Individual Liberty Quotes - Page 2

• Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

  Patrick Henry

  Death, Sweet, Freedom

  Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, Va., 23 Mar. 1775.

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• Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation.

  John Quincy Adams

  Powerful, Numbers, Community

  John Quincy Adams, William Harwood Peden (1946). “The Selected Writings of John and John Quincy Adams”

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• What a free society offers to the individual is much more than what he would be able to do if only he were free.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Society, Liberty, Would Be

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich August von Hayek, 1960.

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• Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others.

  Ayn Rand

  Rights, Ideas, Numbers

  Ayn Rand (1990). “The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought”, p.243, Penguin

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• Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.

  Mikhail Bakunin

  Liberty, And Love, Individual Morality

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• Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.

  Patrick Henry

  Giving Up, 4th Of July, Jealous

  Virginia's U.S. Constitution ratification convention, June 5, 1788.

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• The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty.

  John Maynard Keynes

  Justice, Political, Liberty

  John Maynard Keynes, Royal Economic Society (Great Britain) (1972). “The collected writings of John Maynard Keynes”

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• I have sworn upon the altar of God Eternal, hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Religious, Men

  Letter to Benjamin Rush, 23 Sept. 1800

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• Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.

  Adam Smith

  Hands, Invisible Hand, Liberty

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

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• I have sworn upon the altar of god.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Government, Faith Religion

  Letter to Benjamin Rush, 23 Sept. 1800

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• Liberty, then, is the SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

  Josiah Warren

  Liberty, Individual, Sovereignty

  "Equitable commerce: a new development of principles as substitutes for laws and governments, for the harmonious adjustment and regulation of the pecuniary, intellectual, and moral intercourse of mankind, proposed as elements of new society".

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• I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Men, Faith Religion

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• At a time when most movements that are thought to be progressive advocate further encroachments on individual liberty, those who cherish freedom are likely to expend their energies in opposition. In this they find themselves much of the time on the same side as those who habitually resist change.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Liberty, Sides, Energy

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek, Postscript: Why I Am Not a Conservative, 1960.

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• Where the state begins, individual liberty ceases, and vice versa.

  Mikhail Bakunin

  Individuality, Liberty, Vices

  Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin (1953). “The Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism”, Free Pr

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• Our government, taxes, and ideas of freedom are already duplicates of the Old World. Our politicians determine how we should live our lives - and our individual liberties are sacrificed for the benefit of the Fatherland.

  Harry Browne

  Government, Ideas, Liberty

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• The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence.

  Ron Paul

  Rights, Rejection, Historical

  Ron Paul (1987). “Freedom Under Siege”, p.38, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• The government's only proper job is to protect individual rights against violence by force or fraud ... to protect men from foreign invaders ... to settle disputes among men according to objective laws ... The greatness of the Founding Fathers was how well they understood this issue and how close some of them came to understanding it perfectly.

  Ayn Rand

  Jobs, Father, Greatness

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• The proper balance between individual liberty and central authority is a very ancient problem.

  Arthur Keith

  Balance, Liberty, Problem

  Sir Arthur Keith (1947). “Evolution and Ethics”

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• Libertarians recognize the inevitable pluralism of the modern world and for that reason assert that individual liberty is at least part of the common good.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Pluralism Is, Liberty, World

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.39, Cato Institute

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• I think the first and principle objective is to repeal Obamacare before it does lasting, fundamental damage to our health care system, to our individual liberty, to the relationship each of us has with his or her doctor.

  Ted Cruz

  Thinking, Doctors, Obamacare

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• This election presents a stark choice - we can continue down the road of the Obama Democrats, more and more spending, debt and government control of the economy, or we can return to the founding principles of our nation - free markets, fiscal responsibility and individual liberty.

  Ted Cruz

  Responsibility, Government, Choices

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• Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating the Jewish state. It runs a theocratic totalitarian state in Gaza, with no individual liberty, and no freedom of speech or press.

  Dennis Prager

  Running, Organization, Freedom Of Speech

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• If technology has finally caught up with individual liberty, why would anyone who loves freedom want to rethink that?

  Matt Drudge

  Technology, Liberty, Want

  Speech to the National Press Club on Media and the Internet, delivered 2 June 1998

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• So what is so strange about saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to reconstruct and reform this nation so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? I want the country to survive. I want the country to succeed.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Country, Liberty, Foundation

  "Rush: Obama bastardizing Constitution" by David Mark, www.politico.com. February 28, 2009.

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• The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition is so powerful that it is alone, and without any assistance, capable not only of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting 100 impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.

  Adam Smith

  Powerful, Law, Effort

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