Famous quotes
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“The story of Hanukkah is actually important for all faiths. We can all find inspiration in it, because it is a celebration of religious liberty, the right to practice one's religion according to the dictates of one's own conscience. That's what was at stake for the Maccabees in Israel one hundred sixty-four years before Christ. That's what is at stake today around the globe.”
Michael James Sis (born 1960) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Amid rising anti-Semitism, Texas bishop leads interfaith Hanukkah celebration (1 December 2023) Crux
“A rational society and human liberty go hand in hand. Medievalist supersition and moral subjectivism are two sides of the same coin. And both are killing our republic.”
Mark Pellegrino (born 1965) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 4. Medievalist superstition and moral subjectivism are two sides of the same coin, YouTube (January 18th, 2025)
“Take the term ‘liberal’ away from the political left. ‘Liberal’ (like ‘progressive’), implies a reasoned, forward-thinking approach to life. It comes from the same root as ‘liberty’ and doesn’t reflect political leftism. The term liberal should never be applied to an advocate of statism.”
Mark Pellegrino (born 1965) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Post on X (January 25th 2025)
“The only rational liberty is that which is born of subjection, reared in the fear of God and the love of man.”
William Gilmore Simms (1806–1870) said by 1870 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That Liberty, Which, not the thunder of Bellona's voice, With fleets, and armies, from the British shore, Shall wrest from us.”
Hugh Henry Brackenridge (1748–1816) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Battle of Bunkers-Hill (1776), act 5, sc. 1 (loq. Warren)
“You may name a bronze statue Liberty, or a painted figure in a city hall Commerce, or a marble form in a temple Athene or Venus; but what is really there is only a representation of a single woman.”
George Edward Woodberry (1855–1930) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Two Phases of Criticism, Historical and Aesthetic: Lectures Delivered on the Larwill Foundation of Kenyon College, May Seventh and Eighth, 1913 (Merrymount Press, 1914), p. 20
“Democracy, to me, is liberty plus economic security. To put it in plain language, we Americans want to talk, pray, think as we please—and eat regular.”
Maury Maverick (1895–1954) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Blood and Ink (1939), ch. 30
“There is so much servility in rigor and restraint, that of consequence there can be no greater ene∣my to Ingenuity and good nature. Fools are to be always bauld upon, and blows are fitter for beasts than rational creatures; wherefore there can nothing more engage an ingenious generous soul, than cheerfulness and liberty; not over-frightned.”
Hannah Woolley (1622–1675) said by 1675 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our country has liberty without license, and authority without despotism. She rears no wall to exclude the stranger from coming among us. She has few frowning fortifications to repel the invader, for she is at peace with all the world.”
James Gibbons (1834–1921) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at Rome (March 25, 1887); reported in The Catholic World, vol. 45, no. 267 (June, 1887), pp. 330–31
“Never before was a people so advantageously situated for working out this great problem in favor of human liberty.”
Henry Augustus Boardman (1808–1880) first seen 1850 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Discourse in Philadelphia, PA (December 12 and 19, 1850); The American Union: A Discourse (Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851), p. 46
“I do not think of the priesthood as liberty, as many do, but as the most severe and oppressive form of service.”
Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) first seen 1421 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Niccolò de' Niccoli, London, 30 November 1421 (tr. P. W. G. Gordan, 1974)
“She stands, a guardian of the endless sea, Her garb is golden, and her lips are flame, She is the portal of Eternity And Beauty is the realm from whence she came! She is the voice of many bleeding lands— America, she calls! To Arms! Arise! For like a shimmering sabre in the skies In scarlet glow she stands A guardian of the earth and sea— Liberty!”
Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff (1886–1967) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: America, To Arms!", Fifes and Drums (1917), p. 91
“May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin!”
Joseph Warren (1847–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When liberty is the prize, who would shun the warfare? Who would stoop to waste a coward thought on life?”
Joseph Warren (1847–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liberty is not the Italian version of Art Nouveau, but its Mediterranean alternative, rooted in myth, narrative, and craftsmanship.”
Valerio Terraroli (born 1956) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Valerio Terraroli, in Liberty. A European Art, Skira, 2006.
“It would seem that the victories of the Egyptian monarchs were far from decisive, and that Ethiopia always retained enough liberty to openly aspire to independence.”
Marius Chaîne (1873–1960) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ethiopia (1913) Catholic Encyclopedia
“Ye sons of Columbia, unite in the cause Of liberty, justice, religion, and laws.”
Thomas Green Fessenden (1771–1837) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ye Sons of Columbia: An Ode", st. 1. Written, set to music, and sung on a public occasion in Rutland, VT, July 1798. Published in Original Poems (Philadelphia, 1806) pp. 1–5
“Liberty is the soul's right... not the state's gift." — Marcel Nel, X reply to @caesarionist, 07:54 UTC (10:54 SAST), 17 September 2025.”
Marcel Nel wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He has power of coercion. The fact remains that the constitution allows me the right even in the face of accusation to enjoy my liberty. Obasanjo is not a democrat. Today, former Governor (Bola) Tinubu of Lagos would recall what Obasanjo did.”
Ayo Fayose (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...true reconciliation is the restoration of liberty.”
Argentina Altobelli (1866–1942) said by 1942 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In this respect I recall with much sympathy the writer Virginia Woolf who wrote about this need for private space (A Room of One’s Own) as a condition for liberty and creativity. I had a room of my own only by the end of high school, of which I have excellent memories.”
Claire Voisin (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe you as journalists are at liberty to speak or write about elders as you wish but some of us do not get to enjoy that privilege.”
Mpho Balopi wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you survive, tell the people that the women of the Philippines did their part in making the ember sparks of truth and liberty alive till the last moment.”
