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Liberty Quotes

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Liberty Quotes

“Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the highest privileges and positions. The present moment finds me at the White House, yet there is as good a chance for your children as there was for my father's.”

Source: Abraham Lincoln: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches

“At the foundation of our civil liberties lies the principle that denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.”

Government Law Lying Liberty Principles Subjects Position Citizens Foundation Deny Command Civil Rights Officials Exceptional Civil Liberties Government Officials Law Courts

Author:Louis D. Brandeis

“If you defend a behavior by arguing that people are programmed directly for it, then how do you continue to defend it if your speculation is wrong, for the behavior then becomes unnatural and worthy of condemnation. Better to stick resolutely to a philosophical position on human liberty: what free adults do with each other in their own private lives is their business alone. It need not be vindicated and must not be condemned by genetic speculation.”

People Ifs Needs Humans Life Is Liberty Position Behavior Adults Philosophical Sticks Worthy Arguing Speculation Private Life Unnatural Condemnation Vindicated

Book:Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History

Source: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History

“The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.”

Liberty Security Position Tests Minorities

Author:Lord Acton

“There can be no truly moral choice unless that choice is made in freedom; similarly, there can be no really firmly grounded and consistent defense of freedom unless that defense is rooted in moral principle. In concentrating on the ends of choice, the conservative, by neglecting the conditions of choice, loses that very morality of conduct with which he is so concerned. And the libertarian, by concentrating only on the means, or conditions, of choice and ignoring the ends, throws away an essential moral defense of his own position.”

“A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers.”

Government Liberty Economic Position Materials Mets Economics Claims Equality Free Government Totalitarian Regimes Economic Equality Totalitarian Government

Author:Friedrich August von Hayek

“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

“We are now in a position to understand the anti-Semite. He is a man who is afraid. Not of the Jews, to be sure, but of himself, of his own consciousness, of his liberty, of his instincts, of his responsibilities, of solitariness, of change, of society, and of the world of everything except the Jews.”

Men World Consciousness Responsibility Liberty Position Instinct Jew

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“The minute you use the drugs, and you do something that interferes with the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of the guy next door, you're a criminal, and you ought to be punished for that especially if you're in a position where your actions could affect large numbers of people. Being a doctor, a legislator, a judge, an airline pilot, where somebody's life depends on you.”

“I will not call myself a pacifist for the very simple reason that if something like a [Francisco] Franco should arise in Spain again, or, for that matter, in America, and tried to take away whatever dwindling civil liberties and human rights we retain, I would resist them with a club if I had to. But my admiration for pacifism as an outlook and a sensibility is enormous. I just find that it gets me into contradictions, as it often gets many pacifists into contradictory positions and strategies.”