Freedom Quotes
Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.Freedom
Adams, John
1735-1826 Second President of the USA
Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.
Freedom
Adams, John
1735-1826 Second President of the USA
When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.
Freedom
Adams, John
1735-1826 Second President of the USA
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Freedom
Adams, John
1735-1826 Second President of the USA
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
Freedom
Adler, Mortimer J.
1902 American Educator Philosopher
When we were told that by freedom we understood free enterprise, we did very little to dispel this monstrous falsehood. Wealth and economic well-being, we have asserted, are the fruits of freedom, while we should have been the first to know that this kind of happiness has been an unmixed blessing only in this country, and it is a minor blessing compared with the truly political freedoms, such as freedom of speech and thought, of assembly and association, even under the best conditions.
Freedom
Arendt, Hannah
1906-1975 German-born American Political Philosopher
Democracy arose from men s thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.
Freedom
Aristotle
BC 384-322 Greek Philosopher
Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.
Freedom
Arnold, Sir Edwin
1832-1904 British Poet Journalist
A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten.
Freedom
Ataturk, Kemal
1881-1938 Founder President of Turkey
He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
Freedom
Augustine, St.
354-430 Numidian-born Bishop of Hippo Theologian
The fly that touches honey cannot use it s wings; so too the soul that clings to spiritual sweetness ruins it s freedom and hinders contemplation.
Freedom
Aurobindo, Ghose
1872-1950 Philosopher
Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievements must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.
Freedom
Baldwin, James
1924-1987 American Author
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.
Freedom
Ballou, Hosea
1771-1852 American Theologian Founder of Universalism
Freedom all solace to man gives: He lives at ease that freely lives.
Freedom
Barbour, John
1320-1395 Scottish Poet
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.
Freedom
Barton, Bruce
1886-1967 American Author Advertising Executive
The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.
Freedom
Baruch, Bernard M.
1870-1965 American Financier
In the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.
Freedom
Baruch, Bernard M.
1870-1965 American Financier
As for freedom, it will soon cease to exist in any shape or form. Living will depend upon absolute obedience to a strict set of arrangements, which it will no longer be possible to transgress. The air traveler is not free. In the future, life s passengers will be even less so: they will travel through their lives fastened to their (corporate) seats.
Freedom
Baudrillard, Jean
French Postmodern Philosopher Writer
True obedience is true freedom.
Freedom
Beecher, Henry Ward
1813-1887 American Preacher Orator Writer
There are always risks in freedom. The only risk in bondage is breaking free.
Freedom
Bellin, Gita
Liberty is being free from the things we don t like in order to be slaves of the things we do like.
Freedom
Benn, Ernest
Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.
Freedom
Bevan, Aneurin
1897-1960 British Labor Politician
Governing sense, mind and intellect, intent on liberation, free from desire, fear and anger, the sage is forever free.
Freedom
Bhagavad Gita
c BC 400 Sanskrit Poem Incorporated Into the Mahabharata
It is our belief that if people are set free to express themselves to the fullest, their accomplishments will be far beyond their dreams, and they will not only contribute to the growth of the company, but will also be more useful citizens and contribute to the society at large.
Freedom
Blount, Wilton M.
American Businessman Founder of Blount Inc
The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.
Freedom
Blum, Leon
1872-1950 French Statesman and Prime Minister
Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.
Freedom
Bolingbroke, Henry
1678-1751 British Politician
The cause of freedom is the cause of God.
Freedom
Bowles, Samuel
American Author
It will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet. It will open to him the gates of heaven.
Freedom
Braun, Wernher Von
1912-1977 German Rocket Pioneer
Freedom is poetry, taking liberties with words, breaking the rules of normal speech, violating common sense. Freedom is violence.
Freedom
Brown, Norman O.
1913 American Philosopher
Whatever the price, identify it now. What will you have to go through to get where you want to be? There is a price you can pay to be free of the situation once and for all. It may be a fantastic price or a tiny one -- but there is a price.
Freedom
Browne, Harry
1933 American Financial Advisor Writer
So free we seem, so fettered we are!
Freedom
Browning, Robert
1812-1889 British Poet
None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
Freedom
Buck, Pearl S.
