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+ WHAT SOME GAY AND TRANSGENDER CELEBRITIES SAID ABOUT ARMS
Here are some illustrative statements about arms including firearms and swords, and related matters, which were made during the last 3,046 years by more than 100 famous and infamous gay and transgender celebrities including a few who are fictional. Most of them support or supported the right to keep and bear arms; a few don't or didn't, but made supportive statements nonetheless. As with all things, gay and transgender people aren't monolithic about arms, and never have been, but the people published here show a variety of us who use and used arms in our lives, mostly for good.
When I finished the first edition of this information, it revealed a remarkable recent increase of the number of published portrayals of certain infamous celebrities. I don't believe that these portrayals are unique to their times or as representative of us as their frequency might imply. Arms were undoubtedly misused throughout history by people regardless of who they were; for every Ernst Rohm, there was a Alexander Hamilton or two.
David Nelson
Salt Lake City
Comments about content, including intellectual-property and libel, are welcome at owner@stonewallshootingsportsutah.org. This June 28, 2009 edition supersedes all previous editions.
Names are sorted on this page from the recent to the distant.
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FILM "THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS" CHARACTER "CHARRA" (2003)
"Grab my belt." [Zee grabs her belt and Charra hangs over the precipice]
"Just give me one clean shot." [Shoots, but fails to find her intended mark] "Shit."
[Zee: "You scared, Charra?"] "Shit, yeah. I'll make you a deal, though. You keep loadin', I keep shootin'."
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"DEEPDICKOLLECTIVE" MUSICIANS 25PERCENTER, POINTFIVEFAG, JB AND MR. MANMAN (2002)
[Lyrics] "I place a hex; on hets who say homos; ain't really Negroes/ain't really heroes; who gonna hold the gun; when the pale horse come; to get yo black ass; when other blacks/ain't have your back."
[Lyrics] "[M]y kin be lesbo, drag queens, hetero, and bi; reverse the direction of the boom bye-bye; without resortin' to tit for tat; stand strong lil ones, me gats guns."
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TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "BRIAN KINNEY" (2000-2005)
"For someone who's never seen a Western on principle, you have an awfully keen interest in firearms. Where'd you get it?"
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TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "CODY BELL" (2000-2005)
"I had a six-shooter, partner, before I had a two-wheeler. Where I grew up, everyone did."
"If a bunch of homo haters wanna beat the shit out of you, you're not gonna stop them by blowing a little whistle. [...] You think anyone would dare call a black man a nigger? And, try calling an Israeli a kike! Man, they'd blow your ass right off the face of the Earth. But, they have no prob calling us fags. Why? Because they can. Because they know we're all sissies, that we're too chicken-shit to do anything. So, go on. Sign your petitions and write your letters. And, blow your little whistles. But, nothing's going to change until you fight back; until you learn to say 'Don't -- fuck -- with -- me!'"
"I'll tell you my little secret. See how [the target] has no face? Well, I give it one. Someone who deserves a bullet between the eyes. [...] Like Wayne; captain of the football team. He and his jock buddies held me down while he carved 'faggot' on my ass with a penknife. Bang! Or, Mr. Mackley who made me show it to the class. Or, my father who slapped me across the face when I told him what they did. Bang!"
"Okay. So, hold it with your right hand. Now, line up your sight with your right eye and pull the trigger. [Justin aims at the target but his hand starts shaking.] Nervous? [...] Okay. Then try this. Left hand to your wrist to steady it. Arms out straight. Spread your legs a bit. For balance. Now, it's got a kick, so don't resist."
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TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "JUSTIN TAYLOR" (2000-2005)
[Justin manages to squeeze off a shot.] "Wow. That was intense."
[Justin is at a firing range, watching Cody shoot at a paper target.] "You're a really good shot."
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PINK PISTOLS (2000)
"Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed."
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STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS MORTY MANFORD (UNK.-AFT. 1997)
"In those days the New York City police had a guerrilla-prone cadre known as the Tactical Police Force, the TPF. Who knows whether the violence would have escalated in the way it did if the TPF had not come in? That's what they always looked for; they wanted confrontation. Chasing after people and hitting them with their billy clubs, I think, provoked a greater response than there would have been otherwise."
"One way or the other, though, gay people had stood up and rebelled. I wasn't looking for a fight. I can't claim credit for the small acts of violence that took place. I didn't break any windows. I wasn't the one who had a knife and cut the tires on the paddy wagon. I didn't hit a cop and didn't get hit by a cop. I saw people breaking windows, but I didn't stay too much longer."
"Somebody took an uprooted parking meter and broke the glass in the front window and the plywood board that was behind it. Then somebody else took a garbage can -- one of those wire-mesh cans -- set it on fire, and threw the burning garbage into the premises. The area that was set afire was where the coatroom was. They had a fire hose inside, and they used it."
"[T]he only raid where I was actually inside the bar was at the Stonewall. The night of the raid, some men in suits and ties entered the place and walked around a little bit, then whispers went around that the place was being raided. It may have been ten or fifteen minutes later that we were all told to leave. [S]ome people in the crowd started throwing pennies across the street at the front of the Stonewall."
"Then someone apparently threw a rock, which broke one of the windows on the second floor. [T]he crowd collectively exclaimed, 'Ooh.' It was a dramatic gesture of defiance. A few more rocks went flying, and then somebody from inside the bar opened the door and stuck out a gun. He yelled for people to stay back. Then he withdrew the gun, closed the door, and went back inside."
"Then they opened the front door and turned the hose on the crowd to try to keep people at a distance. That's when the riot erupted. Apparently, a fire engine had been summoned because of the trash fire. As it came down the block, uniformed police started to arrive. They came down the street in a phalanx of blue with their riot gear on."
