Top 93 Jeff Cooper Quotes
#1. Anger, as long as it is controlled anger, is no obstacle to efficiency. Self-control is one thing the sociopath does not usually possess. Use yours to his undoing.
Jeff Cooper
#2. According to Herodotus, the ancient Persians felt that what was necessary in the background of a young man entering adulthood was his ability to ride, shoot straight, and speak the truth. Perhaps we should now grant our college degrees to young men who measure up to that standard.
Jeff Cooper
#3. 'Heroism' is not the same as coping. A man who does his job properly and succeeds through his own efforts is definitely to be commended, but he is not a hero in the classic sense until he deliberately lays his life on the line for a cause he deems to be greater than himself.
Jeff Cooper
#4. Colonialism has a bad reputation in the modern context, but Colonial Africa was a far better place for both black and white before the colonists gave up.
Jeff Cooper
#5. Use your eyes. Do not enter unfamiliar areas that you cannot observe first. Make it a practice to swing wide around corners, use window glass for rearward visibility, and get something solid behind you when you pause.
Jeff Cooper
#6. The police cannot protect the citizen at this stage of our development, and they cannot even protect themselves in many cases. It is up to the private citizen to protect himself and his family, and this is not only acceptable, but mandatory.
Jeff Cooper
#7. The trouble with democracy is that 50 percent of the voters are below average.
Jeff Cooper
#8. Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.
Jeff Cooper
#9. Beware the man with one gun. He can probably use it.
Jeff Cooper
#10. We are fully justified in valuing the life and person of an intended victim more highly than the life of a pernicious assailant. The attacker must be stopped. At once and completely.
Jeff Cooper
#11. You better be looking for another pitcher.
Jeff Cooper
#12. Let your attacker worry about his life. Don't hold back. Strike no more after he is incapable of further action, but see that he is stopped.
Jeff Cooper
#13. An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.
Jeff Cooper
#14. That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.
Jeff Cooper
#15. Aggressiveness carries with it an incalculable moral edge in any combat, offensive or defensive.
Jeff Cooper
#16. Never assume that simply having a gun makes you a marksman. You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol than you are a musician because you own a guitar.
Jeff Cooper
#17. What are we going to do if citizens are disarmed, and the government doesn't obey its own laws?
Jeff Cooper
#18. If a principle exists it must be immutable, for that is what a principle is - a truth standing apart from the mood of the times.
Jeff Cooper
#19. The perfect fight is one that is over before the loser really understands what is going on. The perfect defense is a counterattack that succeeds before the assailant discovers that he has bitten off more than he can chew.
Jeff Cooper
#20. If you must use your hands, use them with all the strength you possess ... If you choose to strike, by all means strike hard.
Jeff Cooper
#21. It appears that the Soviets are now going to allow prayer in school. One wonders how soon the United States will catch up.
Jeff Cooper
#22. Know what is behind you, and pay particular attention to anything out of place.
Jeff Cooper
#23. The essential thing is to bear always in mind that trouble can appear at any time.
Be aware.Be ready.Be alert.
Jeff Cooper
#24. It is true that a victim who fights back may suffer for it, but one who does not almost certainly will suffer for it.
Jeff Cooper
#25. Speed is the absolute essence of any form of combat
Jeff Cooper
#26. By doing what our assailant least expects us to do, we may throw him completely off ... what he usually least suspects is instant, violent counterattack, so the principle of aggressiveness is closely tied to threat of surprise.
Jeff Cooper
#27. No sensible person ever opens the door of his house without knowing who is knocking.
Jeff Cooper
#28. Political correctness is neither political nor is it correct. It amounts to social censorship, and the sooner we spit it out, the better.
Jeff Cooper
#29. Not long ago it was easy to tell who the bad guys were. They carried Kalashnikovs. Now it is much more complicated, but one thing is sure - any man who covers his face and packs a gun is a legitimate target for any decent citizen.
Jeff Cooper
#30. It is high time for society to stop worrying about the criminal, and to let the criminal start worrying about society. And by "society" I mean you.
Jeff Cooper
#31. Democracy has many definitions, but what's in it for me is not an element of any of them.
Jeff Cooper
#32. Offering democracy to an Arab is like bringing a horse to a steakhouse.
