Source: Chief Joseph 1903,
Edward H. Latham, Wikimedia

“Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Toohulhulsote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”

—Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce on his surrender to the U.S. Army in 1877

Source: Nelson Mandela sur
la scène du Champ-de-Mars
à Montréal, 19 juin 1990,
Archives de Ville de Montreal,
Flickr

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

—Anti-Apartheid activist Nelson Mandela’s opening statement in his 1964 trial on charges of treason and conspiracy to overthrow the South African government

Source: Churchill portrait NYP
45063, British Government, Wikimedia

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

—Winston Churchill speaking on June 4, 1940, after he became prime minister of Great Britain

Source: Ben Bernanke official portrait,
United States Federal Reserve,
Wikimedia

“However, although private final demand, output, and employment have indeed been growing for more than a year, the pace of that growth recently appears somewhat less vigorous than we expected. Notably, since stabilizing in mid-2009, real household spending in the United States has grown in the range of 1 to 2 percent at annual rates, a relatively modest pace. Households' caution is understandable. Importantly, the painfully slow recovery in the labor market has restrained growth in labor income, raised uncertainty about job security and prospects, and damped confidence. Also, although consumer credit shows some signs of thawing, responses to our Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices suggest that lending standards to households generally remain tight.”

—Ben Bernanke’s presentation on the economic outlook and monetary policy on August 27, 2010