Free Society Quotes - Page 8

• If our free society is to endure, and I know it will, those who govern must recognize that the Framers of the Constitution limited their power in order to preserve human dignity and the air of freedom which is our proudest heritage.

  William J. Brennan

  Air, Order, Heritage

  "Reason and Passion: Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence". Book by Brennan Center for Justice, 1997.

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• They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.

  Eric Hoffer

  Clamor, Believer, True Believer

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge.

  Tony Judt

  Thinking, Our World, Citizens

  Tony Judt (2010). “Ill Fares the Land”, p.114, Penguin

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• I believe only a free society can ever be truly secure. The goal should be to make terrorists feel threatened, not the American people.

  Ron Paul

  Believe, Goal, People

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• Whatever its future success as a historical movement, anarchism will remain a fundamental part of human experience, for the drive for freedom is one of our deepest needs and the vision of a free society is one of our oldest dreams. Neither can ever be fully repressed; both will outlive all rulers and their States.

  Peter Marshall

  Dream, Historical, Vision

  Peter Marshall (2009). “Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism”, p.15, PM Press

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• I accept that in a free society you have to justify reductions in people's liberties. I accept that, bearing in mind my starting point is that the most important human right is the right to life.

  John Howard

  People, Mind, Important

  National Summit on Terrorism, August 05, 2005.

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• Free societies...are societies in motion, and with motion comes tension, dissent, friction. Free people strike sparks, and those sparks are the best evidence of freedom's existence.

  Salman Rushdie

  People, Atheism, Society

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• Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole the church, party, nation and not to his fellow true believer. True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society .

  Eric Hoffer

  Loyalty, Party, Faithful

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

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• The liberal arts inform and enlighten the independent citizen of a democracy in the use of his own resources.... They enlarge his capacity for self-knowledge and expand his opportunities for self-improvement.... They are the wellsprings of a free society.

  Alfred Whitney Griswold

  Art, Independent, Opportunity

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• When we are unwilling to draw clear moral lines between free societies and fear societies, when we are unwilling to call the former good and the latter evil, we will not be able to advance the cause of peace because peace cannot be disconnected from freedom.

  Natan Sharansky

  Peace, Evil, Lines

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• The desire to build a risk-free society has always been a sign of decadence. It has meant that the nation has given up, that it no longer believes in its destiny, that it has ceased to aspire to greatness, and has retired from history to pet itself.

  Henry Fairlie

  Believe, Greatness, Destiny

  "Paralysis in a Risk-Free Society" by Henry Fairlie, www.washingtonpost.com. July 22, 1979.

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• Getting rid of the dictator is only a first step in establishing a free society. The dictatorship must also be disassembled.

  George Ayittey

  Firsts, Steps, Dictator

  "George Ayittey: How to Defeat a Dictator". Interview with Thor Halvorssen, www.huffingtonpost.com.

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• If you say to people that they, as a matter of fact, can't protect their conversations, in particular their political conversations, I think you take a long step toward making a transition from a free society to a totalitarian society.

  Whitfield Diffie

  Thinking, Long, People

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• In a free society, individuals have the right to do right or wrong, as long as they don't threaten or infringe upon the rights or property of others.

  Mark Skousen

  Rights, Long, Society

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• I think it's very dangerous for a free society to have all the information distilled and packaged by our government and given to us. Do we know to this day who we killed in Iraq? I don't think so. If bringing war into the living room means that we as a people will say we don't want to do it that way anymore we want to figure out other ways to solve these conflicts, then I would say that photography and television have done us a great service.

  Michael Deaver

  Photography, War, Mean

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• The library is central to our free society. It is a critical element in the free exchange of information at the heart of our democracy.

  Vartan Gregorian

  Heart, Democracy, Library

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• If you had a free society you couldn't get people to go to war, if you had an intelligent type of upbringing in ones children. They would say; There must be many other ways of solving problems other then killing people.

  Jacque Fresco

  Children, War, Intelligent

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• A truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what they value.

  Charles Koch

  People, Vision, Values

  "Charles Koch: I'm Fighting to Restore a Free Society". www.wsj.com. April 2, 2014.

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• Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. But if we can regain that belief in power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Adventure, Intellectual, Deeds

  "Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics". Book by F. A. Hayek, "The Intellectuals and Socialism", p. 194, 1967.

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• The lesson has already been learned with alcohol prohibition. We tried to engineer an alcohol-free society and ended up with huge criminal enterprises, government corruption, children lured into organized crime and random violence that took the lives of countless innocent people.

  Kurt Schmoke

  Children, Government, Random Violence

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• Should it be prohibited for private entities such as a church, bed and breakfast or retirement neighborhood that doesn't want noisy children? Absolutely not.

  Rand Paul

  Retirement, Children, Decision

  "Rand Paul in '02: I may not like it, but 'a free society' will allow 'hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin'". voices.washingtonpost.com. May, 2010.

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• Of course, there can be serious injustices within free societies.

  Natan Sharansky

  Serious, Injustice, Courses

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• For the next century, the Republicans have agreed that we will promote the dignity and future of every individual by building a free society under a limited, accountable government that protects liberty, security and prosperity for a brighter American dream.

  Todd Tiahrt

  Dream, Government, Liberty

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• A free society is one in which individuals are free to discover for themselves the available range of alternatives.

  Israel Kirzner

  Alternatives, Individual, Range

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• History will remember the inhabitants of this century as the people who went from Kitty Hawk to the moon in 66 years, only to languish for the next 30 in low Earth orbit. At the core of the risk-free society is a self-indulgent failure of nerve.

  Buzz Aldrin

  Math, Science, Moon

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