Founders' Quotes - Washington on an Armed Citizenry

The Patriot Post ^ | 11/05/2007 | George Washington, others

[Beckwith]

”But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

This is exactly what Howard Zinn, a professor of linguistics and semantics, does for a living.

[MosesKnows]

The dictum was put forward by Pliny, Caesar, and Tacitus.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. Let him who wishes for peace prepare for war. (Vegetius. Also quoted si vis pacem, para bellum.)

What you may be referring to are my own embellishments, which were very likely obtained from a variety of sources.
If you doubt this or lack the power to accept it, or it offends your idea of the way things "ought" to be, even for a moment, you do not even deserve freedom and you are not worthy of peace.

[Loud Mime]

Very Interesting... from Wikipedia:

Whatever the source, the adage has become a living vocabulary item itself, used in the production of different ideas in a number of languages. The actual words of Vegetius are not even recognized by a large number of writers, who attribute the saying directly to him.

Si vis bellum para pacem

For example, with reference to the foreign policy of Napoleon Bonaparte, the historian, de Bourrienne, said

“Everyone knows the adage .... Had Bonaparte been a Latin scholar he would probably have reversed it and said, Si vis bellum para pacem.”

meaning that if you are planning a war you should put other nations off guard by cultivating peace.