

It's like guerrilla warfare. If you reveal your location, all it does is allow your opponent to improve his artillery bearings. It's better to move quietly, with stealth, under cover of night. You've got two choices: You can wear cammies and shimmy along on your belly, or you can put on a red coat and stand up for everyone to see. It comes down to whether you want to be the British army in the Revolutionary War or the Viet Cong. History tells us which tactic was more effective.

- Ralph E. Reed, Jr.

topic: War, Moving, Army, Stealth, Viet Cong

It [eBook] is like introducing the machine gun to a revolutionary war. It changes everything. If you can reach your fans directly without having to go through a middle man, the entire economics of the publishing business changes.

- Tucker Max

topic: War, Gun, Men, Revolutionary War

Revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy's poison but also purges us of our own filth.

- Mao Zedong

source: Zedong Mao, Stuart Schram (2015). “Mao's Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings, 1912-49: V. 6: New Stage (August 1937-1938): Revolutionary Writings, 1912-49”, p.336, Routledge

topic: Military, War, Enemy, United Front, China And Japan

Reading is learning, but applying is also learning and the more important kind of learning at that. Our chief method is to learn warfare through warfare. A person who has had no opportunity to go to school can also learn warfare — he can learn through fighting in a war.

- Mao Zedong

source: "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (The Little Red Book) & Other Works".

topic: War, Reading, School, Revolutionary War

See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. - Percy Jackson

- Rick Riordan

source: Rick Riordan (2006). “The lightning thief”

topic: War, School, Fields, School Bus, Field Trip