Individual Liberty Quotes - Page 5

• A citizen of the Roman Empire, for example, would have placed less value on individual liberty in the modern Western sense than on collective responsibility.

  Stephen Baxter

  Responsibility, Liberty, Example

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• Even men who were engaged in organizing debt-serf cultivation and debt-serf industrialism in the American cotton districts, in the old rubber plantations, and in the factories of India, China, and South Italy, appeared as generous supporters of and subscribers to the sacred cause of individual liberty.

  H. G. Wells

  Men, Political, Liberty

  H. G. Wells (1933). “Shape Things Come”

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• No one can be free unless he is independent. Therefore, the first active manifestations of the child's individual liberty must be so guided that through this activity he may arrive at independence.

  Maria Montessori

  Children, Independent, Independence

  Maria Montessori, Gerald Lee Gutek (2004). “The Montessori Method: The Origins of an Educational Innovation : Including an Abridged and Annotated Edition of Maria Montessori's The Montessori Method”, p.118, Rowman & Littlefield

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• America stands for individual liberty, but that means an ordered liberty.

  Bainbridge Colby

  Mean, America, Liberty

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• In stark contrast with the views of the Greek philosophers and with those of the rest of western intellectuals to the present day, Chinese Taoist thought always defended individual liberty and laissez-faire while attacking the systematic and coercive use of violence typical of government.

  Jesus Huerta de Soto

  Government, Views, Greek

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• Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action.

  Ron Paul

  Political Opinions, Support, Liberty

  Ron Paul's newsletter (1992), as quoted in "10 Extreme Claims in Ron Paul’s Controversial Newsletters" by Andy Kroll, www.motherjones.com. January 3, 2012.

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• No system of regulation can safely be substituted for the operation of individual liberty as expressed in competition.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Competition, Liberty, Regulation

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• Human rights and individual liberties, including religious freedom, will be at the heart of the new Iraq.

  Jalal Talabani

  Religious, Heart, Iraq

  "Drafting A Constitution". editorials.voa.gov. August 02, 2005.

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• If business is going to continue to sell through the decades, it must also promote an understanding of what made those products possible, what is necessary to a free market, and what our free market means to the individual liberty of each of us, to be certain that the freedoms under which this nation was born and brought to this point shall endure in the future ... for America is the product of our freedoms.

  Edward Francis Hutton

  Freedom, Mean, America

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• Isn't our choice really not one of left or right, but of up or down? Down through the welfare state to statism, to more and more government largesse accompanied always by more government authority, less individual liberty, and ultimately, totalitarianism, always advanced as for our own good. The alternative is the dream conceived by our Founding Fathers, up to the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with an orderly society.

  Ronald Reagan

  Dream, Father, Government

  Ronald Reagan (2004). “Speaking My Mind: Selected Speeches”, p.212, Simon and Schuster

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• The fact is that every war suffers a kind of progressive degradation with every month that it continues, because such things as individual liberty and a truthful press are simply not compatible with military efficiency.

  George Orwell

  Military, War, Suffering

  George Orwell (2016). “Homage to Catalonia / Down and Out in Paris and London”, p.190, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Laws are the very bulkwarks of liberty; they define every man's rights, and defend the individual liberties of all men.

  J. G. Holland

  Men, Rights, Law

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• The Libertarians, of whom I'm rather fond, are running Harry Browne. Libertarians are, just as they claim, principled and consistent - they believe in individual liberty. Commendable as they are, and despite their reliability as allies in civil liberties struggles, you may notice that Libertarians sometimes prove that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, and that there is a difference between logic and wisdom.

  Molly Ivins

  Running, Believe, Struggle

  Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 7, 1996.

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• I have always in my own thought summed up individual liberty, and business liberty, and every other kind of liberty, in the phrase that is common in the sporting world, 'A free field and no favor.'

  Woodrow Wilson

  Business, Equality, Liberty

  Woodrow Wilson (1913). “Addresses, Messages and Speeches, 1897-”

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• I do esteem individual liberty above everything. What is a nation for, but to secure the maximum liberty to every individual?

  D. H. Lawrence

  Liberty, Individual, Esteem

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• To a man the greatest blessing is individual liberty; to a dog it is the last word in despair.

  William Lyon Phelps

  Friendship, Dog, Men

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• Unlike most heritages, Western civilization is not primarily a geographical place or a genetic bloodline. It is a state of mind. No matter where on earth one was born, to become heir to Western civilization's ancestry, one need only pledge allegiance to reason and individual liberty-the civilized, life-affirming values that represent the "West at its best."

  Terri Runnels

  Life, Civilization, Individuality

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• We need to get beyond the politics of the moment, the deficit of the hour, the military count of the day, the numbers that rarely shape events. Our long-term interests must be in people and in the values of democracy and individual liberty.

  Bill Bradley

  Military, Numbers, Long

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• Indeed, the keynote of government is injustice. With the arrogance and self-sufficiency of the King who could do no wrong, governments ordain, judge, condemn, and punish the most insignificant offenses, while maintaining themselves by the greatest of all offenses, the annihilation of individual liberty.

  Emma Goldman

  Kings, Government, Self

  Emma Goldman (2015). “Anarchism and Other Essays”, p.38, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• The Second Amendment's language and historical and philosophical background demonstrated that it was designed to guarantee individuals the possession of certain kinds of arms for three purposes: (1) crime prevention or what we would today describe as self-defense; (2) national defense; and (3) preservation of individual liberty.

  Don Kates

  Philosophical, Gun, Self

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• On human rights, civil rights and environmental quality, I consider myself to be very liberal. On the management of government, on openness of government, on strengthening individual liberties and local levels of government, I consider myself a conservative. And I don't see that the two attitudes are incompatible.

  Jimmy Carter

  Attitude, Rights, Government

  Jimmy Carter (1998). “Conversations with Carter”, p.51, Lynne Rienner Publishers

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• But let it not be said that we did nothing. Let not those who love the power of the welfare/warfare state label the dissenters of authoritarianism as unpatriotic or uncaring. Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty.

  Ron Paul

  Safety, Understanding, Desire

  Congressional Record, Volume 153, pt. 10, 2010.

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• Where was the libertarian right during the great struggles for individual liberty in America in the last half-century? The libertarian movement has been conspicuously absent from the campaigns for civil rights for nonwhites, women, gays and lesbians.

  Michael Lind

  Struggle, Gay, Rights

  Source: blogs.chicagotribune.com

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• To have a free, peaceful and prosperous world we must be ever stronger particularly in the spiritual things....It is American belief in decency and justice and progress and the value of individual liberty because of the rights conferred on each of us by our Creator that willcarry us through.... There must be something in the heart as well as the head.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Spiritual, Heart, Rights

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• Libertarian presidential candidate André Marrou's idea is that "government power is opposed to individual liberty." Must we still debate such sophomoric notions?... Besides, liberty, although very important, is not the only value.

  George Will

  Government, Ideas, Presidential

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