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GAY AND LESBIAN ALLIANCE (1996)
"They bash us and stab us and shoot us and bomb us in ever-increasing numbers and, still, we freak out when angry queers carry banners or signs that say 'BASH BACK.'"
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FILM "STONEWALL" CHARACTER "BOSTONIA" (1995)
[Uniformed Cop: "Poor little faggot don't know whether to kill me or kiss me."] [Hits the cop] "Guess I made up my mind."
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QUEER NATION (1990)
"Queers Bash Back."
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WRITER JAMES "JIM" LEVIN (UNK.-AFT. 1983)
"Stonewall was the trigger for the gun, but the gun was so well loaded that any number of other events might well have fired it."
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MUSICIAN "CYCLONE" JONES (1982-PRESENT)
[Lyrics] "Until then, Imma keep them hollow points in."
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STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS RUDY GRILLO (UNK.-AFT. 1985)
"I was doing more running than fighting. I remember looking back from 10th Street, and there on Waverly Street there was a police -- I believe on his -- a cop and he is on his stomach in his tactical uniform and his helmet and everything else, with a drag queen straddling him. She was beating the Hell out of him with her shoe. Whether it was a high heel or not, I don't know, but she was beating the Hell out of him."
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STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS "MAMA" JEAN DEVENTE (UNK.-AFT. 1977)
"[W]e saw everything happening. People getting beat up. Police coming from every direction, hitting women as well as men with their nightsticks. Gay men running down the street with blood all over their face. We decided right then and there, whether we're scared or not, we didn't think about, we just jumped in. I remember one cop coming at me, hitting me with the nightstick on the back of my legs. I broke loose and I went after him. I grabbed his nightstick. My girlfriend went behind him -- she was a strong son of a gun. I wanted him to feel the same pain that I felt. And I kept saying to him, 'How do you like the pain? Do you like it? Do you like it?' And, I kept on hitting him and hitting him. I was angry. I wanted to kill him. At that particular minute, I wanted to kill him."
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STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS HOWARD SMITH (UNK.-AFT. 1977)
"On the night of the Stonewall riots ... people ... were yelling 'Kill the cops! Police brutality! Let's get 'em! We're not going to take this anymore! Let's get 'em!' There were a couple of cops stationed on either side of the door with their pistols, like in combat stance, aimed in the door area. A couple of others were stationed in other places, behind like a pole, another one behind the bar. All of them with their guns ready."
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MUSICIAN (ERNEST HARDY) "DEADLEE" (1975-PRESENT)
"I don't hold back. There's no question as to what I'm saying and who I am. I hit you right off with 'Suck Muh Gun.' My gun is my voice, my cock. Or you can take it literally as a weapon. I'm taking the whole gangster image and flipping it. I'm a strong gay man, and I'm challenging all these motherfucks to try and challenge my manhood. They can't! I use my sexuality as a plus, treat straight fucks like they've treated and disrespected women and gays all these years. I'm one faggot you can't fuck with. I break out of the stereotype."
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ACTRESS ANGELINA JOLIE (VOIGHT) (1975-PRESENT)
"I don't think that's that crazy. I lived in New York by myself for three years. I had a knife under the mattress, you know? I have a case that I lock all my knives in when [(William Robert) 'Billy Bob' Thornton's] children are in. And they can't go in that room -- that's the weapons room. That's where Billy's guns are. There's a lock on it."
[About training for the film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)"] "We went to gun training, which is actually one of the most dangerous things two actors can do... You had to trust each other to cross under or over and only move when the other person moves, so the trust, when somebody's got a loaded gun at your back... It made us trust each other quickly, you know?"
[About training for the film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)"] "'What am I doing? I'm not going to be able to do this. I'm not going to pull it off.' I couldn't get the guns even on my sides."
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ACTOR CHAD ALLEN (LAZZARI) (1974-PRESENT)
"All things considered, it would have been fun to be a (cool) gunslinger like Clint Eastwood is in the movies."
[As television character Sheriff Matthew Cooper] "I ain't crazy 'bout the idea, either, but if everybody else comin' into town is wearin' a gun, then I'd better have one, too."
[As television character Sheriff Matthew Cooper] "I still wanna be sheriff, I just don't think folks should be runnin' 'round town with guns, myself included."
"Joe Lando, who played Sully, really was like an older brother. We both loved motorcycles and guns."
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MUSICIAN KURT (DONALD) COBAIN (1967-1994)
[Lyrics] "And, he likes to shoot his gun."
"I'm not against guns. I own one. I believe in them for protection. I'm not as much of a hippy as some people want me to be."
[Lyrics] "Load up on guns and bring your friends."
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WRITER DAN SAVAGE (1965-PRESENT)
"I certainly have a higher regard for ... shooting ranges than I did going into it. I wanted to see if I could get to that same place with guns ... and I did. That surprised me. I went to Texas fully expecting to ride an anti-gun screed and write about how idiotic I felt shooting and how stupid pulling that trigger was, and I really enjoyed it."
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FILM "GOLDFINGER" CHARACTER "PUSSY GALORE" (1964)
"Oh, I, uh ... never carry weapons after business hours. I'm completely defenseless!"
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TELEVISION-SERIES "DOCTOR WHO" CHARACTER "CAPT. JACK HARKNESS" (1963-PRESENT)
"The Doctor takes Rose and Jack to room 802 and asks Jack to blast open the door; he could use his sonic screwdriver, but he wants a closer look at Jack's gun. He recognizes it as a sonic blaster with a digital-blast pattern originating from the 51st-century weapons factories of Villengard. Jack is surprised to learn that the Doctor is responsible for blowing up the weapons factories; now, they've been replaced with banana groves. Jack points his gun at the child only to discover that he's now holding a banana and that the Doctor has the gun. The Doctor disintegrates a hole in the wall and, as soon as he, Rose and Jack have leapt through, Jack grabs back his gun and reintegrates the wall. Rose uses Jack's gun to disintegrate a hole in the floor, which Jack then reintegrates once they've fallen through," British Broadcasting Corp.