Jeff Cooper
#33. The rifle is the queen of weapons and its effective use is one of the greatest satisfactions available to man.
Jeff Cooper
#34. When under attack, it is necessary to evaluate the situation and to decide instantly upon a proper course of action, to be carried out immediately with all the force you can bring to bear. He who hesitates is indeed lost. Do not soliloquize. Do not delay. Be decisive.
Jeff Cooper
#35. A fine marksman is with a second rate rifle is far more effective than the reverse.
Jeff Cooper
#36. One of the notable aspects of the democratic process is that one need not know anything about a subject in order to pass laws about it.
Jeff Cooper
#37. The specific course you decide upon is, within certain parameters, less important than the vigor with which you execute it.
Jeff Cooper
#38. In all history the only bright rays cutting the gloom of oppression have come from men who would rather get hurt than give in.
Jeff Cooper
#39. If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.
Jeff Cooper
#40. Buy ammunition! Remember that a man cannot have too many books, too many wines, or too much ammunition. Our adversaries on the other side are reaching for the excuse of lead poisoning. If they can push that idea through, you may wind up still owning your guns but without anything to shoot in them.
Jeff Cooper
#41. Therefore, if you are attacked, retaliate instantly. Be sudden. Be quick. Speed is your salvation.
Jeff Cooper
#42. At long last I have discovered that most shooters are not interested in firearms as tools, but rather as toys. Such people do not acquire their weapons because of what they will do, but rather to gratify the "Christmas morning joy" that we largely left behind in our childhood.
Jeff Cooper
#43. The proliferation of right-to-carry laws throughout the states has drawn plaintive complaints from the criminal element. They feel that it makes their profession too dangerous when the streets are full of "civilians" who may or may not be armed. Poor babies!
Jeff Cooper
#44. It is okay to cut your wife's throat as long as you are rich, famous - and black.
Jeff Cooper
#45. If you find yourself under lethal attack don't be kind. Be harsh. Be tough. Be ruthless.
Jeff Cooper
#46. It appears that the murder rate inside prisons is ten times higher than that outside prisons. It must be due to all those Kalashnikov rifles that are issued to prisoners upon their incarceration.
Jeff Cooper
#47. The only acceptable response to the threat of lethal violence is immediate and savage counterattack. If you resist, you just may get killed. If you don't resist you almost certainly will get killed. It is a tough choice, but there is only one right answer.
Jeff Cooper
#48. The best personal defense is an explosive counterattack.
Jeff Cooper
#49. Now how do we cultivate an aggressive response? I think the answer is indignation ... Your response, if attacked, must not be fear, it must be anger.
Jeff Cooper
#50. Blessed are those who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight.
Jeff Cooper
#51. A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.
Jeff Cooper
#52. If a felon attacks you and lives, he will reasonably conclude that he can do it again. By submitting to him, you not only imperil your own life, but you jeopardize the lives of others.
Jeff Cooper
#53. The proper course of action, when under attack, is usually to counterattack.
Jeff Cooper
#54. Fight back! Whenever you are offered violence, fight back! The aggressor does not fear the law, so he must be taught to fear you. Whatever the risk, and at whatever the cost, fight back!
Jeff Cooper
#55. The criminal does not expect his prey to fight back. May he never choose you, but, if he does, surprise him.
Jeff Cooper
#56. If I wasn't a trader, I would probably be in the film business in some capacity and writing in some other form. I went to NYU Film School and London Film School.
Jeff Cooper
#57. It is long been a principal of ours that one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully.
Jeff Cooper
#58. The purpose of the pistol is to stop a fight that somebody else has started, almost always at very short range.
Jeff Cooper
#59. Any man who is a man may not, in honor, submit to threats or violence. But many men who are not cowards are simply unprepared for the fact of human savagery.
Jeff Cooper
#60. Most governments are designed to protect the government from the people, whereas the United States government was organized to protect the people from the government.
Jeff Cooper
#62. We continue to be exasperated by the view, apparently gaining momentum in certain circles, that armed robbery is okay as long as nobody gets hurt! The proper solution to armed robbery is a dead robber, on the scene.
Jeff Cooper
#63. There ain't many troubles that a man caint fix With seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six.
Jeff Cooper
#64. Your physical safety is up to you, as it really always has been.
