Famous quotes
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“According to my observation, the change in my own generation is different. They have ceased either to trust or to distrust liberty, and have come to the mind that it matters little either way. Men are disenchanted. They have got what they wanted in the days of their youth, yet what of it, they ask?”
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to William Ewart Gladstone (27 December 1891), quoted in John Morley, The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Volume III (1903), p. 475
“We must march against the enemy, and teach him that he must go and get what he wants by attacking someone who will not resist him, but that men whose glory it is to be always ready to give battle for the liberty of their own country, and never unjustly to enslave that of others, will not let him go without a struggle.”
Thucydides (461–395 BC) said by 395 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women will be no longer made the slaves of, or dependent upon men ... They will be equal in education, rights, privileges and personal liberty.”
Robert Owen (1771–1858) said by 1858 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Brown: A Biography (1909): "The Legacy of John Brown
“America is both North and South, White and Black, Republican and Democrat. We are laughter and loss, Saturday night and Sunday morning, Old Testament and New. Liberty and equality are not opposites in inevitable conflict, but act in concert under the practical balance of the Union. In the end, even war and peace are intimately entwined.”
John Avlon (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would say that we are the only defenders left of liberty in a world of Fascists. ... these fascists and communists are the successors today of the wars of the sects.”
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversation with Thomas Jones (27 February 1934), quoted in Thomas Jones, A Diary with Letters. 1931-1950 (1954), p. 124
“True to our traditions, we have avoided all extremes. We have steered clear of fascism, communism, dictatorship, and we have shown the world that democratic government, constitutional methods and ordered liberty are not inconsistent with progress and prosperity.”
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Newsreel appearance after the general election (November 1935)
“At core Conservatism stands for the individual, his right to liberty, to justice, to respect for his own distinctive personality. It regards the family as the basic social unit—(cheers)—and the sanctity of family life as vital to the health of the State.”
Anthony Eden (1897–1977) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton (2 October 1947), quoted in The Times (3 October 1947), p. 2
“That sort of fundamentalism which treats possession of private property not as a desirable economic and personal asset but as a condition of liberty is a form of primitive religion.”
Neil Kinnock (born 1942) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to National Housing and Town Planning Conference, Bournemouth (28 October 1986)
“In the affluent world we have had capitalism in one form or another for a couple of centuries. That is how countries of the West became "the affluent world." Capitalism has given people both the liberty and the incentive to create, produce, and trade, thereby generating preosperity.”
Johan Norberg (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Individual liberty is the whole purpose of political life, and I thought it was threatened then [in 1964 becoming politically engaged at age 15] and I think it's threatened now.”
John R. Bolton (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What's needed in this next campaign is to say, with clarity, why a pro-individual-liberty, small-government perspective is what most Americans really want.”
John R. Bolton (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The purpose of democratic statecraft is, or should be, to find the means of ordered liberty in a world condemned to everlasting change.”
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1917–2007) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Cycles of American History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986) p. 422
“My image will soon be obliterated; it was only an illusion. But even though I may fall, even though my image may be obliterated, there is one thing that will never fall and can never be obliterated, and that is the yearning of those in chains for liberty.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a State or Assemblage of People that live together in a Community, where there are Laws, Liberty can only consist in doing that which every One ought to do, and not to be constrained to do that which One ought not to do.”
Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Progress toward a more abundant material life does not come like manna from heaven, however. My message certainly is not one of complacency. The ultimate resource is people — especially skilled, spirited, and hopeful young people endowed with liberty — who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefit and inevitably benefit the rest of us as well.”
Julian Simon (1932–1998) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The State of Humanity: Steadily Improving," Cato Institute Policy Report, September/October 1995
“which bloody misbegotten Card takes the liberty of recasting in his own insane tongue. As the bloody bog-rat's just done.”
Annie Proulx (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cognitive liberty begins at home, behind your eyes and between your ears. The first act of liberation is to step forward, and be counted as one of us.”
Mark Pesce (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“May you remember, that the liberty which was acquired for you by your ancestors will be required of you by your descendants: then will you agree to a temperate and timely reform, reconcile the different classes of society, and prevent a convulsion which may involve all in one common ruin.”
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) first seen 1822 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the House of Commons on Parliamentary reform, 25 April 1822
“Liberty lends us her wings and Hope guides us by her star.”
Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Matthew Stover (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is for man to establish the reign of liberty in the midst of the world of the given. To gain the supreme victory, it is necessary, for one thing, that by and through their natural differentiation men and women unequivocally affirm their brotherhood.”
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“5184. To him, that you tell your Secret, you resign your Liberty.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) first seen 1737 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1737) : To whom thy secret thou dost tell, to him thy freedom thou dost sell.
“If ceaseless vigilance is the price of liberty, more so is it true that ceaseless criticism of ever new opinions and ever new views, however distasteful, bizarre, and paradoxical, is the price of truth.”
Boris Sidis (1867–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He is truly one of the most revolting humans (minions) I have ever seen. In a way, there is no more fitting spokesman for the Trump administration than an entitled, elitist arsehole who refuses to take responsibility for the messes he makes, and who can somehow pick a fight with the Statue of Liberty.”
John Oliver (born 1977) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last Week Tonight -- "Stephen Miller" (ff. 0:02:45), (4 August 2017)
“Liberty is the power that we have over ourselves.”
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Word Book Complete Word Power Library, Volume 1 (1981), p. 324
“It is an American tradition that a standing army is a standing menace to liberty; in Jefferson's presidency the army was reduced to 3,000 men. It is American tradition that we keep out of the affairs of other nations. It is American practice that we meddle with the affairs of everybody else from the West to the East Indies, from Russia to Japan; and to do it we have a standing army of 83,251 men.”
Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As the peoples always move,—as Life, which is greater than the peoples, always moves. And the business of the revolutionist, the Seeker for the Changes of Old Forms, the dreamer of Liberty and Plenty, is to be with them in their struggle, in their victory, in their defeat, whenever, wherever, the people rise.”
Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the gutters lies the black man, dead, And where oil flows blackest, the streets run red, And there was He who was born and came to be, Who lived and died without liberty”
Bobby Sands (1954–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play.”
Shirley Jackson (1916–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When our founding fathers put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence, those 56 brave people, most of whom by the way were clergymen, they said that we had certain inalienable rights given to us by our creator, and among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, life being one of them. I still believe that.”
Mike Huckabee (born 1955) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Republican Presidential Debate, 2007-10-21, quoted in {{cite news
“Put plainly, I am not at liberty to divulge that information. There, it is said. Let us quickly move on from this unfortunate quantum of dissonance to the ground-state of accord which I trust will inform our future relationship.” “So you’re not going to tell me.” Sharrow nodded. “My dear lady,” the machine said, continuing to trundle after her. “Without saying so in so many words...correct.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Conservatism:] Our revolutionary message … is that a self-disciplined people can create a political community in which an ordered liberty will promote both economic prosperity and political participation.”
Irving Kristol (1920–2009) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Essay in American Spectator Magazine (1977)
“Those who suffer from the abuse of drugs have themselves to blame for it. This does not mean that society is absolved from active concern for their plight. It does mean that their plight is subordinate to the plight of those citizens who do not experiment with drugs but whose life, liberty, and property are substantially affected by the illegalization of the drugs sought after by the minority.”
William F. Buckley Jr. (1925–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nations have not yet learnt to bear prosperity, liberty, and peace. They will learn it in a higher state of civilization. We think we are the models for posterity, when we are little better than beacons to help it to avoid the rocks and quicksands. The world is sadly slow to learn...”
Richard Cobden (1804–1865) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Hargreaves, 1862., also quoted in Morley, 1905, p945
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Paul of Tarsus (5–66) said by 66 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my opinion, patriotism is liberty.”
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (born 1960) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Note: 6th October 2005, during a discussion on Catalan and Spanish nationalism and the inclusion of the term nation-state in the Statute of Catalonia.
“The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness, which the ambitious call, and the ignorant believe to be, liberty.”
Fisher Ames (1758–1808) first seen 1805 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Dangers of American Liberty (1805), in
“Liberty has never yet lasted long in a democracy; nor has it ever ended in any thing better than despotism.”
Fisher Ames (1758–1808) first seen 1805 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: American Literature (1805), in
“Monopoly and privilege must be destroyed, opportunity afforded, and competition encouraged. This is Liberty's work, and "Down with Authority" her war-cry.”
Benjamin Tucker (1854–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was at this point — the necessity of striking down monopoly — that came the parting of their ways. Here the road forked. They found that they must turn either to the right or to the left, — follow either the path of Authority or the path of Liberty. Marx went one way; Warren and Proudhon the other. Thus were born State Socialism and Anarchism.”
Benjamin Tucker (1854–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Anarchists never have claimed that liberty will bring perfection; they simply say that its results are vastly preferable to those that follow authority.”
Benjamin Tucker (1854–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though I bequeath you no estate, I leave you in the enjoyment of liberty.”
William Bradford (American Revolutionary printer) first seen 1791 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1791, The dying words.
“If I forget, then it might as well never have happened. Memory is liberty.”
Charles Stross (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God has prohibited the unrestricted intermingling of the sexes and has prescribed purdah [a word of Persian origin meaning the religious and social practice of female seclusion]” recognizing “man’s guardianship of woman,” for Muslims must guard against “that satanic flood of female liberty and licence which threatens to destroy human civilization in the West.”
Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Syed Abul A’la Maududi, Political Theory of Islam (1960; Lahore: Islamic Publications Ltd., 1980), 27.in Ibn, Warraq (2017). The Islam in Islamic terrorism: The importance of beliefs, ideas, and ideology. ch 15
“Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea They thought great thoughts about liberty Poets wrote down words that did fit Writers wrote books Thinkers thought about it.”
Van Morrison (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel, I really feel, the sacred and mild warmth of true patriotism. I will endeavour to make the narrow circle of my friends happy, I will endeavour to give cheerfulness and ease to the peasantry over whom I may command, I will endeavour to give liberty to my country, and I will endeavour to increase the portion of the knowledge and virtue of humankind.”
Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry (7 January 1797), quoted in Arthur Houston, Daniel O'Connell: His Early Life, and Journal, 1795 to 1802 (1906), p. 174
“I love liberty as conducive to increase the portion of human happiness. A great deal of the misery of man can clearly be derived from the form of government under which he lives. Oppression harasses his faculties. Privilege confined by accident insults his understanding.”
Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry (24 March 1797), quoted in Arthur Houston, Daniel O'Connell: His Early Life, and Journal, 1795 to 1802 (1906), p. 211
“Good God! what a brute man becomes when ignorant and oppressed! Oh, Liberty, what horrors are perpetrated in thy name! May every virtuous revolutionist remember the horrors of Wexford!”
Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry referring to the recent 1798 Irish Rebellion (2 January 1799), quoted in Arthur Houston, Daniel O'Connell: His Early Life, and Journal, 1795 to 1802 (1906), p. 236
“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.”
Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) said by 1556 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source