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WRITER ANDREW SULLIVAN (1963-PRESENT)
"I'm basically against gun control and for gay rights -- for much the same reason. Liberty, and all that."
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WRITER AND RADIO BROADCASTER TAMMY BRUCE (1962-PRESENT)
"As a firearm owner, I am a staunch advocate of the Second Amendment."
"As a woman, I know that a firearm is the only thing that truly equalizes me if I'm faced with someone determined to do me harm."
"Europe's history has shown us that a defenseless citizenry invites nothing less than criminal anarchy and tyrannical dictatorships."
"I've written a great deal about my love for Snuffy, my .38 snub-nose Smith & Wesson."
"[If] a man who wishes me harm is close enough to touch me, he's already too close. Anyone who enters my home with malevolent intentions will not leave standing up. It's that simple."
"In fact, let's use the example of Washington, D.C. Guns are banned there and, as a result, it is the murder capitol of the country. Why? Because bad guys know that law-abiding citizens of Washington, D.C. are sitting ducks."
"Ironically, England implemented its own gun-control legislation in 1997 with disastrous repercussions. They now have a higher violent-crime rate than not only New York, but every state of the union, including of course, Florida."
"My support of the right of gun ownership is not based, however, in some esoteric theory, it's based in the reality that guns make people safer."
"The deranged and the criminal will always get their guns, just as those who wanted a drink during Prohibition got their booze."
"Those who argue to disarm us simply do not trust Americans, and perhaps even despise what has made this country great -- traits like the individualism fostered in part by rights like the Second Amendment."
"Two thugs from south Los Angeles ventured into West Hollywood armed with bats and brutally attacked several gay men. It's safe to say those bent on committing violence for whatever reason would think twice if they knew their potential targets could defend themselves in the most definitive of ways."
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COMEDIAN (EDWARD JOHN) "EDDIE" IZZARD (1962-PRESENT)
"Guns don't kill people, people kill people -- and monkeys do, too, if they have a gun."
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COMEDIENNE (ROSEANNE TERESA) "ROSIE" O'DONNELL (1962-PRESENT)
"I don't personally own a gun, but if you are qualified, licensed and registered, I have no problem."
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WRITER JONATHAN RAUCH (1960-PRESENT)
"[H]omosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible."
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MUSICIAN MADONNA (LOUISE VERONICA CICCONE) (1958-PRESENT)
[After studying clay-pigeon shooting at the West London Shooting School and buying two shotguns from the Queen's supplier Purdey Sons] "[Husband] Guy [Ritchie] ... lived on a country estate for about six years and it was the best time of his life. I skip the huge [pre-hunt] breakfast. Once you eat it, I don't know how you can get up and move around. So I have my macrobiotic soup, and then I go out and shoot some pheasants," Daily (London) Mail.
[Lyrics] "You're a man with a gun in your hand, waging a war between good and evil can be a bore. If you don't take time, it's not nice, so here's my advice: Take your love on the run. Oh God, let me be the one. Ah, ah, ah, man with a gun."
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ACTRESS MEGAN MULLALLY (1958-PRESENT)
[As television character Karen Walker] "Of all the days to loan my gun to the kids."
[Does Karen ever go too far, or get too nasty?] "There was a whole thing where Karen carried a gun in her purse, and she took Grace to the shooting gallery."
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WRITER TOM (GORDON) G. PALMER (1956-PRESENT)
[As the victim of a gay hate crime] "There's no question in my mind, that my friend and I would have been at least very seriously beaten, and maybe killed [without a firearm]."
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MAGICIAN PENN (FRASER) JILLETTE (1955-PRESENT)
[From the television series "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!"] "The guys who founded our country gave us the right to have guns so that when the time came for the next revolution, we'd be armed and ready. And when people support gun control for their comfort or their peace of mind, they're forgetting that they're killing something there, too. Gun control is bullshit."
"Twelve magicians and two carnies have been shot dead doing the bullet catch. That's cool enough, but every night when we close our show with that trick and the loaded gun gets pointed in my face, it goes so far beyond cool. All I can think is 12 magicians, two carnies. [...] We use real .357 Magnums. In England and in Canada, we haven't been able to do [the bullet catch because of their] ... gun laws."
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HIV/AIDS LEADER RODGER MCFARLANE (1955-PRESENT)
"I grew up on a farm. I had a gay brother. Our parents were fantastic, encouraging us to do anything. My brother and I grew up thinking we were special, when most gay kids get beaten up and called sissy and faggot. We just basically stomped anybody who got in our way. We ran faster and jumped higher and made better grades. And I could gut a deer more neatly than most of the men in Alabama. So I didn't grow up with that trauma of being gay. Obviously, it didn't slow me down. Then that was reinforced in the Navy."
"I'm an expert in several firearms."
[Did you take gun training?] "No, but I would have. My best friend is Rodger McFarlane, who had been a Navy Seal -- the equivalent of a Green Beret -- and he'd had training in a lot of that stuff," writer Larry Kramer.
"We were all sorts of Americans trapped in a little tube, 100 men, underwater for six months at a time in mortal danger. You did your job, and you did it perfectly every time, because that's what the stakes demanded. Those men trusted me with their lives, not because I was gay or straight, but because I was one of the most reliable reactor operators under fire they had ever seen."
"We're also working very closely with our progressive friends who are wrestling with ... gun control, realizing that we have many of the same enemies and the same end goals."
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"THE RAWHIDE KID" COMICS CHARACTER "JOHNNY BART" (1955)
"I just want to meet him [the Lone Ranger]. I think that mask and powder blue outfit are fantastic. I can certainly see why the Indian follows him around."