Jeff Cooper
#65. Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.
Jeff Cooper
#66. It's a matter of will. If you know that you can keep your head, and that you must keep your head, you probably will keep your head.
Jeff Cooper
#67. Remember the first rule of gunfighting ... 'have a gun.'
Jeff Cooper
#68. Without the institution of slavery, civilization would never have been achieved, for no one could ever have done anything intellectual if he had to spend all his time hewing and digging and fighting.
Jeff Cooper
#69. Bushido is all very well in its way, but it is no match for a 30-06.
Jeff Cooper
#70. Not to our surprise, we discover that gun crime in Britain is up 10.9 percent since the disarmament of the private citizen.
Jeff Cooper
#71. It seems evident that the basis for civil safety is homogeneity. A culture which is socially uniform is pretty well devoid of informal violence.
Jeff Cooper
#72. An armed man, especially if he is armed with a firearm, is dangerous as long as he is conscious. Take no chances. Put him out.
Jeff Cooper
#73. The one who anticipates the action wins. The one who does not, loses.
Jeff Cooper
#74. One cannot legislate the maniacs off the street ... these maniacs can only be shut down by an armed citizenry. Indeed bad things can happen in nations where the citizenry is armed, but not as bad as those which seem to be threatening our disarmed citizenry in this country at this time.
Jeff Cooper
#75. Anyone who willfully and maliciously attacks another without sufficient cause deserves no consideration.
Jeff Cooper
#76. The one who fights back retains his dignity and his self-respect.
Jeff Cooper
#77. If it is ever your misfortune to be attacked, alertness will have given you a little warning, decisiveness will have given you a proper course to pursue, and if that course is to counterattack, carry it out with everything you've got! Be indignant. Be angry. Be aggressive.
Jeff Cooper
#78. I think the works of W.D. Gann and Robert Prechter have inspired me more than anyone else. It was from their writings that I discovered cycles, patterns, and psychology dominate the market, and that the news breaks with the cycles, not the other way around.
Jeff Cooper
#79. [T]he only thing the United States government ever did about slavery was to abolish it. Perhaps that was a mistake, but I do not feel inclined to apologize for it.
Jeff Cooper
#80. On the very instant that we know that our assailant intends us serious physical harm, we must work just as fast as we can.
Jeff Cooper
#81. It may be that there is such a thing as racial memory, and it is supported by the undeniable observation that the goblins will get you if you don't watch out.
Jeff Cooper
#82. Under any sort of attack, keep cool. And if you must shoot, shoot with precision.
Jeff Cooper
#83. I have long had a tendency to tie marksmanship to morality. The essence of good marksmanship is self-control, and self-control is the essence of good citizenship. It is too easy to say that a good shot is automatically a good man, but it would be equally incorrect to ignore the connection.
Jeff Cooper
#84. It seems that the concealed carry policy now in effect in 30 states is unfair to goblins. They cannot tell who is armed and who is not, and when their intended victim shoots back it hurts their feelings - along with other things.
Jeff Cooper
#85. "What would I do if?.." By thinking tactically, we can more easily arrive at correct tactical solutions, and practice - even theoretical practice - tends to produce confidence in our solutions which, in turn, makes it easier for us, and thus quicker, to reach a decision.
Jeff Cooper
#86. Anyone who is aware of his environment knows that the peril of physical assault does exist, and that it exists everywhere and at all times.
Jeff Cooper
#87. What you do to prevent further felonious assault, as long as the felon is still capable of action, is justified.
Jeff Cooper
#88. The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail ... the answer to criminal aggression is retaliation.
Jeff Cooper
#89. Let us remind ourselves again that the Second Amendment of the US Constitution should be referred to as the Statute of Liberty.
Jeff Cooper
#90. A free man must not be told how to think, either by the government or by social activists. He may certainly be shown the right way, but he must not accept being forced into it.
Jeff Cooper
#91. If you don't understand weapons you don't understand fighting. If you don't understand fighting you don't understand war. If you don't understand war you don't understand history. And if you don't understand history you might as well live with your head in a sack.
Jeff Cooper
#92. Don't try to be fancy. Shoot for the center of mass. The world is full of decent people. Criminals we can do without.
Jeff Cooper
#93. Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.
Jeff Cooper
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