Freedom Quotes

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.

A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

Never depend upon institutions or government to solve any problem. All social movements are founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals.

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.

The Vietnamese people deeply love independence, freedom and peace. But in the face of United States aggression they have risen up, united as one man.

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.

Patterning your life around other's opinions is nothing more than slavery.

I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.

The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

I was ecstatic when they re-named "French fries" as "freedom fries." Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots."

Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.

No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.

I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.

Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self.

When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it.

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

My Brain is the key that sets me free.

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.

Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.

For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.

The true meaning of America, you ask? It's in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman's badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper... In all these things, and many more, you'll find America. In all these things, you'll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world. And to me.

I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

Those who choose to be servants know the most about being free.

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom.

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

Formerly no one was allowed to think freely; now it is permitted, but no one is capable of it any more. Now people want to think only what they are supposed to think, and this they consider freedom.

I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures.

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.

A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.

Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is.

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

If freedom is short of weapons, we must compensate with willpower.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class-it is the cause of human kind, the very birthright of humanity.

Every country has the government it deserves.

Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.

In a free society, one does not have to deal with those who are irrational. One is free to avoid them.

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within me

Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.

Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.

Freedom begins the moment you realize someone else has been writing your story and it's time you took the pen from his hand and started writing it yourself.

We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.

We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people to emancipate themselves.

The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.

It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.

How can I set free anyone who doesn't have the guts to stand up alone and declare his own freedom? I think it's a lie - people claim they want to be free - everybody insists that freedom is what they want the most, the most sacred and precious thing a man can possess. But that's bullshit! People are terrified to be set free - they hold on to their chains. They fight anyone who tries to break those chains. It's their securityHow can they expect me or anyone else to set them free if they don't really want to be free?

Caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for.

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.

Dancing: The Highest Intelligence in the Freest Body.

Freedom is the recognition of necessity.

Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.

Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.

Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.

They won't break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then that we will see the rising of the moon.

There are two good things in life - freedom of thought and freedom of action.

If you want to sing out, sing out, and if you want to be free, be free, cause there's a million ways to be, you know that there are.

The most dangerous enemy of the truth and freedom amongst us is the compact majority

By the will art thou lost, by the will art thou found, by the will art thou free, captive, and bound.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Freedom is for honest people. No man who is not himself honest can be free – he is his own trap.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects - his laziness, incompetence, improvidence, or stupidity.

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy-but that could change.

There must be no barriers for freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.

The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.

Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do not alter its course

There is nothing so stable as change.

Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.

Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Our journey is about being more deeply involved in life, and yet less attached to it.

Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.

But to manipulate men, to propel them toward goals which you-the social reformers-see, but they may not, is to deny their human essence, to treat them as objects without wills of their own, and therefore to degrade them.

We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

Women want men, careers, money, children, friends, luxury, comfort, independence, freedom, respect, love, and a three-dollar pantyhose that won't run.

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right.

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

every man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule"”and both commonly succeed, and are right.

Each person designs his own life, freedom gives him the power to carry out his own designs, and power gives the freedom to interfere with the designs of others.

A rioter with a Molotov cocktail in his hands is not fighting for civil rights any more than a Klansman with a sheet on his back and mask on his face. They are both more or less what the law declares them: lawbreakers, destroyers of constitutional rights and liberties and ultimately destroyers of a free America.

The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes.

There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve.

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.

The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom - these are the pillars of society.

There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.

My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit.

The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

Tyranny is always better organized than freedom.

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.

Who ever walked behind anyone to freedom? If we can't go hand in hand, I don't want to go.

Freedom from fear' could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.

We are a nation called to defend freedom - a tradition that is not a grant of any government or document, but is an endowment from God.

Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.

In a democracy everybody has a right to be represented, including the jerks.

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.

[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few.

Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them — and then, the opportunity to choose.

You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom. You can be free only if I am free.

The freedom that women were supposed to have found in the Sixties largely boiled down to easy contraception and abortion; things to make life easier for men, in fact.

It is capitalist America that produced the modern independent woman. Never in history have women had more freedom of choice in regard to dress, behavior, career, and sexual orientation.

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent.

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom.

As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is our responsibility.

If you want to love you must serve, if you want freedom you must die.

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.

We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights.

Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.

A politician will do anything to keep his job - even become a patriot.

A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.

Through my singing and acting and speaking, I want to make freedom ring. Maybe I can touch people's hearts better than I can their minds, with the common struggle of the common man.

Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship.

The essence of mathematics lies precisely in its freedom.

We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder ‘censorship,’ we call it ‘concern for commercial viability.

Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.

No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.

Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.

The American people, intrenched in freedom at home, take their love for it with them wherever they go...

As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understands the minds of other men and women.

There's a hell of a lot of freedom in this rock and roll circus... it's where all the freaks go - it's the environment for me.

[The Freedom of Information Act is] the Taj Mahal of the Doctrine of Unanticipated Consequences, the Sistine Chapel of Cost-Benefit Analysis Ignored.