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FILMMAKER CLIVE BARKER (1952-PRESENT)
"Are acts of violence more likely to be propagated by material as unattractive as Last House on the Left or the immaculately back-lit Sylvester Stallone with a phallic gun in his hand?"
"I'm saying that the human imagination works lots of ways, and when confronted with evil it doesn't have to take a sawn-off shotgun and blow its head off."
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MUSICIAN ROB HALFORD (1951-PRESENT)
[Lyrics] "I'm gonna shoot it, 'cause I'm locked and loaded."
"[I]t was important that we were there to stand up for ourselves and for our music and, to some extent, for the values of the American Constitution, which is rather ironic considering it was four Englishmen."
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U.S. REP. STEVEN (CRAIG) GUNDERSON, R-WIS. (1951-PRESENT)
"[T]he debate about guns is as old as these United States of America. The American Revolution was about tyranny of the few over the many; and the power to control the masses included the ability to control firearms. As a result, our Founding Fathers believed it essential to guarantee the right to bear arms as a way to prevent history from repeating itself."
"[T]he second amendment has served us well -- for food, for defense and for sport. Guns were necessary to secure food and for protection as families settled our country during the early years of the country. Gun skills were vital to life then, remained important through two World Wars, and are still important today."
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U.S. ARMY SGT. MIRIAM BEN-SHALOM (1948-PRESENT)
"Today, more than ever, all these veterans that are here and all you veterans out there, understand what the meaning of service is. You did it once before. You stood with a gun in your hand and you choose to defend this country. We need you once again."
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WRITER CAMILLE (ANNA) PAGLIA (1947-PRESENT)
"American guns are the dark side of American genius. Our aggression overflows into violence but also empowers our brilliant entrepreneurship in technology as well as the vitality of our popular culture."
"As a tomboy whose Amazonian craze was always for swords and spears, I've never felt the allure of guns, but I think I understand their hypnotic high-tech beauty -- their well-oiled intricacy; cool, smooth skin; and startlingly dense, compact heft, which gives the owner so exhilarating a sense of coiled power."
"If one reads the Founders, one cannot escape the realization that this amendment, second only to the First, which it protects, was placed where it is precisely to allow the people to take back their government should it fall into the hands of some future Hitlerian despot."
"It doesn't take a weatherman to figure out that the average citizen doesn't want national policy determined by packs of weeping women led by a shrill, dimwitted talk-show host (Hillary-sycophant Rosie O'Donnell)."
"[I]t's not guns at home I fear: It's guns abroad, escalating into nuclear war. Whatever the mad bombers of NATO think they're winning in the Yugoslav fiasco, they've predictably destabilized world politics."
"Last Sunday's Million Mom March, the gun-control protest organized (as the major media is finally admitting) by the sister-in-law of Hillary Clinton's longtime lawyer pal and hatchet woman, surly Susan Thomases, may not do the Democrats much good this year, when the electorate is in a mood, as during the humiliating 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis, to restore military credibility to the U.S."
"Neither do crime statistics from other countries carry much weight with me. Only the U.S. has a complex Bill of Rights with a First Amendment guaranteeing 'freedom of speech' and a Second Amendment guaranteeing 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms,' which remain our protection against government tyranny. It's no coincidence that this most heavily armed nation in the world is also the most individualistic and entrepreneurial, with incandescent creativity in the high-tech field that has transformed the economy."
"The establishments of the two major parties have gotten far too arrogant and complacent, and this is just the sort of thing that could shake them up."
"[T]he lessons of Waco are that even a liberal Democratic administration is capable of fascist acts and that a reasonably armed citizenry is the only recourse against government tyranny. I don't own guns, but I feel more secure that others do."
"The problem with gun-control laws is that they only work on already law-abiding citizens. Although I don't own guns, I respect those who do. And I venerate the armed woman as a transcendent symbol of independent female power -- from ancient goddesses like the Venus Armata or the knife-wielding Hindu Kali to the pistol-packing babes of 'Charlie's Angels.'"
"While guns aren't my thing, I would vigorously defend the Second Amendment right of mentally competent adults to own and collect weapons without harassment by the government. Multiplying gun laws isn't the answer, since law-abiding citizens are never the problem."
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FILMMAKER JOHN WATERS (1946-PRESENT)
"Even illegal weapons have lost their panache. Zip guns and shanks were, at least, homemade. Where is the craft in a grade-schooler firing a magnum? What is the world coming to? It's not even bad to be a Communist anymore!"
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WRITER ANDREA DWORKIN (1946-2005)
"A semi-automatic gun is one answer [to the problem of violence against women]."
"Women need land and guns."
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GAMBINO FAMILY MOBSTER AND KILLER SALVATORE "SAMMY THE BULL" GRAVANO (1945-PRESENT)
"Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna' have a gun. Safety locks? You pull a trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins."
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U.S. COAST GUARD REAR ADM. ALAN M. STEINMAN M.D. (1945-PRESENT)
"There are gays and lesbians serving honorably in every rank, from apprentice seaman to flag officer. There are gays in the special forces ... Green Berets and Navy SEALS. There are soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who are out to their unit, and it doesn't impair their combat effectiveness. I'm not angry at the military, because I loved my time there."
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MUSICIAN (PETER DENNIS BLANDFORD) "PETE" TOWNSHEND (1945-PRESENT)
"As a young man, every bone in my body wanted to pick up a machine gun and kill Germans. And, yet, I had absolutely no reason to do so. Certainly, nobody invited me to do the job. But, that's what I felt that I was trained to do. Now, no part of my upbringing was militaristic."
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PROFESSOR ANGELA (YVONNE) DAVIS PH.D. (1944-PRESENT)
"In 1966, when the Black Panther Party was founded, they used guns and law books symbolically. The call was not for people to use arms against the police, but to stand up against police brutality and to stand up to police violation of rights of the community."
