Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we will smite.
The Price of Liberty
By Thomas Jefferson
Cherish the spirit of our people and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
To the Goddess of Liberty
(New York Harbor)
By George Sterling
Oh! is it bale-fire in thy brazen hand—