Freedom

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. ~~ Ayn Rand [The Fountainhead]

The really great thing about cats is their endless variety. One can pick a cat to fit almost any kind of décor, income, personality, mood. But under the fur, there still lies, essentially unchanged, one of the world's free souls. ~~ Eric Gurney

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

D

emocratic institutions are never done -- they are, like the living tissue, always a-making. It is a strenuous thing this of living the life of a free people: and we cannot escape the burden of our inheritance. ~~ Woodrow Wilson

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind. ~~ John Milton

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. ~~ Abraham Lincoln

He who believes in freedom of the human will has never loved and never hated. ~~ Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered on a 10-foot chain. ~~ Adlai E. Stevenson

Freedom is a very great reality. But it means, above all things, freedom from lies. ~~ D. H. Lawrence (See Said Who?)

The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness. ~~ Eric Sevareid

To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man. ~~ Alan Paton

Freedom from worries and surcease from strain are illusions that always inhabit the distance. ~~ Edwin Way Teale

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. ~~ Abbott Joseph Liebling

The real guarantee of freedom is an equilibrium of social forces in conflict, not the triumph of any one force. ~~ Max Eastman

Let us always remember that he does not really believe his own opinions who dares not give free scope to his opponent. ~~ Wendell Phillips

The superstition in which we grew up,

Though we may recognize it, does not lose

Its power over us. -- Not all are free

Who would make mock of their chains. ~~ Gotthold Lessing

America now is stumbling through the darkness of hatred and divisiveness. Our values, our principles, and our determination to succeed as a free and democratic people will give us a torch to light the way. And we will survive and become the stronger -- not only because of a patriotism that stands for love of country, but a patriotism that stands for love of people. ~~ Gerald R. Ford

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

People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation. ~~ Soren Kierkegaard

If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we must live through all time, or die by suicide. ~~ Abraham Lincoln

When an American says that he loves his country, 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. ~~ Adlai E. Stevenson

Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase … The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive. ~~ Frank Herbert

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. ~~ Noam Chomsky

Only he is free who cultivates his own thoughts … and strives without fear of man to do justice to them. ~~ Berthold Auerbach

Free man is by necessity insecure; thinking man by necessity uncertain. ~~ Erich Fromm

ome people's idea of [free speech] is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. ~~ Winston Churchill

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. ~~ Mahatma Gandhi

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. ~~ Bob Dylan

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. ~~ John F. Kennedy

Freedom comes only from seeing the ignorance of your critics and discovering the emptiness of their virtue. ~~ David Seabury

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy. But that could change. ~~ Dan Quayle

The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do. ~~ Eric Hoffer

The clock of communism has stopped striking. But its concrete building has not yet come crashing down. For that reason, instead of freeing ourselves, we must try to save ourselves from being crushed by its rubble. ~~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. ~~ Albert Camus

None of us here in Washington knows all or even half of the answers … If you love your country, don't depend on handouts from Washington for your information. If you cherish your freedom, don't leave it all up to big government. ~~ Barry M. Goldwater

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. ~~ Mark Twain

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough. ~~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens can not cure. ~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Freedom is never voluntarily given up by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. ~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

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. ~~ William Somerset Maugham

To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind. ~~ Pearl S. Buck

We feel free when we escape, even if it be from the frying pan into the fire. ~~ Eric Hoffer

Perhaps the mission of those who love mankind is to make people laugh at the truth, TO MAKE TRUTH LAUGH, because the only truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for the truth. ~~ Umberto Eco

America is just the country that shows how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind. There the politician has come to be looked upon as the very scum of society. ~~ Peter Kropotkin

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break. ~~ Harry S Truman

Once freedom lights its beacon in a man's heart, the gods are powerless against him. ~~ Jean-Paul Sartre

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. ~~ John F. Kennedy

I have found a great many things in this world that were free -- free to get into, but like a rat trap, no exactly free to get out of. ~~ Josh Billings

One of the best-kept secrets in America is that people are aching to make a commitment, if they only had the freedom and environment in which to do so. ~~ John Naisbitt

Freedom of speech does not give a person the right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. ~~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will. ~~ Jawaharlal Nehru

There are days when solitude, for someone my age, is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall. ~~ Colette

And then, not expecting to, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom. It is a positive thing. You can move about, unnoticed and invisible. ~~ Doris Lessing

No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish. ~~ John Ruskin

Being a man, ne'er ask the gods for a life set free from grief, but ask for courage that endureth long. ~~ Menander

