Brian Kilmeade > Quotes

“Their humility stopped them from seeking fame or fortune because their love of country sparked their exploits.”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“This is the story of how a new nation, saddled with war debt and desperate to establish credibility, was challenged by four Muslim powers. Our merchant ships were captured and the crews enslaved. Despite its youth, America would do what established western powers chose not to do: stand up to intimidation and lawlessness.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“The Barbary states were already at war with America, and they seemed to understand only one kind of diplomacy—the kind that was accompanied by a cannon.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“Adding to the military might of the four ships were members of the relatively new United States Marine Corps, reactivated by President Adams with the birth of the U.S. Navy in 1798. Skilled combatants, the Marines were invaluable during boarding actions and landing expeditions, and they also served to protect a ship’s officers in the event of a mutiny by the crew. The fighters had a reputation for being bold, fearless men—though sometimes a little brash and reckless. Their presence would be invaluable should any of Dale’s ships encounter pirates or need protection on land. Once”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“The Barbary powers, with their mixture of greed, religious fanaticism, and self-interest, would not listen to reason. They”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“asked how the Barbary states could justify “[making] war upon nations who had done them no injury.” The response was nothing less than chilling. According to his holy book, the Qur’an, Abdrahaman explained, “all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave.” Christian sailors were, plain and simple, fair game.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“I would rather go out of politics having the feeling that I had done what was right than stay in with the approval of all men, knowing in my heart that I had acted as I ought not to. Theodore Roosevelt, March 1883 With”
― Brian Kilmeade, Teddy and Booker T.: How Two American Icons Blazed a Path for Racial Equality

“Tired of Americans being captured and held for ransom, our third president decided to take on the Barbary powers in a war that is barely remembered today but is one that, in many ways, we are still fighting.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“all Washington could do was carry in his heart the gratitude he had for the sacrifices of his brave spies, which were no less meaningful for having been made in city streets and country back roads as on a battlefield.”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“American—a child not of old borders and ancient alliances, but of ideals and liberty.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“To Santa Anna, the Texians were ungrateful foreign immigrants”
― Brian Kilmeade, Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History

“We looked up to [Frederick Douglass] almost as we do to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. —Congressman George W. Murray”
― Brian Kilmeade, The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Their Battle to Save America's Soul

“August 3, 1780, Benedict Arnold found himself the most powerful man on the Hudson. He wasted no time in capitalizing on his new position. Almost immediately he began repairing the fort and stocking it with as many provisions as possible. If he was going to turn West Point over to the British, he might as well win points with his new commanders by outfitting it on the American dime first; he even consulted a French engineer fighting alongside the Americans, Major Chevalier de Villefranche. “Major Villefranche”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“There were plots afoot—plans of deceit, treason, and betrayal—and the only hope the Americans had to survive them was to be prepared. Washington knew that New York City was of the utmost strategic importance from a military perspective, but even he could not anticipate how crucial the intelligence collected there would be in saving the cause for liberty. And neither side, American nor British, could yet imagine just how deep the treachery reached within its own ranks.”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“submit reports written in invisible ink, which now fell almost exclusively on Tallmadge to reveal and decipher. The job had previously belonged to Washington’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton, while Tallmadge was in charge of making sense of the general intelligence and summary reports Woodhull, Roe, and Brewster compiled. But recently Tallmadge had been tasked with the white-ink letters—perhaps after Washington recognized the urgency of the”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“Even in the face of the stormy conditions of June 1801, Lieutenant Decatur counted himself the luckiest of men to have a place on this mission. Every creak of the frigate as she rocked on the waves whispered of glory ahead. The salty air filling his lungs gave him an invigorating sense of the honor of simply being an American—a child not of old borders and ancient alliances, but of ideals and liberty. And he took pride in his ship; although the Essex was smaller than the President, Decatur felt a swelling of pride as he considered the line of cannons, more than thirty in all.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“remained for more than forty years, until it was disinterred and returned to England to be buried with military honors at Westminster Abbey. BACK IN MANHATTAN News of Arnold’s betrayal, as well as André’s capture and execution, sent shock waves through all of the colonies, but nowhere was the impact more keenly felt than in New York City. Even Robert Townsend found himself deeply moved by the death of one of the very men on whom he had spied. “I never felt more sensibly for”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“These subjects were also covered in classes, but this was the Age of Enlightenment and the pursuit of knowledge was all the rage—even among fun-loving young men. Benjamin”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee (1834).”
― Brian Kilmeade, Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America's Destiny

“Hale took a deep breath, then voiced a sentiment he had clearly been mulling for some time: “I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson called slavery “a cruel war against human nature itself.”1 James Madison argued that “it would be wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men.”2 Benjamin Franklin, a former slaveholder, described slavery as “an atrocious debasement of human nature.”3 But in the early days of the republic, slavery remained legal, the law of the land.”
― Brian Kilmeade, The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Their Battle to Save America's Soul

“The observation of Major George Beckwith bears repeating: “Washington did not really outfight the British, he simply outspied us!” In”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“as an assistant.” It was worth noting, but hardly earthshaking news. Spies were everywhere, and both sides knew it. That this operative tried to convert Woodhull to his side while clearly unaware as to Woodhull’s true loyalties is both comical and a testimony to the convincing role Woodhull was playing as a man of profound apathy. His secret letters, however, reveal just how deep his passions truly ran.”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“Make friends by being honest and keep them by being steadfast. Never tell a lie, nor take what is not your own, nor sue for slander—settle them cases yourself!”
― Brian Kilmeade, Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America's Destiny

“knew, however, just quite what they were in the midst of in September 1780. The reports from the city, the strange behaviors, the activity with the ships—Tallmadge couldn’t put his finger on it, but his instincts told him something was not right. He felt as if he had nearly all the elements in front of him, almost all the clues gathered, but he was not sure what he was looking at or what the picture was that he needed to assemble. That he had letters on his desk from his merchant-spy in New York regarding an officer”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“As one, the able-bodied men stepped forth; Jim Bowie, despite his fevered state, requested that he be helped across. Just one man remained behind; he was permitted to depart. He would survive to recount this story.23”
― Brian Kilmeade, Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History

“The British were highly skilled counterfeiters, and one of their favorite ways to attack the Americans was by depreciating colonial currency.”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution

“Captain Bainbridge remarked, his resolve firm, “I hope I shall never again be sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am authorized to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

“The sons of America,” he went on, “have given a new proof how impossible it is to conquer freemen fighting in defense of all that is dear to them. Henceforward we shall be respected by nations who, mistaking our character, had treated us with the utmost contumely and outrage. Years will continue to develop our inherent qualities, until, from being the youngest and the weakest, we shall become the most powerful nation in the universe.”21”
― Brian Kilmeade, Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America's Destiny

“This was the first time in my life that I had witnessed the awful scene of a battle, when man was engaged to destroy his fellow-man,”
― Brian Kilmeade, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution