These national defense quotes will inspire you. National defense means programs for military and energy production or construction, military or critical infrastructure assistance to any foreign nation, homeland security, stockpiling, space, and any directly related activity.
A collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging national defense quotes, national defense sayings, and national defense proverbs.
Best National Defense Quotes
- “The National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.” ~ John Adams
- “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” ~ George Washington
- “Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used.” ~ Ronald Reagan
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“Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace” ~ Thomas Jefferson
- “Although our prospect is peace, our policy and purpose are to provide for defense by all those means to which our resources are competent.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
- “National defense is the sacred duty of the young and all other people.” ~ Kim Jong Il
- “There is not a single person in the national defense apparatus of this country that can guarantee you are going to be 100 percent right. And that’s why as president, I’ll take this very seriously.” ~ Marco Rubio
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“A truly successful army is one that, because of its strength and ability and dedication, will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it.” ~ Ronald Reagan
- “It is important also to consider, that the surest means of avoiding war is to be prepared for it in peace.” ~ Joseph Story
- “If you like small government you need to work hard at having a strong national defense that is not so militant. Personal liberty is the purpose of government, to protect liberty – not to run your personal life, not to run the economy, and not to pretend that we can tell the world how they ought to live.” ~ Ron Paul
- “There’s nothing wrong with being a Conservative and coming up with a Conservative believe in foreign policy where we have a strong national defense and we don’t go to war so carelessly.” ~ Ron Paul
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“Ronald Reagans vision of smaller government, less taxes, and a strong national defense has led to a prosperous America. As president, he rebuilt our military and reinvigorated our confidence in ourselves.” ~ David Vitter
- “Since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, conservatives have succeeded by adhering to a platform that rests firmly on three legs: smaller government, faith and family, and a strong national defense. These three legs do not merely represent a political coalition; they are three necessary components of a strong and secure America.” ~ Frank Gaffney
- “I represent what I think is a traditional Republican… a limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong national defense, individual freedom and liberty.” ~ Olympia Snowe
- “There’s nothing wrong with being fired.” ~ Ted Turner
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“There’s nothing wrong with being a large mammal.” ~ Jim Morrison
- “National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman, and that there is an obligation to perform such a duty absolutely irrespective of party politics or factional differences.” ~ John Adams
- “Security against foreign danger is one of the primitive objects of civil society. It is an avowed and essential object of the American Union.” ~ James Madison
- “A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts.” ~ James Madison
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“National defense is the usual pretext for the policy of fleecing the people.” ~ John Taylor of Caroline
- “The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
- “Our country represents nothing but peaceful intentions toward all the earth, but it ought not to fail to maintain such a military force as comports with the dignity and security of a great people.” ~ Calvin Coolidge
- “The idea of restraining the legislative authority, in the means of providing for the national defense, is one of those refinements which owe their origin to a zeal for liberty more ardent than enlightened.” ~ Alexander Hamilton
- “Let me remind you that you have a two-fold task to perform. With the force of arms and at the cost of your blood you will have to win liberty. Then, when India is free, you will have to organize the permanent army of Free India, whose task it will be to preserve our liberty for all time. We must build up our national defense on such an unshakable foundation that never again in our history shall we lose our freedom.” ~ Subhas Chandra Bose
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“To talk only about national security, national defense, means to be selfish, ambitious. It is discrimination, isolation. “It is just me. What do I care about others?”” ~ Evo Morales
- “Protecting Americans from harm goes beyond police and national defense. It’s imperative that we not destroy the commons, the physical environment on which we rely.” ~ Kevin O’Leary
- “I believe that “government”, as we know it today, should pull out of most things except for law enforcement and justice, national defense and foreign policy, and let the private sector, a “Grameenized private sector”, a social-consciousness-driven private sector, take over their other functions.” ~ Muhammad Yunus
- “I am a Republican because I believe in the constitution, strength in national defense, limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility as the concrete foundation for American government. They reinforce the resolve that the United States is the greatest country in the world and we can all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the beautiful legacy they left us today.” ~ Martha Raye
- “A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word ‘BUT’ which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative – before they tell you. Thus: ‘I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but…(a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” ~ Frank Mankiewicz
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“The Army (considering the irritable state it is in, its suffering and composition) is a dangerous instrument to play with.” ~ George Washington
- “First, this law – the National Defense Education Act – ended years and years of debate about one controversial question: ‘Shall the Federal Government, with all its massive resources, get directly involved in aiding American education?’ The answer this law gave was a loud ‘Yes!’ – and thus we paved the way for a new era of support for education in America. This law, in fact, helped make possible more than 50 new education laws passed in my administration.” ~ Lyndon B. Johnson
- “There are not as many women who support the national defense budget now as men. I really think there is a gender gap in the support for the large expenditures that are necessary to modernize the force.” ~ Theodore Stevens
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“I think as people find out about my foreign policy, what they’re going to find out is that I’m right in the mainstream of the Republican Party. I believe the number one priority of the federal government is national defense.” ~ Lindsey Graham
- “It is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment.” ~ Ted Cruz