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U.S. AIR FORCE SGT. LEONARD P. MATLOVICH JR. (1943-1988)
"When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
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U.S. REP. (JAMES THOMAS) "JIM" KOLBE, R-ARIZ. (1942-PRESENT)
"I have seen little evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of gun-control measures."
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U.S. REP. BARNEY FRANK, D-MASS. (1940-PRESENT)
"At the presidential level, the more fervently [that] Democrats advocate gun control, the more we hurt ourselves with swing votes, especially in the Western states. And, by trying to make anti-gun laws serve as our example of how to be tough on crime, we end up losing ground on both issues."
"[F]or some swing voters, when liberals point to tougher restrictions on guns as a main part of our anti-crime package, we are simply adding to the injury of taking away their guns the insult of calling them criminals while we do it."
"Gun control -- another liberal response to crime -- isn't the right answer. In 1994, it hurt the Democrats. [L]iberals have to be more sensitive than they have been to regional differences on gun restrictions."
"[P]resented as a substitute for harsher prison sentences or more prosecutorial freedom for law-enforcement agencies, gun control will lose support among swing votes and will not help liberals to improve their image as crime fighters."
"[T]he political costs of gun control are also higher. There are a large number of people who care fiercely about what they believe to be their right to own guns without restrictions as long as they use them lawfully. These people will cast their votes primarily according to a candidate's position on gun control; they vote this way because of their commitment to the issue, not because of some clever manipulation by the National Rifle Association."
"The power of these voters is what makes even moderate gun-control measures so difficult to pass. It was resentment of Sen. Kennedy's position on gun control that led large numbers of union members in Iowa and Maine to oppose him in the presidential caucuses of 1980 despite his leadership on virtually every other issue that mattered to them. The total focus on the issue of unrestricted gun ownership leads many voters to support Republicans for president despite pro-Democratic sentiments on economic and environmental issues. In many Western states, for instance, it is the strength of these voters that leads many liberal Democrats to vote against gun control, not some need for PAC money from the NRA."
"There are in this country a significant number of voters ... who enjoy owning and using guns for hunting, target shooting and other wholly legitimate purposes."
"[W]hen liberals insist on using gun control as a litmus test, they punish progressives in the Mountain states without in any way advancing the cause of gun control. The choice in most Western states is not between liberals who favor gun control and liberals who oppose it; it is between a liberal who opposes gun control and a conservative."
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MUSICIAN JOHN (WINSTON) LENNON (1940-1980)
[Lyrics] "Mother Superior jump the gun; Happiness is a warm gun; When I hold you in my arms, And I feel my finger on your trigger, I know no-one can do me no harm because: Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun!"
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ACTOR SIR IAN (MURRAY) MCKELLEN (1939-PRESENT)
"I regret, though, that I didn't get to wear a Stetson, tote a gun nor ride a horse but then this is one of the few Westerns to aim for historical accuracy and not everyone behaved like a movie cowboy in 'them thar' days."
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U.S. ARMY BRIG. GEN. VIRGIL A. RICHARD (1937-PRESENT)
"I can't knock the Army. It was very good to me, and I'm proud of my career. I think I handled it with honor. The medals in the case [including the Distinguished Service medal, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit] are proof of that. I'm happy with what I've done, and I'm happy with who I am."
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WRITER LARRY KRAMER (1935-PRESENT)
"[Kramer] began the meeting with a soft-spoken announcement that he wanted to set up a group to do target practice, to learn how to use guns against the police and gay-bashers. His point in the demo debate was to back the radicals. He mentioned last year's demo that broke up a mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and provoked a storm of hostility: "We couldn't have gotten worse publicity than the Church action, and that put us on the map. ... Don't use the backlash argument as an excuse. They're not going to like us. They hate us anyway,'" Andrew Sullivan.
[Did you take gun training?] "No, but I would have. My best friend is Rodger McFarlane, who had been a Navy Seal -- the equivalent of a Green Beret -- and he'd had training in a lot of that stuff."
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WRITER AUDRE (GERALDINE) LORDE (1934-1992)
"Our deepest bonds remain the mirror and the gun."
"When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
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ACTOR (ARTHUR ANDREW KELM GELIEN) "TAB HUNTER" (1931-PRESENT)
"The key to portraying this uptight psycho wasn't in the ferocious riding or the quick-draw gunslinging (which I practiced diligently), but in [his] wardrobe."
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WRITER AND ACTOR TRUMAN (STRECKFUS PERSONS) "CAPOTE" (1924-1984)
"Well, I'm about as tall as a shotgun, and just as noisy."
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WRITER WILLIAM (SEWARD) S. BURROUGHS (1914-1997)
"After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as Hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military."
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CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER BAYARD RUSTIN (1912-1987)
"In some quarters, black power connotes ... a repudiation of nonviolence in favor of Negro 'self-defense.'"
"[M]any Negroes take [the slogan 'black power'] as a warning to white people that Negroes will no longer tolerate brutality and violence."
"[N]o one has ever argued that Negroes as individuals should not defend themselves from attack."
"Proponents of nonviolence do not, for example, deny that James Meredith has the right to carry a gun for protection when he visits his mother in Mississippi."
"[The Negro] does, however, wonder why he is exhorted to nonviolence when the United States has been waging a fantastically brutal war, and it puzzles him to be told that he must turn the other cheek in our own South while we fight for freedom in South Vietnam."
"The reasoning here is that ... only if the Negro succeeds in frightening the white man will the white man begin taking him more seriously."
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U.S. SEN. AND AIR FORCE RESERVES MAJ. GEN. BARRY (MORRIS) M. GOLDWATER, R-ARIZ. (1909-1998)
[As the grandfather of a gay man] "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight for your country. You just need to shoot straight."
