Jeff Cooper Quotes

“Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.”

— Jeff Cooper

“Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.”

— Jeff Cooper

You better be looking for another pitcher.

— Jeff Cooper

“Remember the first rule of gunfighting ... 'have a gun.'”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“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

“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

“One correspondent, who is into psychology, notes that in his experience people who are hoplophobes are nearly always nutty in other ways, too. Hoplophobia [fear of guns], of course, is not simply an attitude but rather an aberration in which the sufferer clings to an idea which he himself knows to be unsound, such as the idea that inanimate instruments have a will of their own or that lawbreakers abide by the law.”

— Jeff Cooper

“The best personal defense is an explosive counterattack.”

— Jeff Cooper

“If you find yourself under lethal attack don't be kind. Be harsh. Be tough. Be ruthless.”

— Jeff Cooper

“The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“Observe your cat. It is difficult to surprise him. Why? Naturally his superior hearing is part of the answer, but not all of it. He moves well, using his senses fully. He is not preoccupied with irrelevancies. He's not thinking about his job or his image or his income tax. He is putting first things first, principally his physical security. Do likewise.”

— Jeff Cooper

“The trouble with democracy is that 50 percent of the voters are below average.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“The media insist that crime is the major concern of the American public today. In this connection they generally push the point that a disarmed society would be a crime-free society. They will not accept the truth that if you take all the guns off the street you still will have a crime problem, whereas if you take the criminals off the street you cannot have a gun problem.”

— Jeff Cooper

“Let us remind ourselves again that the Second Amendment of the US Constitution should be referred to as the Statute of Liberty.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

Your mind-set is your primary weapon

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“The specific course you decide upon is, within certain parameters, less important than the vigor with which you execute it.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

The proper course of action, when under attack, is usually to counterattack.

— Jeff Cooper

The criminal does not expect his prey to fight back. May he never choose you, but, if he does, surprise him.

— Jeff Cooper

“The 1911 pistol remains the service pistol of choice in the eyes of those who understand the problem. Back when we audited the FBI academy in 1947, I was told that I ought not to use my pistol in their training program because it was not fair. Maybe the first thing one should demand of his sidearm is that it be unfair.”

— Jeff Cooper

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

“Already a couple of the faithful have sent in checks for a foundation memorial to the innocents who perished at the hands of the ninja at Waco ... I have been criticized by referring to our federal masked men as "ninja" ... Let us reflect upon the fact that a man who covers his face shows reason to be ashamed of what he is doing. A man who takes it upon himself to shed blood while concealing his identity is a revolting perversion of the warrior ethic. It has long been my conviction that a masked man with a gun is a target. I see no reason to change that view.”

— Jeff Cooper

“Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The possession of a good rifle, as well as the skill to use it well, truly makes a man the monarch of all he surveys. It realizes the ancient dream of the Jovian thunderbolt, and as such it is the embodiment of personal power. For this reason it exercises a curious influence over the minds of most men, and in its best examples it constitutes an object of affection unmatched by any other inanimate object.”

— Jeff Cooper

Under any sort of attack, keep cool. And if you must shoot, shoot with precision.

— Jeff Cooper

“We thought everybody knew by now that barrel length has almost nothing to do with accuracy. I believe the myth of the superior accuracy of a long rifle dates from colonial days, when the only way to extend sight radius was to make the barrel as long as possible. It is interesting how long it takes a myth to die.”

— Jeff Cooper

“A fine marksman is with a second rate rifle is far more effective than the reverse.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“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

“We are somewhat amused by the hysteria manifest in the press at the suggestion by Gordon Liddy that if one is menaced by bad guys (particularly the ninja) one is wise to shoot for the head. That statement has got a whole bunch of journalists and commentators bleeding from the nose. One wonders why it should. Where else should you shoot a man if he is probably wearing an armored vest? If you decide to shoot you have made the big decision. Where you place your shot is merely a technical matter.”

— Jeff Cooper

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

Therefore, if you are attacked, retaliate instantly. Be sudden. Be quick. Speed is your salvation.

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“No sensible person ever opens the door of his house without knowing who is knocking.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

The essential thing is to bear always in mind that trouble can appear at any time.
Be aware.Be ready.Be alert.

— Jeff Cooper

“The rifle is the queen of weapons and its effective use is one of the greatest satisfactions available to man.”

— Jeff Cooper

“The decay of the late, great country of South Africa is beginning to become apparent. The name of the Transvaal has been officially changed to 'Gauteng.' (One of our friends has suggested that in view of this its inhabitants in the future should be referred to as Oranggautengs.) ... And now there is a move afoot to wreck the Kruger National Park, one of the wonders of the world, on the notion that a good bit of its land was 'taken from the blacks.' This idea is somewhat akin to giving Yellowstone Park back to the Blackfeet.”

— Jeff Cooper

“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

“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

The Germans gathered together ethnic divisions from all over Europe in which men of the same linguistic and cultural background could serve together. The Georgian SS division conducted itself with distinction in normal military action, but a good many people seem to think that anybody who was ever a member of the SS was automatically a war criminal.

— Jeff Cooper

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

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

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