Thomas Jefferson:
I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
And
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.
Benjamin Franklin:
This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.
And
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
George Washington:
While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable.
And
To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.
Patrick Henry:
When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object.
And
The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
Thomas Paine:
Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.
Francis Lightfoot Lee:
I feel myself deeply interested in the security and happiness of America, compared with which, the interests of Britain, is as a feather in the scale….
Robert Morris:
I assert boldly that commerce ought to be as free as the air, to place it in the most advantageous state to mankind in general.
John Adams:
All men are born free and independent, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.
Also, from a couple of older guys:
Pericles:
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you
Plato:
One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
And
Those who tell the stories rule society.