1892-1973 American Novelist
When ever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither is safe.
Freedom
Burke, Edmund
1729-1797 British Political Writer Statesman
If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.
Freedom
Buscaglia, Leo
American Expert on Love Lecturer Author
Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.
Freedom
Byron, Lord
1788-1824 British Poet
Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others. But without freedom, no socialism either, except the socialism of the gallows.
Freedom
Camus, Albert
1913-1960 French Existential Writer
The only conception of freedom I can have is that of the prisoner or the individual in the midst of the State. The only one I know is freedom of thought and action.
Freedom
Camus, Albert
1913-1960 French Existential Writer
Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.
Freedom
Camus, Albert
1913-1960 French Existential Writer
For me, the principal fact of life is the free mind. 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. A perpetually new and lively world, but a dangerous one, full of tragedy and injustice. A world in everlasting conflict between the new idea and the old allegiances, new arts and new inventions against the old establishment.
Freedom
Cary, Joyce
1888-1957 British Author
Liberty is one of the most precious gifts which heaven has bestowed on man; with it we cannot compare the treasures which the earth contains or the sea conceals; for liberty, as for honor, we can and ought to risk our lives; and, on for the other hand, captivity is the greatest evil that can befall man.
Freedom
Cervantes, Miguel De
1547-1616 Spanish Novelist Dramatist Poet
Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.
Freedom
Cicero, Marcus T.
c 106-43 BC Great Roman Orator Politician
What we want is not freedom but its appearances. It is for these simulacra that man has always striven. And since freedom, as has been said, is no more than a sensation, what difference is there between being free and believing ourselves free?
Freedom
Cioran, E. M.
1911 Rumanian-born French Philosopher
Freedom Know this, that every man is free To choose his life and what he ll be. For this eternal truth is given, God will force no man to heaven. He ll call, persuade, direct aright, Bless with wisdom, love, and light; In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind.
Freedom
Clegg, William C.
Just as war is freedom s cost, disagreement is freedom s privilege.
Freedom
Clinton, Bill
1946 Forty-second President of the USA
The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace, the spread of commerce, and the diffusion of education, than upon the labors of cabinets and foreign offices.
Freedom
Cobden, Richard
1804-1865 British Radical Politician
Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.
Freedom
Collingwood, Robin G.
1889-1943 British Historian Philosopher
Tyrants have not yet discovered any chains that can fetter the mind.
Freedom
Colton, Charles Caleb
1780-1832 British Sportsman Writer
Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
Freedom
Colton, Charles Caleb
1780-1832 British Sportsman Writer
Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy, attributable to the same causes as the freedom.
Freedom
Cooley, Charles Horton
1864-1929 American Sociologist
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.
Freedom
Cooley, Charles Horton
1864-1929 American Sociologist
People who exercise their embryonic freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally being lived. They are acting out scripts written by parents, associates and society.
Freedom
Covey, Stephen R.
American Speaker Trainer Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.
Freedom
Covey, Stephen R.
American Speaker Trainer Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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.
Freedom
Darrow, Clarence
1857-1938 American Lawyer
You can only be free if I am free.
Freedom
Darrow, Clarence
1857-1938 American Lawyer
If you think you re free, there s no escape possible.
Freedom
Dass, Ram
American Spiritual Author Lecturer
The traveler has reached the end of the journey! In the freedom of the infinite he is free from all sorrows, the fetters that bound him are thrown away, and the burning fever of life is no more.
Freedom
Dhammapada
BC 300 Buddhist Collection of Moral Aphorism
In the light of his vision he has found his freedom: his thoughts are peace, his words are peace and his work is peace.
Freedom
Dhammapada
BC 300 Buddhist Collection of Moral Aphorism
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.
Freedom
Diderot, Denis
1713-1784 French Philosopher
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.
Freedom
Doren, Mark Van
1894-1972 American Poet Critic
He who dares not (reason), is a slave.
Freedom
Drummond, William
1585-1649 Celtic Poet
We are living in the excesses of freedom. Just take a look at 42nd Street an Broadway.
Freedom
Durant, William J.
1885-1981 American Historian Essayist
Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.
