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Portrait of Jeff Cooper

Jeff Cooper

(1935–2018) Actor

124 quotes in 760 categories

Jeff Cooper’s statements strike with the same focus as a well‑aimed shot. Across 124 quotes you’ll encounter his blend of tactical knowledge, disciplined mindset, and the philosophy behind responsible shooting.

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Jeff Cooper was an actor, best known for Principles of personal defense.

Quick Facts About Jeff Cooper

Born: November 30, 1935
Died: March 24, 2018
Profession: Actor
Notable works: Principles of personal defense

About Jeff Cooper

John Dean "Jeff" Cooper was a United States Marine Corps officer and firearms instructor. He was the creator of the "modern technique" of handgun shooting, and an expert on the use and history of small arms.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Jeff Cooper

Remember the first rule of gunfighting ... have a gun.

Firsts

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The best personal defense is an explosive counterattack.

Best person

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Your physical safety is up to you, as it really always has been.

Fitness

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The one who anticipates the action wins. The one who does not, loses.

Action

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Speed is the absolute essence of any form of combat

Absolutes

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Your mind-set is your primary weapon

Mind

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You better be looking for another pitcher.

Another

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Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.

Citizen

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It's a matter of will. If you know that you can keep your head, and that you must keep your head, you…

Head

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The trouble with democracy is that 50 percent of the voters are below average.

Average

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The specific course you decide upon is, within certain parameters, less important than the vigor with which you execute it.

Certain

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If a principle exists it must be immutable, for that is what a principle is - a truth standing apart from the…

Ifs

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No sensible person ever opens the door of his house without knowing who is knocking.

Door

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Anyone who willfully and maliciously attacks another without sufficient cause jeopardize the lives of others.

Attacks

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Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.

Ears

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An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.

Evil

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At long last I have discovered that most shooters are not interested in firearms as tools, but rather as toys. Such people…

Acquire

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If I wasn't a trader, I would probably be in the film business in some capacity and writing in some other form.…

Business

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Never assume that simply having a gun makes you a marksman. You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol…

Assuming

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If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear…

Can do

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It is high time for society to stop worrying about the criminal, and to let the criminal start worrying about society. And…

Crime

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It appears that the murder rate inside prisons is ten times higher than that outside prisons. It must be due to all…

Dues

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We are fully justified in valuing the life and person of an intended victim more highly than the life of a pernicious…

Justified

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It seems that the concealed carry policy now in effect in 30 states is unfair to goblins. They cannot tell who is…

Amendment

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The Germans gathered together ethnic divisions from all over Europe in which men of the same linguistic and cultural background could serve…

Action

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We are somewhat amused by the hysteria manifest in the press at the suggestion by Gordon Liddy that if one is menaced…

Amused

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Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The possession of…

Affection

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Buy ammunition! Remember that a man cannot have too many books, too many wines, or too much ammunition. Our adversaries on the…

Adversaries

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Observe your cat. It is difficult to surprise him. Why? Naturally his superior hearing is part of the answer, but not all…

Answers

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The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil…

Evil

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I have long had a tendency to tie marksmanship to morality. The essence of good marksmanship is self-control, and self-control is the…

Character

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One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.' I told him that…

Agree

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I am sometimes perplexed by people who refer to defensive rifles, or defensive rifle shooting. The defensive arm is the pistol, since…

Amendment

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The one who fights back retains his dignity and his self-respect.

Dignity

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Bushido is all very well in its way, but it is no match for a 30-06.

Bushido

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Beware the man with one gun. He can probably use it.

Beware

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Offering democracy to an Arab is like bringing a horse to a steakhouse.

Arab

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Anyone who is aware of his environment knows that the peril of physical assault does exist, and that it exists everywhere and…

All time

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Blessed are those who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight.

Blessed

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The purpose of the pistol is to stop a fight that somebody else has started, almost always at very short range.

Fighting

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Jeff Cooper by topic

Self defense (43) Gun (33) Ifs (28) Men (23) Amendment (16) Long (13) Weapons (11) Rifles (11) May (11) Doe (11) People (10) Wells (9) Fighting (9) Criminals (9) Use (8) Thinking (8) Politics (8) Crime (8) Citizens (8) Action (8)