- “I believe in limited government and the right of the individual to make choices and in a strong national defense and in freedom and liberty as being the right of every person on the face of the Earth.” ~ Karl Rove
- “Legislation passed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 enhanced our intelligence capabilities and strengthened our national defense, but until now our nation’s immigration policies have not adapted to the needs of a post-September 11th world.” ~ Chris Chocola
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“Space exploration is important research to our economic and national defense, and America’s space program is a symbol of our success as a scientifically and technologically advanced nation.” ~ Randy Forbes
- “I think what both Republicans and Democrats need to do and the leaders on both sides is to recognize that if sequester takes place, it would be disastrous for our national defense and very frankly for a lot of very important domestic programs. They have a responsibility to come together, find the money necessary to de-trigger sequester.” ~ Leon Panetta
- “In addition to achieving outside the industry, agriculture, national defense science and technology modernization, we are faced with the important task of system modernization.” ~ Zheng Bijian
- “My belief has always been that national defense is the most important thing we do, but we shouldn’t borrow to pay for it.” ~ Rand Paul
- “…without a Respectable Navy, Alas America!” ~ John Paul Jones
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“The Patriot Act removed major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from talking and coordinating their work to protect the American people and our national security.” ~ Jon Porter
- “Remember, it is the president’s constitutional duty to provide a strong national defense. Don’t insert politics into national security. Listen to your ground commanders. They know better than anyone what our military’s needs are. Have somebody strong at home who can provide you with needed support ‘off the battle field.'” ~ Ryan Zinke
- “National Defense is not a threat to peace; it is the guarantee of peace with freedom.” ~ Jeffrey Gitomer
- “Senator Biden was correct by calling for more to look into Governor Cuomo’s defense policy. It is clear to me, by researching the governor’s record on the issue, that he would be a wildcard on national defense issues.” ~ Sam Nunn
- “General welfare is a general condition – maybe sound currency is general welfare, maybe markets, maybe judicial system, maybe a national defense, but this is specific welfare. This justifies the whole welfare state – the military industrial complex, the welfare to foreigners, the welfare state that imprisons our people and impoverishes our people and gives us our recession.” ~ Ron Paul
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“The jelly-bean eating thug says that national defense is important. But national defense starts at home.” ~ Dick Gregory
- “The growing inequality of wealth and income distribution is both a moral and economic problem. If the wealthy are unwilling to pay more taxes, then this is going to lead to spending cuts. And if you put off the table things like national defense, then you’re going to end up cutting more and more out of programs that aid the poor. So, I think there are consequences to this idea that tolerance for inequality requires us to – to just do nothing to make the wealthy contribute a higher share of resources to fund the government.” ~ Bruce Bartlett
- “There are the fundamental core values of the Democratic Party, which is to work to grow the economy, to create jobs, to encourage small business, to encourage ownership, to expand access to quality health care, to enhance opportunity by making higher education more affordable to American’s young people, to have our children live in safe neighborhoods, drug-free, crime-free, and a safe and clean environment, first and foremost to provide for the national defense, to protect and defend the American people, and to have accountability for our budget and for our spending.” ~ Nancy Pelosi
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“I’m a committed Republican. I believe very strongly in individual liberty. I tend not to think much in terms of group politics. I really am a kind of small government person and I’m most certainly a fiscal conservative and strong on national defense.” ~ Condoleezza Rice
- “We don’t declare war any more; we declare national defense.” ~ Eugene McCarthy
- “I believe that when we overdo our military aggressiveness, what it does it actually weakens our national defense. I mean, we stood up to the Soviets. They had 40,000 nuclear weapons. Now we’re fretting day in and day – night about third-world countries that have no army, navy or air force.” ~ Ron Paul
- “I introduced bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco [Rubio] opposed this. So Marco can’t have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, “Oh, I’m great and strong on national defense.” But he’s the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless.” ~ Ted Cruz
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“But the federal government, our collective government, has responsibilities that none of these other levels of government can fulfill; and chief among these is national defense.” ~ Don Nickles
- “From protecting our natural resources to providing maritime security and national defense, the Coast Guard’s duties are broad in scope, and the performance of those duties has never been more important.” ~ Russ Carnahan
- “These powers ought to exist without limitation, because it is impossible to foresee or to define the extent and variety of national exigencies, and the correspondent extent and variety of the means which may be necessary to satisfy them.” ~ Alexander Hamilton
- “If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.” ~ George Washington
- “One nation is to another what one individual is to another; with this melancholy distinction perhaps, that the former with fewer of the benevolent emotions than the latter, are under fewer restraints also from taking undue advantage of the indiscretions of each other.” ~ James Madison
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“How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation?” ~ James Madison
- “Of all the cares or concerns of government, the direction of war most peculiarly demands those qualities which distinguish the exercise of power by a single hand. The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength, forms a usual and essential part in the definition of the executive authority.” ~ Alexander Hamilton
- “The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite, and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed.” ~ Alexander Hamilton
- “Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to “bind me in all cases whatsoever” to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?” ~ Thomas Paine
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“It should therefore be difficult in a republic to declare war, but not to make peace.” ~ Joseph Story
- “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” ~ James Madison
- “The Second Amendment’s language and historical and philosophical background demonstrated that it was designed to guarantee individuals the possession of certain kinds of arms for three purposes: (1) crime prevention or what we would today describe as self-defense; (2) national defense; and (3) preservation of individual liberty.” ~ Don Kates