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.

It is true you cannot eat freedom and you cannot power machinery with democracy. But then neither can political prisoners turn on the light in the cells of a dictatorship.

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.

The world's problem is not too many people, but lack of political and economic freedom.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear.

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.

The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they follow. Bigness means weakness.

In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.

All we have of freedom All we use or know This our fathers bought for us Long and long ago

I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.

A free spirit takes liberties even with liberty itself.

We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate.

America's greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.

Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.

Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you.

Revolution! The people howls and cries, Freedom, thats what were needing! Weve needed it for centuries, our arteries are bleeding. The stage is shaking, the audience rock. The whole thing is over by nine oclock.

Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

I've never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It's probably because they have forgotten their own.

Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.

Somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether.

Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.

There can be no friendship where there is no freedom. Friendship loves a free air, and will not be fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

Laws protecting the United States flag do not cut away at the freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment... Congress made this position clear upon passage of the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which prohibited desecration of the flag.

If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow.

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.

The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.

There is no such thing as part freedom.

Men may die, but the fabrics of free institutions remains unshaken.

Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as comports with order and the rights of others, the institutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.

When there is state there can be no freedom, but when there is freedom there will be no state.

In liberal democracy and anxious anarchy, the traditional classic dance, compact of aristocratic authority and absolute freedom in a necessity of order, has never been so promising as an independent expression as it is today.

Pornography is human imagination in tense theatrical action; its violations are a protest against the violations of our freedom by nature.

We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than that only freedom can make security secure.

No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.

Democracy means not "I am as good as you are" but "You are as good as I am.".

The road to freedom must be uphill, even if it is arduous and frustrating.

"It can't happen here" is number one on the list of famous last words.

Men who want to support women in our struggle for freedom and justice should understand that it is not terrifically important to us that they learn to cry; it is important to us that they stop the crimes of violence against us.

Freedom is a system based on courage.

Individuality is freedom lived.

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.

With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves.

What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.

The case for freedom, the case for our constitutional principles the case for our heritage has to be made anew in each generation. The work of freedom is never done.

Let me reassure that the Kingdom of Cambodia a country with independence, neutrality, peace, freedom, democracy and human rights as you all have seen, shall be existing with no end.

You have spent many lives and much treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it. And here you have a people who won it by themselves and need only the help to preserve it.

There is nothing wrong with intellectual differences flowing from freedom of thought as long as such differences remain confined to intellectual debates.

From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own.

Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.

As soon as laws are necessary for men, they are no longer fit for freedom.

The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth-the power of love-although I have put it last, is the rarest.

He who believes in freedom of the will has never loved and never hated.

The free press is the mother of all our liberties and of our progress under liberty.

Freedom is the only law which genius knows.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

The fundamental sense of freedom is freedom from chains, from imprisonment, from enslavement by others. The rest is extension of this sense, or else metaphor.

Rules and models destroy genius and art.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.

None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.

There's only one free person in this society, and he is white and male.

At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes...and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.

Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.

Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.

No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.

Freedom - to walk free and own no superior.

What a curious phenomenon it is that you can get men to die for the liberty of the world who will not make the little sacrifice that is needed to free themselves from their own individual bondage.

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.

Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

The function of the law is not to provide justice or to preserve freedom. The function of the law is to keep those who hold power, in power.

The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state! Freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity, all vanish.

In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.

Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.

Man should be master of his environment, not its slave. That is what freedom means.

Running away will never make you free.

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.

The worst enemy of life, freedom and the common decencies is total anarchy; their second worst enemy is total efficiency.

If liberty has any meaning it means freedom to improve.

Freedom is from within.

Amending the U.S. Constitution, the document most sacred to those who love freedom and liberty, is a delicate endeavor and should be done only on the basis of the most clear and convincing evidence that a proposed amendment is necessary.

When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.

Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society.

Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy, attributable to the same causes as the freedom.

It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.

We should silence anyone who opposes the right to freedom of speech.

The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He is in front of it.

The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.

The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.

The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage.

One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands in the midst of the struggle and says, 'I have it,' merely shows by doing so that he has just lost it.

A filmmaker has almost the same freedom as a novelist has when he buys himself some paper.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

There are those who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American Dream.

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.

Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.

I regard freedom of expression as the primary right without which one can not have a proper functioning democracy.

They can only set free men free... And there is no need of that: Free men set themselves free.

We have believed - and we do believe now - that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible

No matter what a man does, he is not fully sane or human unless there is a spirit of freedom in him, a soul unconfined by purpose and larger than the practicable world.

The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.

The most important issue we have to deal with is freedom of movement.

War - hard apprenticeship of freedom.

The people must fight for their laws as for their walls.

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.

I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.

Freedom comes from strength and self-reliance.

We must defend freedom of expression and if I had to chose, I prefer the excess of caricature over the excess of censure.

Freedom is the oxygen without which science cannot breathe.

Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

A hungry man is not a free man.

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.

