No important institution is ever merely what the law makes it. It accumulates about itself traditions, conventions, ways of behaviour, which are not less formidable in their influence.
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.
No government can be long secure without formidable opposition.
No arsenal ... is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
I first saw President Reagan as a foot, highly polished brown cordovan wagging merrily on a hassock. I spied it through the door. It was a beautiful foot, sleek. Such casual elegance and clean lines! But not a big foot, not formidable, maybe a little ...frail. I imagined cradling it in my arms, protecting it from unsmooth roads.
It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.