It is one of the ironies of our time that, while concentrating on the defense of our country against enemies from without, we should be so heedless of those who would destroy it from within. (Aug 1953 letter to the editor of The Washington Post)

We’ve been so afraid; so hell bent on destroying enemies; both foreign and domestic, we’ve hurt ourselves and our democracy. Time to wake up.

I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant; give them the means of detecting the wrong, and they will apply the remedy.

he forgot that the best of omens is to unsheathe our sword in the defence of our country.

There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God... These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside.

I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any treat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.

Confusion to our enemies!

The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.

The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.

In looking out upon the world, we forget that the world is looking at itself.

There people fail to realise that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. - Pi Patel in Life of Pi

The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.

"There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, "Business as usual." But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.

These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defense, not God's, that the self-righteous should rush."

The enemy of the moment is not as important as our own inner weakness. If this is not mended we are already defeated, though no foreign conqueror stands within our walls.