Freedom of love is freedom to say yes to many lovers.

All the citizens of a state cannot be equally powerful, but they may be equally free

As freedom-loving people across the globe hope for an end to tyranny, we will never forget the enormous suffering of the Holocaust.

From the suites of Davos to the streets of Seattle, there is a growing consensus that globalization must now be reshaped to reflect values broader than simply the freedom of capital

The theme is the theme of humiliation, which is the square root of sin, as opposed to the freedom from humiliation, and love, which is the square root of wonderful.

The search for human freedom can never be complete without freedom for women.

If the women of the United States, with their free schools and all their enlarged liberties, are not superior to women brought up under monarchical forms of government, then there is no good in liberty.

The men and women who serve in our military have won for us every hour we live in freedom, sometimes at the expense of the very hours of the lifetimes they had hoped to live.

Too many people expect wonders from democracy, when the most wonderful thing of all is just having it.

You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of faith or direction. You have so many computers, why don't you use them in the search for love?

Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has.

There never was a war that was not inward; I must fight till I have conquered in myself what causes war.

To be free is to have achieved your life.

Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem.

Nothing has been purchased more dearly than the little bit of reason and sense of freedom which now constitutes our pride.

I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.

It's a poor kind of man that won't fight for his own freedom.

Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course - because, like democracy and freedom, many people you'll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you.

The oppression of any people for opinion's sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper and render them more important.

Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.

Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others.

A forest bird never wants a cage.

For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity.

Freedom is a lonely battle, but if the United States doesn't lead it - sometimes imperfectly, but mostly with honor - who will?

Civilization is the order and freedom is promoting cultural activity.

We have to call it "freedom": who'd want to die for "a lesser tyranny"

America has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to = remain silent.

Marxism has not only failed to promote human freedom, it has failed to produce food.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth

Democracy has proved only that the best way to gain power over people is to assure the people that they are ruling themselves. Once they believe that, they make wonderfully submissive slaves.

Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

We need to guarantee equal rights and civil rights and say that, here in America, workers have the right to organize - women have the right to choose - and justice belongs to everyone regardless of race or gender or sexual orientation

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.

Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

We know the road to freedom has always been stalked by death.

A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten.

The man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully.

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.

I am not a number, I am a free man!

The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions.

Better to starve free than be a fat slave

Giving up even an ounce of precious freedom is a very serious thing to do.

What better day to lay the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower than the day our country declared its independence.

The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. Freedom and slavery are mental states.

The Constitution is the sole source and guaranty of national freedom.

I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind.

The cause of freedom is the cause of God.

We who officially value freedom of speech above life itself seem to have nothing to talk about but the weather.

Man is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it's up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be.

There is nothing more wonderful than freedom of speech.

The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.

Freedom of inquiry, freedom of discussion, and freedom of teaching - without these a university cannot exist

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom

It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.

One should never put on one's best trousers to go out to fight for freedom.

The worst enemy of truth and freedom in our society is the compact majority.

Who then is free? The one who wisely is lord of themselves, who neither poverty, death or captivity terrify, who is strong to resist his appetites and shun honors, and is complete in themselves smooth and round like a globe

He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.

Freedom rings where opinions clash.

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

Freedom from worries and surcease from strain are illusions that always inhabit the distance.

Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but, if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her.

All of us, from time to time, need a plunge into freedom and novelty, after which routine and discipline will seem delightful by contrast

The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.

To be what no one ever was, to be what everyone has been: Freedom is the mean of those extremes that fence all effort in.

Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.

He who dares not (reason), is a slave.

We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.

There is such a thing as perfection...and our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth....Each of us is in truth an unlimited idea of freedom. Everything that limits us we have to put aside.

We are all of us the worse for too much liberty.

Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

It is not the simple statement of facts that ushers in freedom; it is the constant repetition of them that has this liberating effect. Tolerance is the result not of enlightenment, but of boredom.

Freedom begins as we become conscious of it.

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand

Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails, And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

No amount of political freedom will satisfy the hungry masses.

We buy our way out of jail but we can't buy freedom, We buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need them, Things we buy to cover up what's inside.

Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.

All men have equal rights to liberty, to their property, and to the protection of the laws

For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged.

The very idea of freedom incites fear in the hearts of terrorists across the world.

Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

I know what you're going to say! 'They are men, and men should be free.' A free man is dangerous to himself and everyone else. Freedom should be left to those who can put it to good use..

The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.

There are only two kinds of freedom in the world; the freedom of the rich and powerful, and the freedom of the artist and the monk who renounces possessions.

After I asked him what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the cost to others, to win advancement.

I know why the caged bird sings.

In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties.

Analysis does not set out to make pathological reactions impossible, but to give the patient's ego freedom to decide one way or another.

Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; Freedom is something that people take and people are as free as they want to be.

That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a Maxim that has been long and generally approved.

Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.

So far as discipline is concerned, freedom means not its absence but the use of higher and more rational forms as contrasted with those that are lower or less rational.