Liberty Quotes - Page 7

• Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

  Ronald Reagan

  Patriotic, Political, Enemy

  "War and Conflict Quotations" eds. Michael & Jean Thomsett, McFarland, (p. 105), 1997.

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• Liberty consists in doing what one desires.

  John Stuart Mill

  Philosophical, Desire, Libertarian

  On Liberty ch. 5 (1859)

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• We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.

  George Washington

  Religious, Heart, Men

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1838). “The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private”, p.202

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• There are many farm handouts; but let's call them what they really are: a form of legalized theft. Essentially, a congressman tells his farm constituency, "Vote for me. I'll use my office to take another American's money and give it to you."

  Walter E. Williams

  Office, Giving, Libertarian

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• The strength of the Constitution, lies in the will of the people to defend it.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Lying, People, Libertarian

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• People fear witches, and burn women.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  People, Libertarian, Witch

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• The history of liberty is a history of resistance.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Resistance, Political Freedom, Freedom And Liberty

  Speech to New York Press Club in New York, 9 Sept. 1912, in Papers of Woodrow Wilson (1978) vol. 25, p. 124

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• We shall pay any price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

  John F. Kennedy

  Success, Memorial Day, Freedom

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.

  Unknown

  Government, Libertarian, Mob Rule

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• To silence criticism is to silence freedom.

  Sidney Hook

  Silence, Criticism, Propaganda

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• But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?

  Walter E. Williams

  Freedom, Justice, Society

  "All it takes is guts". Book by Walter E. Williams, 1987.

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• To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms.

  Richard Henry Lee

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Richard Henry Lee (1978). “Letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican”, Univ of Alabama Pr

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• It is not the function of government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Fall, Errors, Government

  American Communications Ass'n v. Douds (1950)

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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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• I have faith that the Constitution will be saved as prophesied by Joseph Smith. It will be saved by the righteous citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom. It will be saved by enlightened members of this Church-among others-men and women who understand and abide the principles of the Constitution....I testify that the God of heaven sent some of His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this government, and He has now sent other choice spirits to help preserve it.

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Love, God, Faith

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• In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Truth, Freedom, Law

  Mahatma Gandhi (1947). “Gandhigrams”

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• Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

  Frederick Douglass

  Freedom, Power, Tyrants

  Speech, Canandaigua, N.Y., 4 Aug. 1857

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• The tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants.

  Bertrand Barere

  Blood, Tyrants, Tree

  Speech in the Convention Nationale (16 January 1793), Archives Parliamentaires de 1787 à 1860, vol. 57, p. 368, 1900.

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• 

  The government was set to protect man from criminals, and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Libertarian Party, Criminals

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.92, Penguin

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• The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act. He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit ... Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you, as you wish him to do ... He does not keep "protecting" you by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that.

  Lysander Spooner

  Taken, Responsibility, Wish

  "No Treason" by Lysander Spooner, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority, 1870.

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• A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. - Second Amendment to the Constitution An armed society is a polite society.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Gun, Libertarian Party, Assault Weapons

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• The harm done by ordinary criminals, murderers, gangsters, and thieves is negligible in comparison with the agony inflicted upon human beings by the professional do-gooders, who attempt to set themselves up as gods on earth and who would ruthlessly force their views on all others - with the abiding assurance that the end justifies the means.

  Henry Grady Weaver

  Mean, Views, Agony

  Henry Grady Weaver (2016). “The Mainspring of Human Progress [Revised Edition]”, p.38, Pickle Partners Publishing

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• To brand man with infamy, and let him free, is an absurdity that peoples our forests with assassins.

  John Philpot Curran

  Men, Assassins, Forests

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• There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters

  Daniel Webster

  Mean, Men, Gun

  Daniel Webster, James Rees (1839). “The beauties of the Hon. Daniel Webster: selected and arranged, with a critical essay on his genius and writings”, p.30

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• Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

  Milton Friedman

  Freedom, Libertarian, Belief

  Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman (2002). “Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition”, p.15, University of Chicago Press

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