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Freedom

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“Democracy is not dying. We know it because we have seen it revive — and grow. We know it cannot die — because it is built on the unhampered initiative of individual men and women joined together in a common enterprise — an enterprise undertaken and carried through by the free expression of a free majority.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They think they are free because they have never been free, and do not know what it means.”
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While fame impedes and constricts, obscurity wraps about a man like a mist; obscurity is dark, ample, and free; obscurity lets the mind take its way unimpeded. Over the obscure man is poured the merciful suffusion of darkness. None knows where he goes or comes. He may seek the truth and speak it; he alone is free; he alone is truthful, he alone is at peace.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A crime is the violation of the right(s) of other men by force (or fraud). It is only the initiation of physical force against others- i.e., the recourse to violence- that can be classified as a crime in a free society (as distinguished from a civil wrong). Ideas, in a free society, are not a crime- and neither can they serve as the justification of a crime.”
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing non-free software is not an ethically legitimate activity, so if people who do this run into trouble, that's good! All businesses based on non-free software ought to fail, and the sooner the better.”
Richard Stallman (born 1953) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the kde-licensing mailing list, (April 13, 1998)
“Today many people are switching to free software for purely practical reasons. That is good, as far as it goes, but that isn't all we need to do! Attracting users to free software is not the whole job, just the first step.”
Richard Stallman (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Open Source Definition is clear enough, and it is quite clear that the typical non-free program does not qualify. So you would think that "Open Source company" would mean one whose products are free software (or close to it), right? Alas, many companies are trying to give it a different meaning.”
Richard Stallman (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The GNU GPL was not designed to be "open source". I wrote it for the w:free software movement, and its purpose is to ensure every user of every version of the program gets the essential freedoms. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html for more explanation of the difference between free software and open source.”
Richard Stallman (born 1953) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Re: GPL version 4" on the NetBSD mailing list (July 17, 2008)
“Only indifference is free. What is distinctive is never free, it is stamped with its own seal, conditioned and chained.”
Thomas Mann (1875–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Sculpting in Time (1996), by Andrei Tarkovsky, p. 56
“We are NOT a free nation, We don’t have a free press. We have a corrupt press.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are people who worship Allah to gain His Favors, this is the worship of traders; while there are some who worship Him to keep themselves free from His Wrath, this is the worship of slaves; a few who obey Him out' of their sense of gratitude and obligations, this is the worship of free and noble men.”
Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Free trade is the serial killer of American manufacturing and the Trojan Horse of World Government. It is the primrose path to the loss of economic independence and national sovereignty. Free trade is a bright shining lie.”
Pat Buchanan (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Can you hate something you don't believe in? And yet he called himself a free-thinker. What an impossible paradox, to be free and to be so obsessed.”
Graham Greene (1904–1991) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Hint of an Explanation" (1948), Twenty-One Stories, 1954
“There’s one thing this has taught me: You can’t enslave a free man. Only person can do that to a man is himself. No, sir—you can’t enslave a free man. The most you can do is kill him.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Milne: No matter how imperfect things are, if you've got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable. Ruth: I'm with you on the free press. It's the newspapers I can't stand.”
Tom Stoppard (1937–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mageeba: Do you know what I mean by a relatively free press, Mr. Wagner? Wagner: Not exactly, sir, no. Mageeba: I mean a free press which is edited by one of my relatives.”
Tom Stoppard (1937–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is created free, and is free, Though he be born in chains.”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) first seen 1797 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Die Worte des Glaubens (The Word of the Faithful), st. 2 (1797)
“All the passages in the Holy Scriptures that mention assistance are they that do away with "free-will", and these are countless...For grace is needed, and the help of grace is given, because "free-will" can do nothing.”
Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The people taking care of our children and our parents, they deserve a good wage, good benefits, and a secure retirement. And, it’s crucial that every American have access to the education and skills they need to get the jobs of the future. So we will fight to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for everyone.”
Hillary Clinton (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No free man needs a God; but was I free?”
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A thing is whole according to how free it is of inner contradictions. When it is at war with itself, and gives rise to forces which act to tear it down, it is unwhole. The more free it is of its own inner contradictions, the more whole and healthy and wholehearted it becomes.”
Christopher Alexander (1936–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. I love music passionately. And because l love it, I try to free it from barren traditions that stifle it. It is a free art gushing forth — an open-air art, boundless as the elements, the wind, the sky, the sea. It must never be shut in and become an academic art.”
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in An Encyclopedia of Quotations About Music (1981) by Nat Shapiro, p. 268
Also quoted by: Κλωντ Ντεμπυσσύ (el)
“A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper. He must free himself from the habit, just as soon as something does not please him, of calling for the police.”
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cumulative development of a medium of exchange on the free market — is the only way money can become established. … government is powerless to create money for the economy; it can only be developed by the processes of the free market.”
Murray Rothbard (1926–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An individual doesn't need to live in a free society in order to be free himself — and when he tries to change the world, he's in for a lot more trouble than he may have bargained for.”
