Jeff Cooper
The police cannot protect the citizen at this stage of our development, and they cannot even protect themselves in many cases. It is up to the private citizen to protect himself and his family, and this is not only acceptable, but mandatory.Collection: Family
A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.
Remember the first rule of gunfighting... 'have a gun.'
Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.
Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.
The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail... the answer to criminal aggression is retaliation.
Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.
We continue to be exasperated by the view, apparently gaining momentum in certain circles, that armed robbery is okay as long as nobody gets hurt! The proper solution to armed robbery is a dead robber, on the scene.
You better be looking for another pitcher.
The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.Collection: Men
If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.Collection: Judging
An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.Collection: Military
That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.Collection: Gun
Blessed are those who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight.Collection: Blessed
Fight back! Whenever you are offered violence, fight back! The aggressor does not fear the law, so he must be taught to fear you. Whatever the risk, and at whatever the cost, fight back!Collection: Fighting
Political correctness is neither political nor is it correct. It amounts to social censorship, and the sooner we spit it out, the better.Collection: Political
One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.' I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure - and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.Collection: Heart
The only acceptable response to the threat of lethal violence is immediate and savage counterattack. If you resist, you just may get killed. If you don't resist you almost certainly will get killed. It is a tough choice, but there is only one right answer.Collection: Choices
It appears that the murder rate inside prisons is ten times higher than that outside prisons. It must be due to all those Kalashnikov rifles that are issued to prisoners upon their incarceration.Collection: Rifles
If you don't understand weapons you don't understand fighting. If you don't understand fighting you don't understand war. If you don't understand war you don't understand history. And if you don't understand history you might as well live with your head in a sack.Collection: War
The media insist that crime is the major concern of the American public today. In this connection they generally push the point that a disarmed society would be a crime-free society. They will not accept the truth that if you take all the guns off the street you still will have a crime problem, whereas if you take the criminals off the street you cannot have a gun problem.Collection: Gun
Observe your cat. It is difficult to surprise him. Why? Naturally his superior hearing is part of the answer, but not all of it. He moves well, using his senses fully. He is not preoccupied with irrelevancies. He's not thinking about his job or his image or his income tax. He is putting first things first, principally his physical security. Do likewise.Collection: Jobs
In the larger sense, however, the personal ownership of firearms is only secondarily a matter of defense against the criminal. Note the following from Thomas Jefferson: The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government. That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.Collection: Gun
A free man must not be told how to think, either by the government or by social activists. He may certainly be shown the right way, but he must not accept being forced into it.Collection: Gun
One correspondent, who is into psychology, notes that in his experience people who are hoplophobes are nearly always nutty in other ways, too. Hoplophobia [fear of guns], of course, is not simply an attitude but rather an aberration in which the sufferer clings to an idea which he himself knows to be unsound, such as the idea that inanimate instruments have a will of their own or that lawbreakers abide by the law.Collection: Attitude
The perfect fight is one that is over before the loser really understands what is going on. The perfect defense is a counterattack that succeeds before the assailant discovers that he has bitten off more than he can chew.Collection: Fighting
Your mind-set is your primary weaponCollection: Mind
If you find yourself under lethal attack don't be kind. Be harsh. Be tough. Be ruthless.Collection: Finding Yourself
The 1911 pistol remains the service pistol of choice in the eyes of those who understand the problem. Back when we audited the FBI academy in 1947, I was told that I ought not to use my pistol in their training program because it was not fair. Maybe the first thing one should demand of his sidearm is that it be unfair.Collection: Eye
Anyone who appears to be triggered out of watchfulness and into action by your appearance must be explained. Anyone observing you carefully must be explained. Anyone whose behavior seems to be geared to yours must be explained. If the explanation does not satisfy you, be ready to take appropriate defensive action.Collection: Doe
The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.Collection: Mistake
The decay of the late, great country of South Africa is beginning to become apparent. The name of the Transvaal has been officially changed to 'Gauteng.' (One of our friends has suggested that in view of this its inhabitants in the future should be referred to as Oranggautengs.) ... And now there is a move afoot to wreck the Kruger National Park, one of the wonders of the world, on the notion that a good bit of its land was 'taken from the blacks.' This idea is somewhat akin to giving Yellowstone Park back to the Blackfeet.Collection: Country
If you must use your hands, use them with all the strength you possess... If you choose to strike, by all means strike hard.Collection: Mean
It's a matter of will. If you know that you can keep your head, and that you must keep your head, you probably will keep your head.Collection: Matter
It is okay to cut your wife's throat as long as you are rich, famous—and black.Collection: Cutting
An armed man, especially if he is armed with a firearm, is dangerous as long as he is conscious. Take no chances. Put him out.Collection: Men
We thought everybody knew by now that barrel length has almost nothing to do with accuracy. I believe the myth of the superior accuracy of a long rifle dates from colonial days, when the only way to extend sight radius was to make the barrel as long as possible. It is interesting how long it takes a myth to die.Collection: Believe
Aggressiveness carries with it an incalculable moral edge in any combat, offensive or defensive.Collection: Moral
If a principle exists it must be immutable, for that is what a principle is - a truth standing apart from the mood of the times.Collection: Principles
Regardless of what we think we know and should happen the reality is that a lot of stock action is random. Therefore, money management is crucial if you want to be successful as a trader. To me, it`s the cornerstone of both making a living at trading and building wealth.Collection: Successful
Let your attacker worry about his life. Don't hold back. Strike no more after he is incapable of further action, but see that he is stopped.Collection: Worry
[T]he only thing the United States government ever did about slavery was to abolish it. Perhaps that was a mistake, but I do not feel inclined to apologize for it.Collection: Mistake
If I wasn't a trader, I would probably be in the film business in some capacity and writing in some other form. I went to NYU Film School and London Film School.Collection: Writing
At long last I have discovered that most shooters are not interested in firearms as tools, but rather as toys. Such people do not acquire their weapons because of what they will do, but rather to gratify the "Christmas morning joy" that we largely left behind in our childhood.Collection: Morning
Without the institution of slavery, civilization would never have been achieved, for no one could ever have done anything intellectual if he had to spend all his time hewing and digging and fighting.Collection: Fighting
Therefore, if you are attacked, retaliate instantly. Be sudden. Be quick. Speed is your salvation.Collection: Speed
Not to our surprise, we discover that gun crime in Britain is up 10.9 percent since the disarmament of the private citizen.Collection: Gun
The Germans gathered together ethnic divisions from all over Europe in which men of the same linguistic and cultural background could serve together. The Georgian SS division conducted itself with distinction in normal military action, but a good many people seem to think that anybody who was ever a member of the SS was automatically a war criminal.Collection: Military
It`s human nature to be optimistic. Any fool can enter a market, it takes talent to exit consistently and profitably.Collection: Optimistic
Colonialism has a bad reputation in the modern context, but Colonial Africa was a far better place for both black and white before the colonists gave up.Collection: Black And White