Liberty Quotes - Page 5

• The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth... Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty - and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.

  H. L. Mencken

  Love, Courage, Men

  "The Baltimore Sun" Newspaper, February 12, 1923.

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• The police can't stop an intruder, mugger, or stalker from hurting you. They can pursue him only after he has hurt or killed you. Protecting yourself from harm is your responsibility, and you are far less likely to be hurt in a neighborhood of gun-owners than in one of disarmed citizens - even if you don't own a gun yourself.

  Harry Browne

  Hurt, Responsibility, Gun

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• Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free.

  Harry Browne

  Government, Principles, Libertarian

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• Talk is cheap - except when Congress does it.

  Cullen Hightower

  Government, Political, Doe

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• Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We're working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we've fallen easy prey to charlatens, quacks, and hustlers.

  Walter E. Williams

  Mean, Government, Important

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• Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen.

  Ayn Rand

  Country, America, Russia

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.143, Penguin

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• I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Believe, Men

  "Why Liberty?". Chicago Tribune, January 30, 1927.

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• One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands in the midst of the struggle and says, 'I have it,' merely shows by doing so that he has just lost it.

  Henrik Ibsen

  Struggle, Men, Expanding Universe

  Letter to Georg Brandes, February 17, 1871.

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• The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.

  Plutarch

  Real, People, Democracy

  "Paul Ryan Echoes Ronald Reagan's Goldwater Presidential Campaign Speech" by Garance Franke-Ruta, www.theatlantic.com. August 29, 2012.

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• 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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• The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Yield

  Thomas Jefferson (2015). “Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson”, p.5, Lulu.com

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• Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Direct Action

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

  Ronald Reagan

  Strength, Peace, Children

  Ronald Reagan (1983). “A Time for Choosing: The Speeches of Ronald Reagan, 1961-1982”, Gateway Books

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• People demand freedom only when they have no power.

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Freedom, People, Literature

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• The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.

  James Madison

  Government, People, Branches

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788”, p.273

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• To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

  James Madison

  Government, Ideas, People

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.24, University of Virginia Press

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• What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

  H. L. Mencken

  Leadership, Men, Rights

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.34, Knopf

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• The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

  William Shakespeare

  Witty, Atheist, Memorable

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [99]

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• What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long.

  Thomas Sowell

  Government, Libertarian Party, Long

  Thomas Sowell (1993). “Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

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• If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Success, Music, Forgiveness

  Walden ch. 18 (1854). Frequently quoted as "marches to the tune of a different drummer."

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• Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Freedom, Stupid, Mind

  Henry David Thoreau, Richard Dillman (1987). “Thoreau's comments on the art of writing”

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• Freedom is never an achieved state; like electricity, we've got to keep generating it or the lights go out.

  Wayne LaPierre

  Freedom, Light, Electricity

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• But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.

  Edmund Burke

  Wisdom, Evil, Vices

  Edmund Burke (2005). “Burke, Select Works”, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

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• In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

  James Madison

  Power, Men, Libertarian

  The Federalist no. 51 (1788)

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• I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.

  H. L. Mencken

  Peace, Freedom, War

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