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ACTOR (ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER LEACH) "CARY GRANT" (1904-1986)
[As film character Capt. Anthony Trumbull] "It's not enough to say that a gun doesn't belong inside of their cathedral. This isn't merely a gun. It's the only symbol of resistance left in Spain. Do you know how many of them have given their lives just to push and pull and drag it this far? You mustn't refuse them."
[As film character Peter Joshua] "So you think I'M the murderer? What do I have to do to convince you that I'm not, be the next victim?"
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ACTOR (FRANK JAMES) "GARY" COOPER (1901-1961)
[As film character Alvin C. York] "[F]olks back home used to say I could shoot a rifle before I was weaned, but they was exaggeratin' some."
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WRITER SIR NOEL (PEIRCE) COWARD (1899-1973)
"Each man and woman is dedicated to doing what they must to make it through the war. The one exception is a sailor who runs away from his gun during a battle; he is haunted by his cowardice."
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U.S. DIRECTOR OF THE FBI (JOHN) J. EDGAR HOOVER (1895-1972)
"Numerous facets and ramifications of gun control are so varied and complex that regulatory measures must be at state and local levels. It is only at these levels that effective enforcement efforts can be undertaken. Many communities already have local ordinances which protect the rights of society without infringing on the rights of individuals who purchase guns for protection or legitimate recreation and pleasure."
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ACTRESS (MARY JANE) "MAE" WEST (1893-1980)
"Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
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MUSICIAN COLE PORTER (1891-1946)
[Lyrics] "And, from under her velvet gown, She drew a gun and shot her lover down."
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U.K. LT. COL. (THOMAS EDWARD) T.E. LAWRENCE "OF ARABIA" (1888-1935)
"As I spoke, I covered him with a pistol hidden under my cloak."
"As I watched, our machine-guns chattered out over my head, and the long rows of Turks on the carriage roofs rolled over, and were swept off the top like bales of cotton before the furious shower of bullets which stormed along the roofs and splashed clouds of yellow chips from the planking."
"Give me a battery of Schneider mountain guns, and machine-guns, and I will finish this off for you."
"He glanced wildly at me and at the pistol in my hand, and then with sadness at his rifle against the abutment, yards beyond."
"I knelt down beside HIM, holding my pistol near the ground by his head, so that he should not see my purpose; but he must have guessed it, for he opened his eyes, and clutched me with his harsh, scaly hand, the tiny hand of these unripe Nejd fellows."
"In manoeuvre war one long-range gun outweighed ninety-nine short."
"It seemed to me that their moral confidence was to be restored only by having guns, useful or useless, but noisy, on their side."
"Then we sat in a group with our rifles (mine Enver's gold-inscribed Lee-Enfield trophy from the Dardanelles, given by him to Feisal years ago) waiting till our men should be beyond the danger zone."
"To the front on each flank were my bodyguards in their brilliant clothes, lying spread out between the grey tufts of weed, with their rifles lovingly against their cheeks."
"Two hundred rifles, eighty thousand rounds of ammunition, many bombs, much food and clothing were in the station, and everybody smashed and profited."
"When there was reason and desire to punish we wrote our lesson with gun or whip immediately in the sullen flesh of the sufferer, and the case was beyond appeal."
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GERMANY NAZI STURMABTEILUNG (SA) CHIEF OF STAFF CAPT. ERNST ROHM (1887-1934)
[After being given a handgun with which to kill himself] "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself."
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WRITER (EDWARD MORGAN) E.M. FORSTER (1879-1970)
"Why does the soul always require a machine gun?"
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WRITER (EDWARD ALEXANDER) "ALEISTER" CROWLEY (1875-1947)
"In the afternoon we went off bathing together in a delightful pool directly under the hill on which the bungalow was situated. I took down the shot gun with the intention of killing a big paddy bird which we saw from the bank. These birds are valuable on account of the aigrette. I fired, but my shot did not seem to hurt him, and he flew off. I resigned the gun to the Burmese boy, and had just finished my bath when the impudent beast came back. I hastily signaled for the gun; and putting on a topee and a towel round my waist proceeded to stalk him across the ford. I must have presented the most ridiculous spectacle."
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ANARCHIST EMMA GOLDMAN (1869-1940)
"Is there only the resistance which means the gun, the bayonet, the bomb or flying machine?"
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BOY SCOUTS FOUNDER LORD ROBERT (STEVENSON SMYTH) BADEN-POWELL (1857-1941)
"Make yourselves good scouts and good rifle shots in order to protect the women and children of your country if it should ever become necessary."
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WRITER OSCAR (FINGEL O'FLARHERTIE WILLS) WILDE (1854-1900)
"I don't know what the Queensbury rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot on sight."
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U.K. MAJ. GEN. SIR HECTOR ARCHIBALD MACDONALD (1853-1903)
"You have your rifles. Why not use them?"
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WRITER AUGUSTUS (JOHN CUTHBERT) HARE (1834-1903)
[About writer Oscar Wilde] "Mrs M.L. had recently met this type of an aesthetic age staying at a country house and described him going out shooting in a black velvet suit with salmon-coloured stockings and falling down when his gun went off, yet captivating all the ladies by his pleasant talk."
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SUFFRAGIST SUSAN (BROWNELL) B. ANTHONY (1820-1906)
"I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand."
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WRITER (WALTER) "WALT" WHITMAN (1819-1892)
"Falling asleep on the gather'd leaves with my dog and gun by my side."
"He was a frequent gunner and fisher, he sail'd his boat himself, he had a fine one presented to him by a ship-joiner, he had fowling-pieces presented to him by men that loved him."
"Myself and mine gymnastic ever, To stand the cold or heat -- to take good aim with a gun."
"They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run, strike, retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves."