Freedom
Dyer, Wayne
1940 American Psychotherapist Author Lecturer
There is nothing more wonderful than freedom of speech.
Freedom
Ehrenburg, Ilya G.
1891-1967 Ukrainian Writer
History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
Freedom
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
1890-1969 Thirty-fourth President of the USA
Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free.
Freedom
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
1890-1969 Thirty-fourth President of the USA
Liberty is a different kind of pain from prison.
Freedom
Eliot, T. S.
1888-1965 American-born British Poet Critic
Liberty is slow fruit. It is never cheap; it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man.
Freedom
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
1803-1882 American Poet Essayist
For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail?
Freedom
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
1803-1882 American Poet Essayist
So far as a person thinks; they are free.
Freedom
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
1803-1882 American Poet Essayist
Nothing is more disgusting than the crowing about liberty by slaves, as most men are, and the flippant mistaking for freedom of some paper preamble like a Declaration of Independence, or the statute right to vote, by those who have never dared to think or to act.
Freedom
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
1803-1882 American Poet Essayist
No man is free who is not a master of himself.
Freedom
Epictetus
50-120 Stoic Philosopher
Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
Freedom
Epictetus
50-120 Stoic Philosopher
Freedom is the right to live as we wish.
Freedom
Epictetus
50-120 Stoic Philosopher
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.
Freedom
Euripides
BC 480-406 Greek Tragic Poet
No one who lives in error is free.
Freedom
Euripides
BC 480-406 Greek Tragic Poet
I gave my life for freedom --this I know: For those who bade me fight had told me so.
Freedom
Ewer, W. N.
1885-1976 British Journalist
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of fear is a freedom.
Freedom
Ferguson, Marilyn
American Writer
Freedom is just chaos with better lighting.
Freedom
Foster, Alan Dean
To be thrown upon one s own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible.
Freedom
Franklin, Benjamin
1706-1790 American Scientist Publisher Diplomat
A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.
Freedom
Friedman, Milton
1912 American Economist
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.
Freedom
Gandhi, Mahatma
1869-1948 Indian Political Spiritual Leader
The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave. His fetters fall... freedom and slavery are mental states.
Freedom
Gandhi, Mahatma
1869-1948 Indian Political Spiritual Leader
Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be acquired.
Freedom
George, David Lloyd
1863-1945 British Statesman Prime Minister
Liberty has restraints but no frontiers.
Freedom
George, David Lloyd
1863-1945 British Statesman Prime Minister
You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?
Freedom
Gibran, Kahlil
1883-1931 Lebanese Poet Novelist
There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, founded not upon visionary ideas, but upon the long experience of many generations within the shores of this happy isle, that in freedom you lay the firmest foundations both of loyalty and order.
Freedom
Gladstone, William E.
1809-1888 British Liberal Prime Minister Statesman
Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it
Freedom
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
1749-1832 German Poet Dramatist Novelist
Only law can give us freedom.
Freedom
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
1749-1832 German Poet Dramatist Novelist
Yes! To this thought I hold with firm persistence; The last result of wisdom stamps it true; He only earns his freedom and existence Who daily conquers them anew.
Freedom
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von
1749-1832 German Poet Dramatist Novelist
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.
Freedom
Greer, Germaine
1939 Australian Feminist Writer
When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
Freedom
Hamilton, Edith
1867-1963 American Classical Scholar Translator
We must determine whether we really want freedom -- whether we are willing to dare the perils of... rebirth... For we never take a step forward without surrendering something that we may have held dear, without dying to that which has been.
Freedom
Hanson, Virginia
The greatest Glory of a free-born People, Is to transmit that Freedom to their Children.
Freedom
Havard, William
The East knew and to the present day knows only that One is Free; the Greek and the Roman world, that some are free; the German World knows that All are free. The first political form therefore which we observe in History, is Despotism, the second Democracy and Aristocracy, the third, Monarchy.
Freedom
Hegel, Georg
1770-1831 German Philosopher
The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.
Freedom
Hegel, Georg
1770-1831 German Philosopher
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.
Freedom
Henley, William Ernest
1849-1903 British Poet Critic Editor
Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.
