Freedom Quotes

We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us!

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

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

A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

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.

We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.

This liberty will look easy by and by when nobody dies to get it.

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

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security for the minorities.

Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.

Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

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

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.

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

Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.

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

The basis of a democratic state is liberty.

Only the educated are free.

While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State.

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

To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.

Because you are in control of your life. Don't ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.

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

The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

A right delayed is a right denied.

People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid.

The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice -- their choice.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike. Subjectivism about values is eternally incompatible with democracy. We and our rulers are of one kind only so long as we are subject to one law. But if there is no Law of Nature, the ethos of any society is the creation of its rulers, educators and conditioners; and every creator stands above and outside his own creation.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

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

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog.

The <i>Declaration of Independence</i> dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.

Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.

If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

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

From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. From the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, let freedom ring. But not only that: Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

If you wanna be free, you've gotta accept everything.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.

Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.

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

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.

It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence now and independence forever.

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set.

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time; but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.

No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.

A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

I believe the highest aspiration of man should be individual freedom and the development of the individual.

Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.

Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put in this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.

Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions.

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

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

Just as war is freedom's cost, disagreement is freedom's privilege.

When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

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.

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.

Freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

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

I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it.

Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.

Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.

A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well--a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.