Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Freedom
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“The personal freedom to choose who will be my other has been transformed into the use of power and money to provide a service. This not only deprives the idea of the neighbour of the quality of freedom implied in the story of the Samaritan. It also creates an impersonal view of how a good society ought to work.”
Ivan Illich (1926–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I joined this party because I believe in freedom. We are the only party believing that if you give people freedom and responsibility, they will grow stronger and society will grow stronger.”
David Cameron (born 1966) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to Conservative Party Conference (4 October 2005).
“Students throughout the totalitarian world risk life and limb for freedom of expression, many American college students are demanding that big brother restrict their freedom of speech on campus. This demand for enhanced censorship is not emanating only from the usual corner – the know-nothing fundamentalist right – it is coming from the radical, and increasingly not-so-radical left as well.”
Alan Dershowitz (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The real basis of freedom of speech and of expression is not, however, the right of a person to say what he thinks or what he wishes to say but the right and need of all persons to learn the truth. The only practical approach to this end is freedom of expression.”
Eugene McCarthy (1916–2005) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Censorship: For And Against, edit. Harold H. Hart, Hart Publishing Company, Inc., New York (1971), chapter 6, p. 113
“Freedom is not an abstraction, nor is a little of it enough. A little more of it is not enough either. Having less, being less, impoverished in freedom and rights, women then inevitably have less self-respect: less self-respect than men have and less self-respect than any human being needs to live a brave and honest life. Intercourse as domination battens of that awful absence of self respect.”
Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation. That is what we have not taught young people, or older ones for that matter. You do not finally win a state of freedom that is protected forever. It doesn't work that way.”
Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and the most absolute freedom imaginable, freedom from violence and lies, no matter what form the latter two take. Such is the program I would adhere to if I were a major artist.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexei Pleshcheev (October 4, 1888)
“Corporations’ freedom detracts from our freedom, and it’s a zero-sum game.”
George Monbiot (born 1963) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited in Joel Bakan, The New Corporation: How "Good" Corporations Are Bad for Democracy, Vintage Books, 2020, page 61 (ISBN 9781984899729).
“We Germans have learned from history. We are a peace-loving, freedom-loving people. For us, love of our native country, love of freedom, and the spirit of being a good neighbor always belong together.”
Helmut Kohl (1930–2017) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Kohl: German chancellor, European statesman" (October 1, 2012), Deutsche Welle
“And I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak, Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, Let that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eutrapelia. "A happy and gracious flexibility," Pericles calls this quality of the Athenians...lucidity of thought, clearness and propriety of language, freedom from prejudice and freedom from stiffness, openness of mind, amiability of manners.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Irish Essays (1882) "A Speech at Eton
“Courage is the capacity to meet the anxiety which arises as one achieves freedom. It is the willingness to differentiate, to move from the protecting realms of parental dependence to new levels of freedom and integration.”
Rollo May (1909–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.”
Thucydides (461–395 BC) said by 395 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of that freedom [of thought and speech] one may say that it is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.”
Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870–1938) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 327, (1937).
“The Indians were totally deprived of their freedom and were put into the harshest, fiercest, most horrible servitude and captivity which no one who has not seen it can understand. Even beasts enjoy more freedom when they are allowed to graze in the field.”
Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566) said by 1566 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit -- in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.”
Garrett Hardin (1915–2003) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tragedy of the Commons, 1968.
“My aim is freedom and voluntary relations in all fields. The market economy is the result of this in the economic realm; in the cultural realm it means freedom of expression; in politics, democracy and the rule of law; in social life, the right to live according to one's own values and to choose one's company.”
Johan Norberg (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The First Amendment was designed so as to permit a flowering of man and his idiosyncracies, but we have greatly diluted it. Although the Amendment says that Congress shall make ‘no law’ abridging freedom of speech and press, this has been construed to mean that Congress may make ‘some laws’ that abridge that freedom.”
William O. Douglas (1898–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom — that we’re on a frontier of freedom, and that your fight is a fight for everyone. And so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.”
Nancy Pelosi (born 1940) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, quoted in "Pelosi makes unannounced trip to Kyiv, becoming highest-ranking US official to meet with Zelensky since the war began" by Michelle Watson and Eliza Mackinto…
“I am interested in the creativity of the criminal attitude because I recognize in it the existence of a special condition of crazy creativity. A creativity without morals fired only by the energy of freedom and the rejection of all codes and laws. For freedom rejects the dictated roles of the law and of the imposed order and for this reason is isolated.”
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Germano Celant, Beuys, tracce in Italia, Amelio, 1978
“Against slavery all right thinkers revolt, and though torture be the price of resistance, torture must be dared: though the only road to freedom lie through the gates of death, those gates must be passed; for freedom is indispensable.”
Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The holy march on which the Arab nation insists, will carry us forward from one victory to another ... the flag of freedom which flies over Baghdad today will fly over Amman and Riyadh. Yes, the flag of freedom which flies over Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad today will fly over the rest of the Middle East.”