The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves. ~~ Bernard Baruch

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. ~~ Margaret Sanger

Dissent does not include the freedom to destroy the system of law which guarantees freedom to speak, assemble, and march in protest. Dissent is not anarchy. ~~ Seymour F. Simon

You have freedom when you're easy in your harness. ~~ Robert Frost

Freedom has become as transparent as air, but it has also become as vital as air. ~~ Boris Yeltsin

This is a free country. Folks have the right to send me letters, and I have the right not to open them. ~~ William Faulkner

Horses are creatures who worship the earth

As they gallop on feet of ivory

Constrained by the wonder of dying and birth

The horses still run, they are free. ~~ John Denver and Joe Henry [Eagles and Horses]

If you use words for political purposes, they soon lose whatever meaning they may have had. If you are tempted to brandish the word, "free," remember that over the gates of Auschwitz there stretched -- and still stretches -- the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" [Work makes you free]. ~~ C. P. Snow

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. ~~ John Diefenbaker

Hero worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom. ~~ Herbert Spencer

Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. ~~ Mark Twain

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. ~~ Storm Jameson

It's a free country … but the upkeep is killing us. ~~ Unattributed

The day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion. ~~ Robert H. Jackson

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. ~~ William Pitt

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people. ~~ James Abram Garfield

If you want total security, go to prison. There you are fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking … is freedom. ~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith, [and] receives new truth as an angel from Heaven. ~~ William Ellery Channing

This is a celebration of individual freedom, not of homosexuality. No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody. ~~ Rita Mae Brown

The greatest of all freedoms is that of nonparticipation. When you stop applauding on cue, you are reborn. You are free. ~~ Donald G. Smith

Courage is required not only in a person's occasional crucial decision for his own freedom, but in the little hour-to-hour decisions which place the bricks in the structure of his building of himself into a person who acts with freedom and responsibility. ~~ Rollo May

Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves. ~~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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

A large majority of Americans claim that family is the most important thing in life, but surveys show that most people will put their jobs, possessions, and personal freedom before family responsibilities. If you watch what Americans do, traditional family relationships are in trouble. ~~ American Demographics

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. ~~ Herbert Clark Hoover

It is a seldom proffered argument as to the advantages of a free press that it has a major function in keeping the government itself informed as to what the government is doing. ~~ Walter Cronkite

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. ~~ James Madison

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotony. ~~ Benjamin Britten

We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice. ~~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

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

o not free a camel of the burden of his hump. You may be freeing him from being a camel. ~~ G. K. Chesterton

Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws -- but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted -- when we tolerate what we know to be wrong -- when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened -- when we fail to speak up and speak out -- we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice. ~~ Robert F. Kennedy

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. ~~ John Stuart Mill

A country free enough to examine its own conscience is a land worth living in, a nation to be envied. ~~ Prince Charles

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. ~~ John Adams

The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. ~~ Jules Renard

The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children. ~~ William Havard

I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking. ~~ Woodrow Wilson

You only have power over people so long as you don't take EVERYTHING away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power -- he's free again. ~~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

So free we seem, so fettered fast we are. ~~ Robert Browning

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want rain without thunder and lightning. ~~ Frederick Douglass

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. ~~ Eric Hoffer

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. ~~ Charles Dickens [Bleak House]

Almost nobody means precisely what he says when he makes the declaration, "I'm in favor of free speech." ~~ Heywood Broun

I express many absurd opinions, but I am not the first man to do it; American freedom consists largely in talking nonsense. ~~ Edgar Watson Howe

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits. ~~ Thomas Jefferson

Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher "standard of living." is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television. ~~ Aldo Leopold [A Sand County Almanac]

Little souls wish you to be unhappy. It aggravates them to have you joyous, efficient, and free. They like to feel that fate is disciplining you. It gives their egos wings if yours are clipped. ~~ David Seabury

Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. ~~ Flannery O'Connor

Money is power, freedom, a cushion, the root of all evil, the sum of all blessings. ~~ Carl Sandburg

We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship. ~~ E. M. Forster [Two Cheers for Democracy]

Man is a masterpiece of creation, if only because no amount of determinism can prevent him from believing that he acts as a free being. ~~ Georg Lichtenberg

The truth which makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear. ~~ Herbert Agar

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing. ~~ Cicero

he greatest gift that God in His bounty made … was the freedom of the will, with which the intelligent creatures were and are endowed. ~~ Dante

The will is never free -- it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car -- it can't steer. ~~ Joyce Cary

Coercion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him. ~~ Robert S. McNamara

Nonsense is an assertion of man's spiritual freedom in spite of all the oppressions of circumstance. ~~ Aldous Huxley

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. ~~ Will Durant