Liberty Quotes - Page 21

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  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  Lord Acton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Work

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

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• But when no risk is taken there is no freedom. It is thus that, in an industrial society, the plethora of laws made for our personal safety convert the land into a nursery, and policemen hired to protect us become selfserving busybodies.

  Alan Watts

  Taken, Law, Land

  Alan Watts (2010). “Tao: The Watercourse Way”, p.43, Souvenir Press

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• An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Motivational, Respect, Kings

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• [E]conomic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, Law, Long

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

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• One of the things the government can't do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.

  Lee Iacocca

  Running, Government, Office

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• Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Motivational, Running, Spiritual

  Thomas Jefferson (2004). “Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness”, p.103, Modern Library

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• Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Alliances, Motto

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”, p.425

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• Delay is preferable to error.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mistake, Errors, Presidential

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.357, Cambridge University Press

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• Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Men, Giving, Freedom Of Speech

  Thurgood Marshall, Mark V. Tushnet (2001). “Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences”, p.11, Chicago Review Press

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• Democracy is the road to socialism.

  Karl Marx

  Historical, Democracy, Libertarian

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• Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.

  Guy de Maupassant

  War, Patriotic, Eggs

  Guy de Maupassant (1926*). “The Novels and Tales of Guy de Maupassant”

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• Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

  H. L. Mencken

  Auctions, Politics, Election

  "Prejudices: First Series". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1919.

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• When complaints are freely heard, deeply considered and speedily reformed, then is the utmost bound of civil liberty attained that wise men look for.

  John Milton

  Wise, Men, Complaining

  'Areopagitica' (1644) p. 1

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• Citizen participation is a device whereby public officials induce nonpublic individuals to act in a way the officials desire.

  Daniel Patrick Moynihan

  Desire, Citizens, Libertarian

  Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1970). “Toward a national urban policy”

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• Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.

  Robert Orben

  Humorous, Native American, Profound

  "They Said What?". Manly Daily, August 05, 2008.

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• Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

  William Penn

  Thinking, Democracies Have, People

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.51, Courier Corporation

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• Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Hippie, Patriotic

  Bertrand Russell (1962). “Has Man a Future?”

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• Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

  Bertrand Russell

  4th Of July, Patriotic, Government

  "Sceptical Essays". Ch. 13: Freedom in Society. Book by Bertrand Russell, 1928.

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• Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Philosophical, Libertarian, Ridicule

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• Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Integrity, Sacrifice, Self

  Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists: Self-Sacrifice"

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• The only security men can have for their political liberty, consists in keeping their money in their own pockets.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Political, Pockets

  Lysander Spooner (1973). “No Treason and a Letter to Thomas F. Bayard”

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• In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Peace, War, Independent

  graf Leo Tolstoy (1904). “Essays, letters, miscellanies”

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• If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

  George Washington

  Peace, Money, Powerful

  George Washington (1837). “Speeches and messages to Congress, proclamations, and addresses”, p.38

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• Being elected to Congress is regarded as being sent on a looting raid for one's friends.

  George Will

  Political, Libertarian, Congress

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• In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Religious, Atheist

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814”, p.248, Princeton University Press

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