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Liberty Quotes

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Liberty Quotes

“The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization.”

Individual Liberty Civilization Individuality

Book:Civilization and Its Discontents

Source: Civilization and Its Discontents

“The test of civilization is the estimate of woman. Among savages she is a slave. In the dark ages of Christianity she is a toy and a sentimental goddess. With increasing moral light, and greater liberty, and more universal justice, she begins to develop as an equal human being.”

Humans Light Age Justice Dark Human Beings Liberty Moral Christianity Greater Society Civilization Equal Tests Universal Slave Goddess Toys Savages Sentimental Dark Ages

Author:George William Curtis

“I think that there’s going to be a rush to judgment on civil liberties, and a clamping down, a suspension of our democratic rights. And I believe that those who are good Americans would want to see this not happen and that we debate how to find a balance between the public safety and the protection of civil liberties.”

Thinking Want Believe Happens I Believe Liberty Rights Balance Civilization Judgment Safety Democratic Protection Debate Civil Liberties Suspension Public Safety Democratic Rights

Author:Barbara Lee

“We should be active leaders in the fight for civil liberties which adequately reflect present social realities. Furthermore the left as a movement must appropriate the green agenda. Sustainability has to become the foundation of all our pursuits. This movement is my dream and vision. The left remains strong in Malta, but stronger it will become if we have the courage to unite and dream.”

“Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race. It is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization; and scarcely a century has passed since nations, that knew the meaning of the term, resolved to be free. In every age its progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man's craving for power, and the poor man's craving for food.”

“Liberty is so great a magician, endowed with so marvelous a power of productivity, that under the inspiration of this spirit alone, North America was able within less than a century to equal, and even surpass, the civilization of Europe.”

Inspiration Able America Spirit Liberty Century Civilization Equal Europe Productivity Marvelous Magician North America

Author:Mikhail Bakunin

“A human life is defined by its relationship with others: by its duty to its species. In the face of this duty, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are meaningless. What you call individual rights are merely the cultural fantasy of a failed civilization.”

Source: Blade of Tyshalle

“One of the greatest disasters that happened to modern civilization was for democracy to inscribe "liberty" on its banners instead of "justice." Because "liberty" was considered the ideal it was not long until some men interpreted it as meaning "freedom from justice"; then when religion and decent government attempted to bring them back to justice, organized into "freedom groups" they protested that their constitutional and natural rights were being violated.”

“I saw in States' rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy.... Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization, and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.”

“Whatever oppressions man has suffered, they have invariably fallen more heavily on woman. Whatever new liberties advancing civilization has brought to man, ever the smallest measure has been accorded to woman, as a result of church teaching. The effect of this is seen in every department of life.”

Men Has Beens Church Results Liberty Atheism Teaching Effects Civilization Positive Atheism Oppression Fallen Department Smallest Advancing

Author:Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“And this is the mission of the church--not civilization, but salvation--not better laws, purer legislation, social elevation, human equality and liberty, but first, the "kingdom of God and His righteousness;" regenerated hearts, and all other things will follow.”

Firsts Humans Heart Law Social Church Liberty Civilization Salvation Missions Kingdoms Righteousness Legislation Kingdom Of God Elevation Human Equality

Author:Abbott Eliot Kittredge

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: this triptych succinctly defines the attractiveness and superiority of Western civilization.”

Liberty Civilization Western Pursuit Superiority Pursuit Of Happiness Western Civilization Attractiveness Life Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness

Book:Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy

Source: Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy

“Our flag is a proud flag, and it stands for liberty and civilization. Where it has once floated, there must be no return to tyranny.”

Liberty Return Proud Civilization Tyranny Flags

Book:The Works of Theodore Roosevelt

Source: The Works of Theodore Roosevelt

“What threatens civilization today is not war, but the changing conception of life values entailed by certain political doctrines. Only by recapturing the dream of human freedom and restoring the importance of the common man's liberties can that undermining threat to modern civilization be averted”

Men Humans War Dream Today Political Certain Values Common Liberty Modern Civilization Importance Threat Doctrine Conception Common Man Restoring Human Freedom Undermining Modern Civilization

Author:Lin Yutang

“The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization, though then, it is true, it had for the most part no value, since the individual was scarcely in a position to defend it. The development of civilization imposes restrictions on it, and justice demands that no one shall escape those restrictions.”

Values Individual Justice Liberty Position Development Civilization Demand Restriction

Book:Civilization and Its Discontents

Source: Civilization and Its Discontents

“I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself (or, with Lord Acton, as the highest political good), but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that mankind cherishes: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity.”

Art Political Individual Liberty Moral Lord Virtue Economic Conditions Mankind Civilization Highest Prosperity Goods Cherish Art And Science Flowering Moral Virtues Economic Prosperity

Book:Salutary neglect

Source: Salutary neglect

“Our first duty to liberty is to keep our own. But it is also our duty - as Europeans - to keep alive in the Eastern as well as the Western half of our continent those ideas of human dignity which Europe gave to the world. Let us therefore resolve to keep the lamps of freedom burning bright so that all who look to the West from the shadows of the East need not doubt that we remain true to those human and spiritual values that lie at the heart of European civilization.”

Source: In defence of freedom: speeches on Britain's relations with the world 1976-1986

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”