And I take this opportunity to declare, that …I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is. It appears to me…the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty, and the fundamental principles of the constitution, that ever was found in an English law-book.

More quotes by James Otis

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"A man's house is his castle."

- James Otis

Belief

"One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle."

- James Otis

Liberation

"Your Honours will find in the old book, concerning the office of a justice of peace, precedents of general warrants to search suspected houses. But in more modern books you will find only special warrants to search such and such houses specially named, in which the complainant has before sworn he suspects his goods are concealed; and you will find it adjudged that special warrants only are legal. In the same manner I rely on it, that the writ prayed for in this petition being general is illegal. It is a power that places the liberty of every man in the hands of every petty officer."

- James Otis

Liberation

"Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty, is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ [of assistance], if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege."

- James Otis

Liberation

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"The greatest strength lies in vulnerability."

- Beauty and the Beast

Courage

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

- Mark Twain

Courage

"I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me."

- Tracee Ellis Ross

Courage

"If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough."

- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Courage

"Courage, dear heart."

- C.S. Lewis

Courage