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WRITER HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862)
"He carried no change of clothing, but putting on a stout, thick jacket, which he laid aside in the canoe, and seizing a full-sized axe, his gun and ammunition, and a blanket, which would do for a sail or knapsack, if wanted, and strapping on his belt, which contained a large sheath-knife, he walked off at once, ready to be gone all summer."
"I was surprised to find, on talking with him in the course of the day's journey, that he was a hunter at all, -- for his gun was not much exposed."
"I went as reporter or chaplain to the hunters, -- and the chaplain has been known to carry a gun himself."
"They work ever with a gun as well as an axe, let their beards grow, and live without neighbors, not on an open plain, but far within a wilderness."
"We cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun; he is no more humane, while his education has been sadly neglected."
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WRITER LORD ALFRED TENNYSON (1809-1892)
"All armed I ride, whate'er betide, Until I find the holy Grail."
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WRITER RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882)
"What cannot stand must fall; and the measure of our sincerity and therefore of the respect of men, is the amount of health and wealth we will hazard in the defence of our right. An old farmer, my neighbor across the fence, when I ask him if he is not going to town-meeting, says: 'No, 't is no use balloting, for it will not stay; but what you do with the gun will stay so.'"
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THEOLOGIAN THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881)
"The three great elements of modern civilization: Gunpowder, printing and the Protestant religion."
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U.S. VICE PRESIDENT WILLIAM (RUFUS DEVANE) R. KING, D-ALA. (1786-1853)
[An insult by Dallas County, Ala., planter Michael Kenan which provoked King to draw a dagger from his cane and pass it across Kenan's chest was] "an affair of honor."
[Southern men should] "[H]url defiance ... and unitedly determine to defend their rights at every hazard and every sacrifice."
"Mr. President, I have no reply to make -- none whatever, but Mr. Clay deserves a response" [of a challenge to a duel].
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U.S. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Fed.-N.Y. (1755-1804)
"[B]ut if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights."
"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defence. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair."
"Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed and equipped."
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U.S. INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE ARMY MAJ. GEN. BARON (FRIEDRICH WILHELM LUDOLF GERHARD AUGUSTIN) VON STEUBEN (1730-1794)
"Victory in many battles went to the side who could fire and reload their guns the fastest."
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KING OF PRUSSIA FRIEDRICH (WILHELM) II "THE GREAT" (1712-1786)
"By push of bayonets, no firing until you see the whites in their eyes!"
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WRITER SAMUEL BUTLER (1612-1680)
The worst of rebels never arm to do their king or country harm, but draw their swords to do them good, as doctors cure by letting blood."
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WRITER JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)
[From the poem "Samson Agonistes"] "And, weaponless himself, Made arms ridiculous."
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WRITER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
[From the play "Titus Andronicus"] "Defend the justice of my cause with arms."
[From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "[G]ird thee with the sword."
[From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams."
[From the play "King Lear"] "I advise you to the best; go armed."
[From the play "Julius Caesar"] "I am arm'd, And dangers are to me indifferent."
[From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth"] "I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd."
[From the play "The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "[L]earn this lesson, draw thy sword in right."
[From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "Let me be blessed for the peace I make, Against this proud protector, with my sword!"
[From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "Let this my sword report what speech forbears."
[From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "O, turn thy edged sword another way; Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help."
[From the play "Coriolanus"] "[S]how thy valour, and put up your sword."
[From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "[T]ake up arms like gentlemen."
[From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just."
[From the play "The Rape of Lucrece"] "To chase injustice with revengeful arms."
[From the play "The Life and Death of King John"] "[W]ell won is still well shot."
[From the play "The Tragedy of King Richard the Second"] "What my tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove."
[From the play "The Merry Wives of Windsor"] "Why, then the world's mine oyster. Which I with sword will open."
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WRITER CHRISTOPHER "KIT" MARLOWE (1564-1593)
[From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "By this my sword that conquer'd Persia, Thy fall shall make me famous through the world!"
[From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Come, kings and bassoes, let us glut our swords."
[From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "I long to see those crowns won by our swords."
[From the play "Lust's Dominion"] "I'm armed with more than complete steel, -- The justice of my quarrel."
[From the play "Doctor Faustus"] "Mine be that honor then. Now, sword, strike home, For horns he gave, I'll have his head anon."
[From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Not one should scape, but perish by our swords."
[From the play "The Second Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Now, brother, follow we our father's sword, That flies with fury swifter than our thoughts, And cuts down armies with his conquering wings."
[From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Our conquering swords shall marshal us the way We use to march upon the slaughter'd foe."
[From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "So shall our swords, our lances, and our shot Fill all the air with fiery meteors."
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WRITER SIR FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)
[From the book "The Proficience and Advancement of Learning"] "And, as for the disgraces which learning receiveth from politiques, they be of this nature; that learning doth soften men's minds, and makes them more unapt for the honour and exercise of arms."
[From the book "The Proficience and Advancement of Learning"] "But, these and the like imputations have rather a countenance of gravity than any ground of justice: for experience doth warrant, that both in persons and in times, there hath been a meeting and concurrence in learning and arms, flourishing and excelling in the same men and the same ages.... For both in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Graecia and Rome, the same times that are most renowned for arms, are likewise most admired for learning, so that the greatest authors and philosophers, and the greatest captains and governors have lived in the same ages."
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WRITER EARL OF OXFORD XVII EDWARD DE VERE (1550-1604)
[From the poem "The Spanish Tragedy"] "And, with that sword he fiercely waged war."
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WRITER NICCOLO (DI BERNADI DI) MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527)
[From the book "The Prince"] "And, experience has shown princes and republics, single-handed, making the greatest progress, and mercenaries doing nothing except damage; and it is more difficult to bring a republic, armed with its own arms, under the sway of one of its citizens than it is to bring one armed with foreign arms. Rome and Sparta stood for many ages armed and free. The Switzers are completely armed and quite free."
