Top 121 Quotes & Sayings by Jeff Cooper - Page 2

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

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.

The purpose of the pistol is to stop a fight that somebody else has started, almost always at very short range.

I am sometimes perplexed by people who refer to defensive rifles, or defensive rifle shooting. The defensive arm is the pistol, since you have it at hand to meet situations that you do not anticipate. If you have the luxury of anticipating a lethal encounter, you pick up a long arm, either a rifle or a shotgun, but in that case you go on to the attack. Thus rifle shooting is offensive, and pistol shooting is defensive. Of course, life does not always duplicate theory, and there are exceptions to everything, but nevertheless the rifle is not a defensive weapon in concept.

The one who anticipates the action wins. The one who does not, loses.

Anyone who willfully and maliciously attacks another without sufficient cause jeopardize the lives of others.

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.

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.

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

If you must use your hands, use them with all the strength you possess... If you choose to strike, by all means strike hard.

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.

Know what is behind you, and pay particular attention to anything out of place.

Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons.

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.

Bushido is all very well in its way, but it is no match for a 30-06.

The proliferation of state concealed carry laws has evidently reduced the rate of violent street crime to a considerable extent. When the goblins do not know who is armed and who is not, their professional enthusiasm declines. Now that Britain has made sure (insofar as any law can so insure) that everybody is disarmed, the streets arem given back to the bad kid with the baseball bat. We hope they are satisfied.

We learn that Comrade [President of South Africa Nelson] Mandela has announced in a speech that he hopes for a bright future in South Africa for ‘liberty’ and ‘equality.’ Anyone who has thought about it realizes that liberty and equality are antithetical concepts. You can have one, or you can have the other, but you certainly cannot have both. As to that, either concept is a rather futile goal. Equality is biologically impossible, and liberty is only obtainable in homogeneous populations very thinly spread.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There ain't many troubles that a man caint fix With seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six.

The one who fights back retains his dignity and his self-respect.

"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.

Not to our surprise, we discover that gun crime in Britain is up 10.9 percent since the disarmament of the private citizen.

Democracy has many definitions, but what's in it for me is not an element of any of them.

Speed is the absolute essence of any form of combat

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

Beware the man with one gun. He can probably use it.

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

It has long been my conviction that a masked man with a gun is a target. I see no reason to change that view.

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!

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.

It appears that the Soviets are now going to allow prayer in school. One wonders how soon the United States will catch up.

On the very instant that we know that our assailant intends us serious physical harm, we must work just as fast as we can.

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.

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.

Regardless of what we think we know and should happen the reality is that a lot of stock action is random. Therefore, money management is crucial if you want to be successful as a trader. To me, it`s the cornerstone of both making a living at trading and building wealth.

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

[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.

It`s human nature to be optimistic. Any fool can enter a market, it takes talent to exit consistently and profitably.

In all history the only bright rays cutting the gloom of oppression have come from men who would rather get hurt than give in.

It seems evident that the basis for civil safety is homogeneity. A culture which is socially uniform is pretty well devoid of informal violence.

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

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.

Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons.... Pick up a rifle - a really good rifle - and if you know how to use it well, you change instantly from a mouse to a man, from a peon to a caballero, and - most significantly - from a subject to a citizen.

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.

What you do to prevent further felonious assault, as long as the felon is still capable of action, is justified.

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.

It is okay to cut your wife's throat as long as you are rich, famous—and black.

Aggressiveness carries with it an incalculable moral edge in any combat, offensive or defensive.

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.

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.

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.

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.