Ezra Taft Benson

Fifteenth U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

U.S. Constitution

"I should like to pay honor -- honor to the document itself, honor to the men who framed it, and honor to the God who inspired it and made possible its coming forth."

"For the past two centuries, those who do not prize freedom have chipped away at every major clause of our Constitution until today we face a crisis of great dimensions."

"The God of heaven sent some of His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this government. And he has sent other choice spirits to preserve it."

Freedom

"Freedom as we know it has been experienced by perhaps less than one percent of the human family."

"For centuries our forefathers suffered and sacrificed that we might be recipients of the blessings of freedom. If they were willing to sacrifice so much to establish us as a free people, should we not be willing to do the same to maintain that freedom for ourselves and for future generations."

"Could many of our ills today have resulted from our failure to train a strong citizenry from the only source we have -- the boys and girls of each community? Have they grown up to believe in politics without principle, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without effort, wealth without work, business without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice?"

"We ... face difficult days in this beloved land, ‘a land which is choice above all other lands.’ It is my conviction, however, that when the Lord comes, the Stars and Stripes will be floating on the breeze over this people."