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Aburish, Said K. (2004), Nasser, the Last Arab, New York City
“American musician and activist Henry Rollins once said, "A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others." Murdering innocent people who are defenseless is a cowardly act. Standing up to difficult life circumstances and oppressive regimes is bravery.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything is possible, everything except dogma, of any kind.. ..That's what it's about. Freedom. That's the only possession an artist has — freedom to do whatever you can imagine.”
Philip Guston (1913–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In: 'It's About Freedom' - as quoted as last lign in 'It's About Freedom, Philip Guston's Late Works in the Schirn'; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt 11/6/2013 – 2/2/2014
“If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather, it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession but participation.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those two, in paradise, were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.”
Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The American Revolution was the first great anticolonialist movement. It was about political freedom. But in the minds of its most hard-line revolutionaries, the New England radicals, the central expression of that freedom was the ability to make their own decisions about their own economy.”
Mark Kurlansky (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
Molly Ivins (1944–2007) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fun's in the Fight." originally published in Mother Jones (1993), also quoted by John Nichols, The Nation, "Remembering Molly Ivins" (January 31, 2007).
“I realized that democracy is indivisible, or rather, that freedom is indivisible. There are many clown-democracies in the Arab world, which have nothing to do with freedom.”
Walid Jumblatt (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“… Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From "Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America", 2017
“These are the days of the endless summer These are the days, the time is now There is no past, there's only future There's only here, there's only now. Oh your smiling face, your gracious presence The fires of spring are kindling bright And the radiant heart and the song of glory Crying freedom, freedom in the night”
Van Morrison (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another, for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) first seen 1799 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Elbridge Gerry (26 January 1799); published in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition 20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04, Volume 10, p. 78
“The Philippines, as a country deemed democratic and developing, cannot rest on its antiquated laws that run detrimental and contrary to the exercise of freedom. Decriminalizing libel accords greater protection to freedom of speech and expression.”
Francis Escudero (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The century of women's freedom is the century of women's freedom”
Abdullah Öcalan (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since the outbreak of war, Australians have been asked to join the armed forces and to make heavy sacrifices in many other ways for the preservation of freedom and democracy. The response by the people of Australia has been magnificent. But the words ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ must be more than a slogan. They must represent real and living things in the lives of ordinary men and women.”
John Curtin (1885–1945) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Election speech in Perth (28 August 1940)
“Without security, civilization is cramped and dwarfed. Without security, there can be no freedom. Nor shall I say too much, when I declare that security, guarded of course by its offspring, freedom, is the true end and aim of government.”
Charles Sumner (1811–1874) first seen 1856 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Crime Against Kansas speech (May 19-20, 1856)
“Probably I am an ordinary middle-class believer in individual rights, the word "freedom" is simple to me, it doesn't mean the freedom of any class in particular.”
Adam Zagajewski (1945–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To choose evil is to choose freedom—“freedom, emancipation from all restraint.”
Georges Bataille (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s no freedom quite like the freedom of being constantly underestimated.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A country where we mean it when we talk about personal freedom – or one where that freedom doesn’t apply to our bodies and our voices.”
Sandra Fluke (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Valuing freedom of thought above all things as the only way of reaching at some future time that Wisdom, of which every Theosophist ought to be enamored, we recognize the right to the same freedom in our foes as in our friends.”
Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Plenty for everyone can be provided in the United States if the anarchistic economic freedom of the frontier is renounced and replaced by the higher freedom of collectivism, through the socialization of the basic industries and the approximate equalization of economic privilege.”
Kirby Page (1890–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where authority represses freedom, rebellion becomes the hard work of love, which is necessary because love, freedom, and spirit are inseparable.”
Sam Keen (1931–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it.”
Grace Kelly (1929–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Kelly in: Robert Andrews Ed. (1987) The Routledge dictionary of quotations. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Books. p. 209
“I am with all the parties of all trends if their aims are to serve the homeland, freedom and peace. Nothing will keep me far from them, neither religion, political parties, language nor nationality; I am with them and we will always march forward hand in hand in the procession of freedom and peace.”
Abd al-Karim Qasim (1914–1963) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech delivered at the second congress of the peace partisans (April 14, 1959).
“For freedom is not a commodity which is ‘given to the enslaved upon demand. It is a precious reward, the shining trophy of struggle and sacrifice. Nor do the struggle and sacrifice cease with the attainment of freedom.”
Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This spiritual freedom, the opposite of insensitivity or laziness, freedom to suffer and to know error, is the nearness and very redemption of God.”
Aldo Capitini (1899–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The important thing is to understand that in the struggle for freedom and Socialism the uniting revolutionary element was violence (which then was impairing the freedom and Socialism); now instead we add as the revolutionary uniting element this passion for nonviolent activity open to total liberation”.”
Aldo Capitini (1899–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you say I don’t care about the right to privacy because I have nothing to hide, that is no different than saying I don’t care about freedom of speech because I have nothing to say or freedom of the press because I have nothing to write.”
Edward Snowden (born 1983) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with The Guardian (May 22, 2015)
“Perhaps the greatest good that will emerge from this Far Eastern crisis is an awareness that freedom-loving men of all races and all nations will have proved that they can and must work and fight together if their freedom is to survive.”
Bill Downs (1914–1978) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stated on "Edward R. Murrow with the News" on December 26, 1952.