Liberty Quotes - Page 29

• No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

  James Madison

  Freedom, War, Democracies Have

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery.-Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Justice, Humanity, Honor

  Bernard Mayo, Thomas Jefferson (1988). “Jefferson Himself: The Personal Narrative of a Many-Sided American”, p.55, University of Virginia Press

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• Personal liberty without economic liberty is an absolute contradiction; the one cannot exist without the other.

  William E. Simon

  Libertarian, Economic, Contradiction

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• Liberty is so much latitude as the powerful choose to accord to the weak.

  Learned Hand

  Powerful, Weak, Accord

  Learned Hand (1959). “The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses”

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• Freedom of the mind requires not only, or not even especially the absence of legal constraints but the presence of alternative thoughts.

  Allan Bloom

  Mind, Alternatives, Absence

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• Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

  Ayn Rand

  Inspirational, Men, Progress Of Society

  The Fountainhead pt. 4, ch. 18 (1943)

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• Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.

  Will Rogers

  Country, Running, Government

  Will Rogers, Bryan B. Sterling, Frances N. Sterling (1993). “Will Rogers' World: America's Foremost Political Humorist Comments on the Twenties and Thirties--and Eighties and Nineties”, p.92, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Growing Up, Freedom, 4th Of July

  Eleanor Roosevelt (1960). “You Learn by Living”, p.152, Westminster John Knox Press

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• The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.

  Friedrich Schiller

  Freedom, Voice, Libertarian Party

  "A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors, Both Ancient and Modern" edited by Tryon Edwards, (p. 324), 1891.

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• Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.

  Ignazio Silone

  Religious, Freedom, Fear

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• All socialism involves slavery.

  Herbert Spencer

  Slavery, Libertarian, Socialism

  Herbert Spencer, John Offer (1994). “Spencer: Political Writings”, p.95, Cambridge University Press

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• Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.

  Jonathan Swift

  Inspirational, Law, Break Through

  A Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind (1709) See Anacharsis 1

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• The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Mind, Impossible, Notion

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• 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 of them.

  Mark Twain

  Wisdom, Country, Freedom

  Following the Equator ch. 20, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" (1897)

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• Without Freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom;and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Wisdom, Freedom, Patriotic

  Benjamin Franklin (2016). “Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: new annotated edition”, p.28, MarcoPolo

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• We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

  John Adams

  Religious, Revenge, Passion

  John Adams (1854). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.229

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• If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate. If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.

  Joseph Sobran

  Funny, Government, Political

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• If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance we must provide a safe place for their perpetuation.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Freedom, Book, Past

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1941). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1938, Volume 7”, p.418, Best Books on

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• The argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Powerful, Organization, Tools

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek. Part I: "The Value of Freedom". Chapter 2: "The Creative Power of a Free Civilization", 1960.

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• It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? 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

  Life, Sweet, Peace

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

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• Life, faculties, production-in other words, individuality, liberty, property-this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Men, Leader, Political

  Frederic Bastiat (2006). “The Law”, p.3, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.

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• The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.

  George Orwell

  Perfect, Libertarian, Revolution

  George Orwell (2014). “1984”, p.44, Arcturus Publishing

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• Need' now means wanting someone else's money. 'Greed' means wanting to keep your own. 'Compassion' is when a politician arranges the transfer.

  Joseph Sobran

  Mean, Compassion, Wanting Someone

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• Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

  Patrick Henry

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Blessing

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• It is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose an equality of rights never mean the exclusion should take place on themselves.

  Thomas Paine

  Taken, Mean, Rights

  Thomas Paine (1819). “The political and miscellaneous works of Thomas Paine”

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