Josefa Llanes Escoda (1898–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women’s Month 2021: The Girl Scouts Founder, Josefa Llanes Escoda
“In all my other humble labours, I devoted my feeble powers to the defence of God and His holy Church against unbelief and misbelief, and of social order and liberty against the principles of Revolution, which are but Impiety in a political form.”
James Burton Robertson (1800–1877) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lectures on Some Subjects of Modern History and Biography (21 July 1864)
“Today, more than ever, I am convinced that I did the right thing of sacrificing my personal liberty and even my political career.”
Leila de Lima (born 1959) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/de-lima-statement-6th-year-detention-2023/
“From this course of life, we reap liberty.”
Agesilaus II (444–360 BC) said by 360 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When will the Americans learn, that if they would encourage liberty in other countries, they must practice it at home?”
William Wells Brown (1814–1884) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Wendell Phillips (November 22, 1849), printed in The Liberator, vol. 19, no. 48 (November 30, 1849), p. 191, col. 2
“every man must make equality for himself. No society, no government can make this equality. I do not expect the slave of the south to jump into equality; all I claim for him is, that he may be allowed to jump into liberty, and let him make equality for himself.”
William Wells Brown (1814–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let Fame to the world sound America's voice; No intrigues can her sons from their government sever; Her pride is her Adams; her laws are his choice, And shall flourish, till Liberty slumbers for ever.”
Robert Treat Paine Jr. (1773–1811) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Adams and Liberty", sts. 5 and 9. Written for, and sung at the fourth Anniversary of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, 1798. Works in Verse and Prose, &c. (Boston, MA: J. Belcher, 1812) pp. 245–7
“Instruction is to the proletary what liberty is to the slave: the latter emancipates the body, the former emancipates the intelligence.”
Émile de Girardin (1802–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Lirico theatre was dedicated to Gaber, the two Piccolo venues to Strehler and Grassi, the Liberty building to Fo and Rame, and the Studio to Melato; there was nothing left for me, which is why I am appealing to Mayor Beppe Sala: dedicate a flowerbed in the city centre to me.”
Ornella Vanoni (1934–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pre-war Poland lacked religious liberty. Post-war Poland was bent on securing it. Pre-war, no church save the Roman Catholic Church had had the right of registering births, marriages, and deaths. The Roman Catholic monopoly of religion was fundamentally undemocratic and morally unhealthy. Equality of all religions was the goal of the new Government of Poland.”
Hewlett Johnson (1874–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human trafficking does not begin solely with the physical deprivation of liberty; rather, it begins the moment an individual assumes the presumed authority to convert another human being into property, an instrument, or a marketable object. The true demarcation of humanity is dignity itself, and any attempt to negate it constitutes a form of violence.”
Dagmara Szlachta wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the matter of education as in all other social concerns the true doctrine of the church is opposed neither to liberty well understood nor to the just prerogatives of the state.”
Thomas-Joseph Bouquillon (1840–1902) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Education: to Whom Does It Belong? (1892)
“(About the Mani pulite judiciary pool) It is an irrefutable fact that they have a propensity to include the deprivation of personal liberty among their investigative tools.”
Sergio Cusani (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would rather be a famous and rich writer than an unknown and poor one. Every writer is at liberty to make that choice or any other choice”
Obari Gomba wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not really about following any trend. I am a recording and performing DJ, which means that I am at liberty to release my own songs, even though I don’t sing in it. I’m not an artiste but I know a lot about music and DJs are a very integral part of the hip hop culture. It is also a good way of keeping our image in the consciousness of the public.”
“In an honest Service, says he, there is thin Commons, low Wages, and hard Labour; in this, Plenty and Satiety, Pleasure and Ease, Liberty and Power; and who would not ballance Creditor on this Side, when all the Hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sour Look or two at choaking. No, A merry Life and a short one, shall be my Motto.”
Captain Charles Johnson wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”
Benjamin Franklin (misattributed) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gary Strand, Usenet group sci.environment, 23 April 1990.
“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.”
John Stuart Mill (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Thomas Jefferson (misattributed)
“If we fail to instruct our children in justice, religion and liberty, we will be condemning them to a world without virtue, a life in the twilight of a civilization, where the great truths have been forgotten.”
Ronald Reagan (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your country, your people and, indeed the whole world will miss this truly great leader and statesman who was a man of extreme courage, an ardent advocate of peace and a great champion of human liberty.”
Jawaharlal Nehru (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle; but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages.”
Michel de Montaigne (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liberty must be a mighty thing; for by it God punishes and rewards nations.”
Sophie Swetchine (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
Thomas Jefferson (misattributed) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First attributed to Jefferson in 1945, this does not appear in any known Jefferson document. When governments fear the people, there is liberty..., Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia. It first appears in 1914, in {{cite book
“Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.”
Thomas Jefferson (misattributed) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Commonly quoted on many websites, this quotation is actually from an address by President Gerald Ford to the US Congress (12 August 1974)
“I am a citizen of the greatest Republic of Mankind. I see the human race united like a huge family by brotherly ties. We have made a sowing of liberty which will, little by little, spring up across the whole world. One day, on the model of the United States of America, a United States of Europe will come into being. The United States will legislate for all its nationalities.”
George Washington (misattributed) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Washington in "Farewell to the United States of Europe: long live the EU!" by André Fontaine at Open Democracy (29 November 2001). It appears to have originally circulated in French:
“It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it.”
George Washington (misattributed) first seen 1650 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oliver Cromwell, letter to Walter Dundas, 12 September 1650; this is also a recent misattribution.
“Travel makes all men countrymen, makes people noblemen and kings, every man tasting of liberty and dominion.”
Amos Bronson Alcott (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have a solution for war. It is to expand the sphere of liberty.”
Rudolph Rummel (1932–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source