Ligon Clan Law: a group of people united by some common trait or interest

Contact: IronMike@LigonClanLaw.com

“The highest and primary task of a political writer is to understand and articulate the opinions of his fellow man about today’s problems and to assist in their adjustment from their perceptions to reality.” – Walter Lippman, Public Opinion, 1922; Intro.

“The darkest places in Hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” – Dante Alighieri, Inferno

“You ask me what forces me to speak? A strange thing; my conscience. Yet, if I speak I am condemned. If I stay silent I am damned!” – Victor Hugo

“The Individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the Tribe. To be your own man is hard business.  If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Rudyard Kipling

“Q. How long is it necessary to philosophise? A. Till our armies are no more commanded by fools.” – Crates; 365- 285 B.C. (Montaigne, Essays, p. 52)

“A man who is timid and afraid of speaking his mind should neither be considered a true friend, nor be regarded as a good citizen if he leaves the path of Truth because he is afraid of giving temporary offense to certain persons.” – The Histories of Polybius, 264-146 BC, p. 593

“Be without fear in the face of your enemies, Be brave and upright that God may love thee, Speak the Truth always – even if it leads to your death, serve God and the helpless and do no wrong.” – Crusader Oath

“Criticism is more than a right – it is an act of patriotism – a higher form of patriotism than the familiar rituals of national adulation.” – J. William Fulbright, The Arrogance of Power, May 15, 1966; Annals Vol. 18, p. 362

         The Man In the Arena

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” –President “Teddy” Roosevelt, April 23, 1910,