The most fundamental purpose of government is defense, not empire.
Defense Quotes
Defend me, God, from myself.
All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trail of a thousand years.
Sir, I am not a potted plant. (Brendan Sullivan was justifying his aggressive tactics in defense of his client, Col. Oliver North)
And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.
Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.
For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.
We must take care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, in a respectable defensive posture.
The national defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.
Defenseless, adj. Unable to attack.
