Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.
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.
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.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
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.
Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.
Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.
A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten.
He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
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.
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.
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 all solace to man gives: He lives at ease that freely lives.
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.
The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.
In the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.
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.
True obedience is true freedom.
There are always risks in freedom. The only risk in bondage is breaking free.
Liberty is being free from the things we don't like in order to be slaves of the things we do like.
Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.
Governing sense, mind and intellect, intent on liberation, free from desire, fear and anger, the sage is forever free.
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.
The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.
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.
The cause of freedom is the cause of God.
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 is poetry, taking liberties with words, breaking the rules of normal speech, violating common sense. Freedom is violence.
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.
So free we seem, so fettered we are!
None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
When ever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither is safe.
If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.
Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.
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.
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 is nothing else but a chance to be better.
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.
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 suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.
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 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.
Just as war is freedom's cost, disagreement is freedom's privilege.
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.
Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.
Tyrants have not yet discovered any chains that can fetter the mind.
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.
Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy, attributable to the same causes as the freedom.
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.
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.
Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.
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.
You can only be free if I am free.
If you think you're free, there's no escape possible.
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.
In the light of his vision he has found his freedom: his thoughts are peace, his words are peace and his work is peace.
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.
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.
He who dares not (reason), is a slave.
We are living in the excesses of freedom. Just take a look at 42nd Street an Broadway.
Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.
There is nothing more wonderful than freedom of speech.
History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free.
Liberty is a different kind of pain from prison.
Liberty is slow fruit. It is never cheap; it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man.
For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail?
So far as a person thinks; they are free.
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.
No man is free who is not a master of himself.
Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
Freedom is the right to live as we wish.
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.
No one who lives in error is free.
I gave my life for freedom --this I know: For those who bade me fight had told me so.
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of fear is a freedom.
Freedom is just chaos with better lighting.
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.
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 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.
The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave. His fetters fall... freedom and slavery are mental states.
Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be acquired.
Liberty has restraints but no frontiers.
You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?
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 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
Only law can give us freedom.
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 is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.
When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
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.
The greatest Glory of a free-born People, Is to transmit that Freedom to their Children.
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.
The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.
Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
Freedom is the opportunity to make decisions...
Only very slowly and late have men come to realize that unless freedom is universal it is only extended privilege.
The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.
We are free to yield to truth.
— Horace
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.
— Horace
Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself.
— Horace
Freedom begins as we become conscious of it.
We clearly realize that freedom's inner kingdom cannot be touched by exterior attacks.
American freedom consists largely in talking nonsense.
Freedom is a condition of mind, and the best way to secure it is to breed it.
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.
Liberation is not deliverance.
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 is the most contagious virus known to man.
A forest bird never wants a cage.
Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
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.
The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.
All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.
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.
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.
The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.
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.
The free way of life proposes ends, but it does not prescribe means.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
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!
The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.
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.
All we have of freedom -- all we use or know -- this our fathers bought for us, long and long ago.
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's just another word for nothing left to lose.
Until economic freedom is attained for everybody, there can be no real freedom for anybody.
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.
It is true that liberty is precious. So precious that it must be rationed.
Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.
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?
What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment.
Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.
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.
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.
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
Do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of Independence.
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.
If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, -- Angels alone that soar above, Enjoy such liberty.
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 is the only law which genius knows.
Mankind has a free will; but it is free to milk cows and to build houses, nothing more.
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
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.
What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.
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.
I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
— Madonna
He is free... who knows how to keep in his own hands the power to decide.
Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.
If you're not ready to die for it, put the word freedom out of your vocabulary.
Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.
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.
You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
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.
You don't have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.
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.
Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
There are two good things in life -- freedom of thought and freedom of action.
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.
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 is man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.
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.
It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.
We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.
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.
None can love freedom heartily, but good men... the rest love not freedom, but license.
Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.
There's something contagious about demanding freedom.
Freedom! Equality! Brotherhood!
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.
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.
If people have to choose between freedom and sandwiches, they will take sandwiches.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as eternal dirt.
We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.
— Pericles
Is any man free except the one who can pass his life as he pleases?
— Persius
The sovereignty of one's self over one's self is called Liberty.
A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.
Freedom is an internal achievement rather than an external adjustment.
The saving man becomes the free man.
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change.
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
It is for each of us freely to choose whom we shall serve, and find in that obedience our freedom.
We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.
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.
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.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.
Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.
Free people, remember this maxim: We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.
A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.
Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfect.
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.
Women, like men, ought to have their youth so glutted with freedom they hate the very idea of freedom.
There is no liberation without labor... and there is no freedom which is free.
I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.
It is quite possible for someone to choose incorrectly or to judge badly; but freedom must allow such mistakes.
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 is what you do with what's been done to you.
Where there is much freedom there is much error.
Freedom exists only with power.
There's only one free person in this society, and he is white and male.
He who is brave is free.
— Seneca
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.
— Seneca
The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness.
They want to be free and they do not know how to be just.
By the will art thou lost, by the will art thou found, by the will art thou free, captive, and bound.
Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
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.
We have confused the free with the free and easy.
A hungry man is not a free man.
Every emancipation has in it the seeds of a new slavery, and every truth easily becomes a lie.
Bondage is... subjection to external influences and internal negative thoughts and attitudes.
We gain freedom when we have paid the full price...
Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.
We are all of us the worse for too much liberty.
— Terence
Freedom is knowing who you really are.
The law will never make men free, it is men that have to make the law free.
The secret of freedom, courage.
This is America. You can do anything here.
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.
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.
The grass is always greener where the fence isn't.
The foolish and the uneducated have little use for freedom.
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.
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.
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 also includes the right to mismanage your own affairs.
It is quite impossible to guarantee world peace. But is should be possible to guarantee world freedom.
Liberty is the right to choose, freedom is the result of that choice.
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
— Voltaire
Liberty, then, about which so many volumes have been written is, when accurately defined, only the power of acting.
— Voltaire
The true character of liberty is independence, maintained by force.
— Voltaire
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.
Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.
Freedom -- to walk free and own no superior.
The more internal freedom you achieve, the more you want: it is more fun to be happy than sad, more enjoyable to choose your own emotions than to have them inflicted on you by mechanical glandular processes, more pleasurable to solve your problems than to be stuck with them forever.
How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.
It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts.
He who is conceived in a cage, yearns for the cage.