Freedom
Henry, Patrick
1736-1799 American Orator Patriot
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
Freedom
Herbert, Frank
1920-1986 American Writer
Freedom is the opportunity to make decisions...
Freedom
Hildebrand, Kenneth
American Author
Only very slowly and late have men come to realize that unless freedom is universal it is only extended privilege.
Freedom
Hill, Christopher
1912 British Historian
The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
Freedom
Hoffer, Eric
1902-1983 American Author Philosopher
There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
Freedom
Hoffer, Eric
1902-1983 American Author Philosopher
Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.
Freedom
Hoover, Herbert Clark
1874-1964 American - 31st American President
We are free to yield to truth.
Freedom
Horace
BC 65-8 Italian Poet
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.
Freedom
Horace
BC 65-8 Italian Poet
Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself.
Freedom
Horace
BC 65-8 Italian Poet
Freedom begins as we become conscious of it.
Freedom
Howard, Vernon
19-1992 American Author Speaker
We clearly realize that freedom s inner kingdom cannot be touched by exterior attacks.
Freedom
Howard, Vernon
19-1992 American Author Speaker
American freedom consists largely in talking nonsense.
Freedom
Howe, Edgar Watson
1853-1937 American Journalist Author
Freedom is a condition of mind, and the best way to secure it is to breed it.
Freedom
Hubbard, Elbert
1859-1915 American Author Publisher
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.
Freedom
Hughes, Charles Evans
1862-1948 American Jurist Politician
Liberation is not deliverance.
Freedom
Hugo, Victor
1802-1885 French Poet Dramatist Novelist
Freedom is but the possibility of a various and indefinite activity; while government, or the exercise of dominion, is a single, yet real activity. The longing for freedom, therefore, is at first only too frequently suggested by the deep-felt consciousness of its absence.
Freedom
Humboldt, Karl Wilhelm Von
1767-1835 German Statesman Philologist
Freedom is the most contagious virus known to man.
Freedom
Humphrey, Hubert H.
1911-1978 American Democratic Politician Vice President
A forest bird never wants a cage.
Freedom
Ibsen, Henrik
1828-1906 Norwegian Dramatist
Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.
Freedom
James, William
1842-1910 American Psychologist Professor Author
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
Freedom
Jefferson, Thomas
1743-1826 Third President of the USA
If we catch a glimpse of freedom, we wish to possess it; if we catch a glimpse of death, we want nothing to do with it. One we cannot have, the other we cannot avoid.
Freedom
Johnson, Jeremy P.
The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.
Freedom
Johnson, Lady Bird
All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.
Freedom
Johnson, Samuel
1709-1784 British Author
Set me free from evil passions, and heal my heart of all inordinate affections; that being inwardly cured and thoroughly cleansed, I may be made fit to love, courageous to suffer, steady to persevere.
Freedom
Kempis, Thomas
1379-1471 German Monk Mystic Religious Writer
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.
Freedom
Kennedy, John F.
1917-1963 Thirty-fifth President of the USA
The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.
Freedom
Kennedy, John F.
1917-1963 Thirty-fifth President of the USA
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.
Freedom
Kennedy, John F.
1917-1963 Thirty-fifth President of the USA
The free way of life proposes ends, but it does not prescribe means.
Freedom
Kennedy, Robert F.
1925-1968 American Attorney General Senator
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Freedom
King Jr. Martin Luther
1929-1968 American Black Leader Nobel Prize Winner 1964
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Freedom
King Jr. Martin Luther
1929-1968 American Black Leader Nobel Prize Winner 1964
The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.
Freedom
King Jr. Martin Luther
1929-1968 American Black Leader Nobel Prize Winner 1964
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.
Freedom
Kingsley, Charles
1819-1875 British Author Clergyman
All we have of freedom -- all we use or know -- this our fathers bought for us, long and long ago.
Freedom
Kipling, Rudyard
1865-1936 British Author of Prose Verse
Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.
Freedom
Krishnamurti, Jiddu
1895-1986 Indian Theosophist
Freedom s just another word for nothing left to lose.
Freedom
Kristofferson, Kris
1936 American Singer Songwriter
Until economic freedom is attained for everybody, there can be no real freedom for anybody.
