Jeff Cooper Quotes

43 Sourced Quotes

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
Anyone who appears to be triggered out of watchfulness and into action by your appearance must be explained. Anyone observing you carefully must be explained. Anyone whose behavior seems to be geared to yours must be explained. If the explanation does not satisfy you, be ready to take appropriate defensive action.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jeff Cooper
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
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
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
We remember the refrain from the Phillippines: 'Underneath the starry flag/Civilize him with a Krag /And then get underway for home sweet home.' But you have to civilize him first, and how you do that with the ragheads is the problem.

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
Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them.

Jeff Cooper
The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.

Jeff Cooper
The conclusions seem inescapable that in certain circles a tendency has arisen to fear people who fear government. Government, as the Father of Our Country put it so well, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. People who understand history, especially the history of government, do well to fear it. For a people to express openly their fear of those of us who are afraid of tyranny is alarming. Fear of the state is in no sense subversive. It is, to the contrary, the healthiest political philosophy for a free people.

Jeff Cooper
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