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Liberty Quotes

Browse 6578 quotes about Liberty.

Liberty Quotes

“Of our political revolution of '76, we all are justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind.”

Men World Long Stills Problem Earth Political Found Given Nations Grows Liberty Mankind Revolution Proud Degrees Solutions Universal Capability Germs Political Freedom Political Revolution

Book:Lincoln Speeches

Source: Lincoln Speeches

“Compelling a man by law to pay his money to elect candidates or advocate law or doctrines he is against differs only in degree, if at all, from compelling him by law to speak for a candidate, a party, or a cause he is against. The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands.”

People Ifs Thinking Men Writing Firsts Country Reason Government Law Speak Wish Causes Party Pay Liberty Degrees Worship Doctrine Command Candidates Amendments Compelling First Amendment

Author:Hugo Black

“I fear you do not fully comprehend the danger of abridging the liberties of the people. Nothing but the sternest necessity can ever justify it. A government had better go to the extreme of toleration, than to do aught that could be construed into an interference with, or to jeopardize in any degree, the common rights of its citizens.”

People Government Common Liberty Rights Danger Citizens Degrees Extremes Justify Interference Toleration Jeopardize

Book:State papers, 1861-1865

Source: State papers, 1861-1865

“The birthright of man ... is such a degree of liberty, civil and religious, as is compatible with the liberty of every other individual with whom he is united in a social compact.”

Men Individual Social Religious United Liberty Degrees Birthright Compatible Compact

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Mary Wollstonecraft (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Mary Wollstonecraft (Illustrated)

“[F]or as Socrates says that a wise man is a citizen of the world, so I thought that a wise woman was equally at liberty to range through every station or degree of men, to fix her choice wherever she pleased.”

Men World Choices Liberty Wise Citizens Degrees Men And Women Range Stations Sexism Wise Women

Book:The cry: a new dramatic fable : in two volumes

Source: The cry: a new dramatic fable : in two volumes

“What finally emerges from the 'clear and present danger' cases is a working principle that the substantive evil must be extremely serious and the degree of imminence extremely high before utterances can be punished...It must be taken as a command of the broadest scope that explicit language, read in the context of a liberty-loving society, will allow.”

Evil Language Justice Liberty Principles Cases Taken Clear Danger Serious Degrees Constitution Command Scope Utterance Explicit

Author:Hugo Black

“Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution, if you cannot reason nor persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the judge of all.”

Source: The Works of the Rev. John Wesley: The eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first numbers of his journal, particular of his death, review of his character, &c

“Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors.”

Source: The Works of John Adams Vol. 6: Defence of the Constitution IV, Discourses on Davila

“ONLY in the release of the seen do you lay hold on the unseen, My little one. Heaven waits for those who are no longer bound to earth. The degree to which bondages are exchanged for liberties while still in the flesh is in proportion to the extent to which eternal values are held in higher esteem that worldly success and possessions. If a man loves Me, he will hold his soul more precious than his body and will pursue holiness at the expense of wealth; for to follow after that which perishes is to forfeit the prize of the high calling in Christ.”

“It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.”

People Persons Done Law Used Easy Liberty Degrees Benefits Independence Slavery Property Oppression Proportion Legislators Plunder Personal Independence

Author:Frederic Bastiat

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

“In a government framed for durable liberty, not less regard must be paid to giving the magistrate a proper degree of authority, to make and execute the laws with rigour, than to guarding against encroachments upon the rights of the community. As too much power leads to despotism, too little leads to anarchy, and both eventually to the ruin of the people.”

People Giving Littles Government Law Community Liberty Too Much Rights Degrees Authority Paid Regard Ruins Anarchy Despotism Framed Magistrates Guarding Encroachment Too Much Power Rigour

Book:1779-1781

Source: 1779-1781