Freedom
La Follette, Suzanne
Men are free when they are in a living homeland, not when they are straying and breaking away. Men are free when they are obeying some deep, inward voice of religious belief. Obeying from within. Men are free when they belong to a living, organic, believing community, active in fulfilling some unfulfilled, perhaps unrealized purpose. Not when they are escaping to some wild west. The most unfree souls go west, and shout of freedom. Men are freest when they are most unconscious of freedom. The shout is a rattling of chains, always was.
Freedom
Lawrence, D. H.
1885-1930 British Author
It is true that liberty is precious. So precious that it must be rationed.
Freedom
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
1870-1924 Russian Revolutionary Leader
Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.
Freedom
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
1870-1924 Russian Revolutionary Leader
When I was a boy I used to do what my father wanted. Now I have to do what my boy wants. My problem is: When am I going to do what I want?
Freedom
Levenson, Samuel
What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment.
Freedom
Lichtenberg, Georg C.
1742-1799 German Physicist Satirist
Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.
Freedom
Lincoln, Abraham
1809-1865 Sixteenth President of the USA
Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us; to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Freedom
Lincoln, Abraham
1809-1865 Sixteenth President of the USA
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.
Freedom
Lincoln, Abraham
1809-1865 Sixteenth President of the USA
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
Freedom
Lincoln, Abraham
1809-1865 Sixteenth President of the USA
Do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of Independence.
Freedom
Lincoln, Abraham
1809-1865 Sixteenth President of the USA
A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking the principle of liberty in the main business of human life, that is to say, in the process by which men educate their responses and learn to control their environment.
Freedom
Lippmann, Walter
1889-1974 American Journalist
If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, -- Angels alone that soar above, Enjoy such liberty.
Freedom
Lovelace, Richard
1618-1657 British Poet
Freedom is hunting, feeding, danger; that, that is freedom --that it is which makes the veins to swell, the breast to heave and glowaye, that is freedom, --that is pleasure --life!
Freedom
Lovell, Marie
1803-1877 British Actor Playwright
Freedom is the only law which genius knows.
Freedom
Lowell, James Russell
1819-1891 American Poet Critic Editor
Mankind has a free will; but it is free to milk cows and to build houses, nothing more.
Freedom
Luther, Martin
1483-1546 German Leader of the Protestant Reformation
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
Freedom
Luxemburg, Rosa
1870-1919 German Revolutionary
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
Freedom
Macarthur, Douglas
1880-1964 American Army General in WW II
A hot bath! I cry, as I sit down in it! Again as I lie flat, a hot bath! How exquisite a pleasure, how luxurious, fervid and flagrant a consolation for the rigors, the austerities, the renunciation of the day.
Freedom
Macaulay, Rose
1881-1958 British Novelist Essayist
What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.
Freedom
Macleish, Archibald
1892-1982 American Poet
Freedom, then, lies only in our innate human capacity to choose between different sorts of bondage, bondage to desire or self esteem, or bondage to the light that lightens all our olives.
Freedom
Madhava, Sri
I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
Freedom
Madonna
1958 American Musician Singer Actress
He is free... who knows how to keep in his own hands the power to decide.
Freedom
Madriaga, Salvador De
1886-1978 Spanish Writer Scholar Diplomat
Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.
Freedom
Maistre, Joseph De
1753-1821 French Diplomat Philosopher
If you re not ready to die for it, put the word freedom out of your vocabulary.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you re a man, you take it.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
The only way we ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba -- yes Cuba too.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
You can t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won t do to get it, or what he doesn t believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn t believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire... or preserve his freedom.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
You don t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won t let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.
Freedom
Malcolm X
1925-1965 American Black Leader Activist
Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
Freedom
Mandela, Nelson
1918 South African President
There are two good things in life -- freedom of thought and freedom of action.
Freedom
Maugham, W. Somerset
1874-1965 British Novelist Playwright
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.
Freedom
Maugham, W. Somerset
1874-1965 British Novelist Playwright
Any nation that thinks more of its ease and comfort than its freedom will soon lose its freedom; and the ironical thing about it is that it will lose its ease and comfort too.
Freedom
Maugham, W. Somerset
1874-1965 British Novelist Playwright
Freedom is man s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.
