Top 80 Jeff Cooper Quotes (2025 Update)

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

— Jeff Cooper

2. “A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.”

— Jeff Cooper

3. “Blessed are those who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight.”

— Jeff Cooper

4. “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

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

— Jeff Cooper

6. “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

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

— Jeff Cooper

8. “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

9. “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

10. “Your mind-set is your primary weapon.”

— Jeff Cooper

11. “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

12. “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

13. “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

14. “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

15. “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

16. “There ain’t many troubles that a man caint fix With seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six.”

— Jeff Cooper

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

— Jeff Cooper

18. “Owning a handgun doesn’t make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.”

— Jeff Cooper

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

— Jeff Cooper

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

— Jeff Cooper

21. “The consensus is that no more than five to ten people in a hundred who die by gunfire in Los Angeles are any loss to society. These people fight small wars amongst themselves. It would seem a valid social service to keep them well-supplied with ammunition.”

— Jeff Cooper

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

— Jeff Cooper

23. “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

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

— Jeff Cooper

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

— Jeff Cooper

26. “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

27. “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

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

— Jeff Cooper

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

— Jeff Cooper

30. “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

31. “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

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

— Jeff Cooper

33. “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

34. “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

35. “Your physical safety is up to you, as it really always has been.”

— Jeff Cooper

36. “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

37. “The best personal defense is an explosive counterattack.”

— Jeff Cooper

38. “It is okay to cut your wife’s throat as long as you are rich, famous – and black.”

— Jeff Cooper

39. “Offering democracy to an Arab is like bringing a horse to a steakhouse.”

— Jeff Cooper

40. “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

41. “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

42. “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

43. “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

44. “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

45. “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

46. “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

47. “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

48. “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

49. “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

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

— Jeff Cooper