Jeff Cooper Defense Quotations

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

The best personal defense is an explosive counterattack.

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.

Anyone who willfully and maliciously attacks another without sufficient cause deserves no consideration.

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