Freedom
May, Rollo
American Psychologist
It requires greater courage to preserve inner freedom, to move on in one s inward journey into new realms, than to stand defiantly for outer freedom. It is often easier to play the martyr, as it is to be rash in battle.
Freedom
May, Rollo
American Psychologist
It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.
Freedom
Mckern, Leo
We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.
Freedom
Mencken, H. L.
1880-1956 American Editor Author Critic Humorist
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
Mill, John Stuart
1806-1873 British Philosopher Economist
None can love freedom heartily, but good men... the rest love not freedom, but license.
Freedom
Milton, John
1608-1674 British Poet
Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.
Freedom
Montesquieu, Charles De
1689-1755 French Jurist Political Philosopher
There s something contagious about demanding freedom.
Freedom
Morgan, Robin
1941 American Feminist Author Poet
Freedom! Equality! Brotherhood!
Freedom
Motto, French Revolution
How is freedom measured, in individuals as in nations? By the resistance which has to be overcome, by the effort it costs to stay aloft. One would have to seek the highest type of free man where the greatest resistance is constantly being overcome: five steps from tyranny, near the threshold of the danger of servitude.
Freedom
Nietzsche, Friedrich
1844-1900 German Philosopher
Yet we can maintain a free society only if we recognize that in a free society no one can win all the time. No one can have his own way all the time, and no one is right all the time.
Freedom
Nixon, Richard M.
1913-1994 Thirty-seventh President of the USA
If people have to choose between freedom and sandwiches, they will take sandwiches.
Freedom
Orr, Lord Boyd
1880-1971 Scottish Biologist
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
Freedom
Orwell, George
1903-1950 British Author Animal Farm
I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as eternal dirt.
Freedom
Orwell, George
1903-1950 British Author Animal Farm
We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.
Freedom
Paine, Thomas
1737-1809 Anglo-American Political Theorist Writer
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Freedom
Paine, Thomas
1737-1809 Anglo-American Political Theorist Writer
It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.
Freedom
Pascal, Blaise
1623-1662 French Scientist Religious Philosopher
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.
Freedom
Pericles
BC 495-429 Athenian Statesman
Is any man free except the one who can pass his life as he pleases?
Freedom
Persius
34-62 AD Satirical Poet
The sovereignty of one s self over one s self is called Liberty.
Freedom
Pike, Albert
1809-1891 American Lawyer Masonic Author Historian
A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.
Freedom
Pound, Ezra
1885-1972 American Poet Critic
Freedom is an internal achievement rather than an external adjustment.
Freedom
Powell, Adam Clayton
African-American politician
The saving man becomes the free man.
Freedom
Proverb, Chinese
Sayings of Chinese Origin
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change.
Freedom
Quayle, Dan
1947 American Politician Vice-President
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Freedom
Reagan, Ronald
1911 Fortieth President of the USA Actor
It is for each of us freely to choose whom we shall serve, and find in that obedience our freedom.
Freedom
Richards, Mary Caroline
We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.
Freedom
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
1882-1945 Thirty-second President of the USA
True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
Freedom
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
1882-1945 Thirty-second President of the USA
We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear.
Freedom
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
1882-1945 Thirty-second President of the USA
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
Freedom
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
1882-1945 Thirty-second President of the USA
The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.
Freedom
Rousseau, Jean Jacques
1712-1778 Swiss Political Philosopher Educationist Essayist
Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.
Freedom
Rousseau, Jean Jacques
1712-1778 Swiss Political Philosopher Educationist Essayist
Free people, remember this maxim: We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.
Freedom
Rousseau, Jean Jacques
1712-1778 Swiss Political Philosopher Educationist Essayist
A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.
Freedom
Rousseau, Jean Jacques
1712-1778 Swiss Political Philosopher Educationist Essayist
Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfect.
Freedom
Ruskin, John
1819-1900 British Critic Social Theorist
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.
Freedom
Russell, Bertrand
1872-1970 British Philosopher Mathematician Essayist
Women, like men, ought to have their youth so glutted with freedom they hate the very idea of freedom.
Freedom
Sackville-West, Vita
1892-1962 British Novelist Poet
There is no liberation without labor... and there is no freedom which is free.