[From the book "The Prince"] "For among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised, and this is one of those ignominies against which a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on. Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants."
[From the book "The Prince"] "Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered, and the unarmed ones have been destroyed."
[From the book "The Prince"] "The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms ... you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow."
[From the book "The Prince"] "There never was a new prince who has disarmed his subjects; rather when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them, because, by arming them, those arms become yours, those men who were distrusted become faithful, and those who were faithful are kept so, and your subjects become your adherents.... But when you disarm them, you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for want of loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you."
[From the book "The Prince"] "Thus it will be a double glory to him to have established a new principality, and adorned and strengthened it with good laws, good arms, good allies, and with a good example; so will it be a double disgrace to him who, born a prince, shall lose his state by want of wisdom."
[From the book "The Prince"] "War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms."
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ARTIST AND SCIENTIST LEONARDO (DI SER PIERO) DA VINCI (1452-1519)
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "I can contrive various and endless means of offense and defense."
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "I have kinds of many machines most efficient for offense and defense; and vessels which will resist the attack of the largest guns and powder and fumes."
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry; and with these can fling small stones almost resembling a storm; and with the smoke of these causing great terror to the enemy, to his great detriment and confusion."
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "I will make big guns, mortars and light ordnance of fine and useful forms, out of the common type."
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "Swords and spears which, by themselves, never hurt anyone."
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "Threats alone are the weapons of the threatened man."
[From a letter to the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza] "To preserve nature's chiefest boon, that is freedom, I can find means of offense and defense, when it is assailed by ambitious tyrants."
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SAINT JEANNE "PUCELLE D'ORLEANS" D'ARC (1412-1431)
"[I] had this sword at Lagny; and from Lagny to Compiegne [I] had worn the Burgundian's sword which was a good weapon for fighting; excellent for giving hard clouts and buffets."
"[I] loved the sword ... since it had been found in the church of St. Catherine, whom [I] loved."
"[I] wore man's dress, carried a sword which the said Robert [de Baudricourt] gave [me], but no other arms."
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THEOLOGIAN SAINT (AURELIUS AGUSTINUS) AUGUSTINE (354-430)
"Though defensive violence will always be a 'sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
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EMPEROR OF ROME (PUBLIUS AELIUS HADRIANUS) HADRIAN (76-138)
"I was wrong to forget that, in any combat between fanaticism and common sense, the latter has rarely the upper hand."
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ROMAN STATESMAN (MARCUS TULLIUS) CICERO (106-43 BCE)
"There exists a law not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts. A law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading ... a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right."
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PHILOSOPHER ARISTOTLE (OF STAGIRA) (384-322 BCE)
"Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people and, therefore, deprive them of arms."
"In a constitutional government, the fighting men have the supreme power, and those who possess arms are the citizens."
"In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state."
"It is quite normal for the same persons to be found bearing arms and tilling the soil."
"One of the ordinary modes by which tyrants accomplish their purpose without resistance is by disarming the people and making it an offense to keep arms."
"Since it is an impossible thing that those who are able to use or to resist force should be willing to remain always in subjection ... those who carry arms can always determine the fate of the constitution."
"The husbandmen have no arms and the artisans neither arms nor land, and, therefore, they become all but slaves of the warrior class."
"There must be arms, for the members of a community have need of them, and in their own hands, too, in order to maintain authority both against disobedient subjects and against external assailants."
"Those who have the command of the arms in a country are masters of the state, and have it in their power to make what revolutions they please. [Thus,] there is no end to observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people."
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PHILOSOPHER PLATO (ARISTOCLES) (ABT. 424-ABT. 348 BCE)
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
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ATHENIAN GEN. ALCIBIADES (ALCMAEONIDAE) (ABT. 450-404 BCE)
"[T]hat criminal was a fool who studied a defense when he might fly for it."
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PHILOSOPHER SOCRATES (OF ATHENS) (ABT. 469-399 BCE)
"For, often in battle, there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death; and, in other dangers, there are other ways of escaping death if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness for that runs faster than death."
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BOOK "THE ILIAD" CHARACTER GREEK HERO "ACHILLES" (800 BCE)
"We bid two champions put on their armour, take their keen blades, and make trial of one another in the presence of the multitude; whichever of them can first wound the flesh of the other, cut through his armour, and draw blood, to him will I give this goodly Thracian sword inlaid with silver, which I took from Asteropaeus, but the armour let both hold in partnership, and I will give each of them a hearty meal in my own tent."
"Why, O Xanthus, do you thus foretell my death? You need not do so, for I well know that I am to fall here, far from my dear father and mother; none the more, however, shall I stay my hand till I have given the Trojans their fill of fighting."
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KING OF ISRAEL DAVID (ABT. 1037-ABT. 970 BCE)
"Gird ye on every man his sword," 1 Samuel 25:13.
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GREEK MYTHOLOGY CHARACTER GOD "APOLLO" (UNK.)
"My arrows fly true to the mark."
"What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for hands worthy of them, Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of the plain! Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you call them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons."
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GREEK MYTHOLOGY CHARACTER GOD "(AMOR or CUPID) EROS" (UNK.)
"Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you."
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GREEK MYTHOLOGY CHARACTER GODDESS "(VENUS) APHRODITE" (UNK.)
"Be brave towards the timid. Courage against the courageous is not safe. Beware how you expose yourself to danger, and put my happiness to risk. Attack not the beasts that Nature has armed with weapons. I do not value your glory so highly as to consent to purchase it by such exposure. Your youth, and the beauty that charms Venus, will not touch the hearts of lions and bristly boars. Think of their terrible claws and prodigious strength! I hate the whole race of them. Do you ask why?"
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