James Otis Quotes

31 quotes in 465 categories

• The colonists are by the law of nature free-born, as indeed all man are, white or black...It is a clear truth that those who every…
• Can there be any liberty where property is taken away without consent?
• Every British Subject born on the continent of America, or in any other of the British dominions, is by the law of God and nature,…
• Parliaments are in all cases to declare what is good for the whole; but it is not the declaration of parliament that makes it so.
• One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle.
• I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow... for bitter bread, earned under the…
• Government is founded not on force, as was the theory of Hobbes; nor on compact, as was the theory of Locke and of the revolution…
• An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.
• [The passage of the Sugar Act] set people a thinking, in six months, more than they had done in their whole lives before.
• No parts of his Majesty's dominions can be taxed without their consent.
• And I take this opportunity to declare, that ...I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me,…
• Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty, is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle; and while he…
• A man is accountable to no person for his doings.
• I do not say that, when brought to the test, I shall be invincible.
• A man's house is his castle.
• Let the consequences be what they will, I am determined to proceed.
• But I think I can sincerely declare that I cheerfully submit myself to every odious name for conscience' sake; and from my soul I despise…
• Taxation without representation is tyranny.
• I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one…
• These manly sentiments, in private life, make good citizens; in public life, the patriot and the hero.

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