Freedom
Sahib, The Siri Singh
I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.
Freedom
Saint-Exupery, Antoine De
1900-1944 French Aviator Writer
It is quite possible for someone to choose incorrectly or to judge badly; but freedom must allow such mistakes.
Freedom
Sang Kyu Shin
Chinese Activist
A man is morally free when, in full possession of his living humanity, he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity.
Freedom
Santayana, George
1863-1952 American Philosopher Poet
Freedom is what you do with what s been done to you.
Freedom
Sartre, Jean-Paul
1905-1980 French Writer Philosopher
Where there is much freedom there is much error.
Freedom
Schiller, Johann Friedrich Von
1759-1805 German Dramatist Poet Historian
Freedom exists only with power.
Freedom
Schiller, Johann Friedrich Von
1759-1805 German Dramatist Poet Historian
There s only one free person in this society, and he is white and male.
Freedom
Scott, Hazel
1920-1981 American Entertainer
He who is brave is free.
Freedom
Seneca
4 BC – 65 AD Spanish-born Roman Statesman philosopher
Freedom is not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling Fortune to enter the lists on equal terms.
Freedom
Seneca
4 BC – 65 AD Spanish-born Roman Statesman philosopher
The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness.
Freedom
Sevareid, Eric
1912-1992 American Broadcast Journalist
They want to be free and they do not know how to be just.
Freedom
Sieyes, Abbe
By the will art thou lost, by the will art thou found, by the will art thou free, captive, and bound.
Freedom
Silesius, Angelus
Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
Freedom
Spinoza, Baruch (Benedict de)
1632-1677 Dutch Philosopher and Theologian
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.
Freedom
Stevenson, Adlai E.
1900-1965 American Lawyer Politician
We have confused the free with the free and easy.
Freedom
Stevenson, Adlai E.
1900-1965 American Lawyer Politician
A hungry man is not a free man.
Freedom
Stevenson, Adlai E.
1900-1965 American Lawyer Politician
Every emancipation has in it the seeds of a new slavery, and every truth easily becomes a lie.
Freedom
Stone, I. F.
1907-1989 American Author
Bondage is... subjection to external influences and internal negative thoughts and attitudes.
Freedom
Stone, W. Clement
1902 American Businessman Author
We gain freedom when we have paid the full price...
Freedom
Tagore, Rabindranath
1861-1941 Indian Poet Philosopher
Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.
Freedom
Tagore, Rabindranath
1861-1941 Indian Poet Philosopher
We are all of us the worse for too much liberty.
Freedom
Terence
BC 185-18159 Roman Writer of Comedies
Freedom is knowing who you really are.
Freedom
Thomson, Linda
The law will never make men free, it is men that have to make the law free.
Freedom
Thoreau, Henry David
1817-1862 American Essayist Poet Naturalist
The secret of freedom, courage.
Freedom
Thucydides
BC 460-400 Greek Historian of Athens
This is America. You can do anything here.
Freedom
Turner, Robert E.
American Cable-TV Pioneer
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.
Freedom
Twain, Mark
1835-1910 American Humorist Writer
The higher one climbs on the spiritual ladder, the more they will grant others their own freedom, and give less interference to another s state of consciousness.
Freedom
Twitchell, Paul
The grass is always greener where the fence isn t.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
The foolish and the uneducated have little use for freedom.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
It is my right to be uncommon. For I do not choose to be a common man, If I can, I seek opportunity. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the government look after me. I choose to take the calculated risk, to dream, to build, to fail or succeed. I choose not to barter incentive for a dole, I prefer the challenges of life to a guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the state calm of Utopia. I will not trade my freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
A slave is a free man if he is content with his lot; a free man is a slave if he seeks more than that.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
Freedom also includes the right to mismanage your own affairs.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
It is quite impossible to guarantee world peace. But is should be possible to guarantee world freedom.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
Liberty is the right to choose, freedom is the result of that choice.
Freedom
Unknown, Source
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
Freedom
Voltaire
1694-1778 French Historian Writer
Liberty, then, about which so many volumes have been written is, when accurately defined, only the power of acting.
Freedom