Harry Browne (1933–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No act of possession can be exercised on a free being; it is as unjust to own a wife monogamously as it is to own slaves. All men are born free, all are equal before the law; we must never lose sight of these principles. Hence, no sex is granted the legitimate right to seize the other sex exclusively, and never can any sex or any class possess the other arbitrarily.”
Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) said by 1814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is a free agent; but he is not free if he does not believe it[.]”
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) said by 1798 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: History of My Life (trans. Trask 1967), 1997 reprint, Preface, p. 26
“Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.”
Václav Havel (1936–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are going to change the [[w:GNU Free Documentation License|[GNU] Free Documentation License]] in such a way that Wikipedia will be able to become licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. And so this is not, as some people speculated on Facebook my 50th birthday party. This is a party to celebrate the liberation of Wikipedia.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Announcing that the Wikimedia Foundation Board has voted to enable Wikipedia to be licensed under a Creative Commons license. "Wikipedia to be Licensed Under Creative Commons" (30 November 2007)
“Like everyone else you want to learn the way to win. But never to accept the way to lose. To accept defeat — to learn to die — is to be liberated from it. Once you accept, you are free to flow and to harmonize. Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000)
“The will is not free—it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect—but there is something behind the will which is free.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him — that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more you think of yourself as shining immortal spirit, the more eager you will be to be absolutely free of matter, body, and senses. This is the intense desire to be free.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is violence and injustice in our world that must be confronted. We must confront it not by splitting apart but by standing together as free nations, as free people. I know that a call to arms can stir the souls of men and women more than a call to lay them down. But that is why the voices for peace and progress must be raised together.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he atoms of all elements are built of atoms bound together... the interior of a star seems as likely a place as any for the evolution to have occurred... a great amount of energy must have been set free; in a star a vast amount of energy is being set free which is hitherto unaccounted for. You may draw a conclusion if you like.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The State is abdicating and appealing in its holy functions to private individuals. Everywhere free organization trespasses on its domain. And yet, the facts we have quoted let us catch only a glimpse of what free agreement has in store for us in the future, when there will be no more State.”
Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) said by 1921 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The historical debate is over. The answer is free-market capitalism. Other systems may be able to distribute and divide income more efficiently and equitably, but none can generate income to distribute as efficiently as free-market capitalism.”
Thomas Friedman (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the ASEAN countries are now believers in free trade and free enterprise. Foreign capital is welcome by all.”
Mahathir Mohamad (born 1925) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Malaysia is a free enterprise nation but its economy is subject to a variety of regulations as are all free enterprise economies.”
Mahathir Mohamad (born 1925) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“mktg case study #13: mktg magazines GIVE AWAY FREE CRAP (PREFERABLY ADVERTISER-SUPPLIED FREE CRAP). DOESN’T MATTER HOW WORTHLESS OR USELESS IT IS: SALES WILL RISE. STRANGE BUT TRUE.”
Max Barry (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They tell us that we live in a great free republic; that our institutions are democratic; that we are a free and self-governing people. This is too much, even for a joke. But it is not a subject for levity; it is an exceedingly serious matter.”
Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) said by 1926 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The publication of The Jubilee of Free Trade is] an act of great gallantry for the Cobdenian faith is in all points at a heavy discount—Peace, Retrenchment, Free Trade and all the rest of it, to my great grief I must confess.”
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) first seen 1846 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Fisher Unwin (2 June 1896), quoted in Anthony Howe, Free Trade and Liberal England 1846–1946 (1997), p. 192
“The Chilean economy did very well, but more important, in the end the central government, the military junta, was replaced by a democratic society. So the really important thing about the Chilean business is that free markets did work their way in bringing about a free society.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Commanding Heights, Interview on PBS”, (Oct. 1, 2000)
“Free is the best. Anything free is good.”
Sandra Bullock (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Free management must realize that in a free society there is no substitute for the voluntary discharge of social responsibility.”
Walter Reuther (1907–1970) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address accepting the Presidency of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, Atlantic City, New Jersey, December 4, 1952, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 51 thumb|I've o…
“I'm looking forward, though, one day, if I'm not too old, to do a free concert in a free Cuba. That to me would be fantastic. We're looking forward to it. Well, hopefully, I mean he's [Castro] gotta go [die] sometime. He's gotta go sometime -- let's hope it's sooner [rather] than later.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: televised interview" (22 April 2005)
“If there is any one principle dearer and more sacred than all others in free governments, it is that which asserts the exclusive right of a free people to form and adopt their own fundamental law, and to manage and regulate their own internal affairs and domestic institutions.”
Stephen A. Douglas (1813–1861) first seen 1858 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Chicago, Illinois (9 July 1858)
“If economists ruled the world, there would be no need for a World Trade Organization. The economist's case for free trade is essentially a unilateral case—that is, it says that a country serves its own interests by pursuing free trade regardless of what other countries may do.”
Paul Krugman (born 1953) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What should trade negotiators negotiate about?" Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Mar., 1997)
“Millions like me in Russia want a free press, the rule of law, social justice, and free and fair elections. My new job is to fight for those people and to fight for these fundamental rights.”
Garry Kasparov (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What a free society offers to the individual is much more than what he would be able to do if only he were free.”
Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source