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Freedom

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“Cultural relativism is a misleading concept. People are equal but cultures are not. A culture based on humanity and freedom is always better than a culture based on intolerance and submission. Therefore I respect Hinduism a million times more than Islam.”
Geert Wilders (born 1963) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Geert Wilders, Jun 13, 2022
“So this is me swallowing my pride, Standing in front of you Saying I'm sorry for that night. And I go back to December all the time. Turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you, Wishing that I realized what I had when you were mine. I go back to December, turn around and make it all right. I go back to December all the time.”
Taylor Swift (born 1989) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When President Bush goes on television and says certain cultures hate us for our democracy and freedom, he's just wrong. Everywhere I went in the Middle East, everyone told me how much they loved America and Americans; the hatred is directed at American policy.”
Jim Rogers (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: 占·羅傑斯 (zh)
“Hearken with your ears to these best counsels, Reflect upon them with illumined judgment. Let each one choose his creed with that freedom of choice each must have at great events.”
Zoroaster wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It has been said that Homer was the Bible of the Greeks. The remark exactly misses the truth. The Greeks fortunately had no Bible, and this fact was both an expression and an important condition of their freedom. Homer's poems were secular, not religious, and it may be noted that they are freer from immorality and savagery than sacred books that one could mention.”
J. B. Bury (1861–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who did not fight for a place in the sun for White children will not live in that place after Ragnarok. To allow them to live among us would be a disgrace to the memory of Robert Mathews and to all who have sacrificed their lives, their freedom, their time or their wealth for the Fourteen Words.”
David Lane (white nationalist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have lived half of my life in "Western society" and never encountered those principles [listed by the NYT as "Western" ]. What is wrong with me. … So Mr. Bush stands for "gender equality, religious freedom, scientific inquiry and the rule of law" and I have never noticed?”
As'ad AbuKhalil (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No envy is more mean than that of small-minded beings when they see a neighbor lifted, as though borne aloft by angels, out of the dull drudgery of their common existence; petty spirits are more ready to forgive a prince the most fabulous wealth than a fellow-sufferer beneath the same yoke the smallest degree of freedom.”
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) said by 1942 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The issue in Puerto Rico is not between colonialism and independence. We are not a colony of the United States. We are citizens of the United States and our Island is associated on a basis of freedom with the United States. We are members of the independence of the United States.”
Luis Muñoz Marín (1898–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The objective is, I repeat, a good civilization based on the abolition of poverty. A political status that puts obstacles in the path of that ideal cannot be, so long as it creates obstacles, the status that gives real freedom to the people of Puerto Rico.”
Luis Muñoz Marín (1898–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ground for taking ignorance to be restrictive of freedom is that it causes people to make choices which they would not have made if they had seen what the realization of their choices involved.”
A. J. Ayer (1910–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But where were the Roman people? where was that stern, and frugal, and strongly national plebeian race, which so long maintained the Roman character for order, virtue, freedom; and which, if factious and unruly, was factious for noble ends, and unruly in defence or assertion of its rights?”
Henry Hart Milman (1791–1868) said by 1868 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom to create a mess is proportional to your ability to know what "no mess" is and how to get there.”
David Allen (born 1945) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 15 July 2009
“GTD gives freedom to the right, structure to the left (brains, that is!)”
David Allen (born 1945) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 12 April 2010
“The nature of creative thinking runs counter to the nature of dealing w/its output. Ability & system to do both is freedom. GTD.”
David Allen (born 1945) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2 July 2010
“Freedom to give full attention to what you want (vs. It being held hostage by unmanaged stuff) is the GTD promise.”
David Allen (born 1945) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 17 December 2011
“Appropriate focus on the right stuff gives the freedom to not have to focus on anything, on a regular basis.”
David Allen (born 1945) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 6 September 2012
“The new education must consist essentially in this, that it completely destroys freedom of will in the soil which it undertakes to cultivate, and produces on the contrary strict necessity in the decisions of the will, the opposite being impossible. Such a will can henceforth be relied on with confidence and certainty.”
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) first seen 1807 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Addresses to the German Nation (1807), Second Address : "The General Nature of the New Education". Chicago and London, The Open Court Publishing Company, 1922, p. 20.
“The End of the Life of Mankind on Earth is this,—that in this Life they may order all their relations with FREEDOM according to REASON.”
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) said by 1814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Instinct is blind;—a consciousness without insight. Freedom, as the opposite of Instinct, is thus seeing, and clearly conscious of the grounds of its activity.”
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) said by 1814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who must still exhort himself, and be exhorted, to will the good, has as yet no firm and ever-ready will, but wills a will anew every time he needs it. But he who has such a stable will, wills what he wills for ever, and cannot under any circumstances will otherwise than he always wills. For him freedom of the will is destroyed and swallowed up in necessity.”
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) said by 1814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot approve of monarchs who want to rule over the conscience of the people, and take away their freedom of choice and religion.”
William the Silent (1533–1584) first seen 1564 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1564- Havo Exam
“In their quest for freedom and in their attempts to prevent the oppressor from striping them of all the things they need to exist, the people see things as moving from A to B to C; they do not see things as moving from A to Z.”
Huey P. Newton (1942–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know, Don, marriage is worth the trade. You lose all your freedom but you get this friend. This incredible friend.”
Don Miller (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What does greatness in the presidency mean? It means waging war, crushing liberties, imposing socialism, issuing dictates, browbeating and ignoring Congress, appointing despotic judges, expanding the domestic and global empire, and generally trying his best to be an all-round enemy of freedom. It means saying with Lincoln, 'I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy.'”
Lew Rockwell (born 1944) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 6 October 1996 "Down With the Presidency
“We live in anti-liberal times, when individual choice is highly suspect. The driving legislative ethos is toward making all actions required or forbidden, with less and less room for human volition. Simply put, we no longer trust the idea of freedom. We can't even imagine how it would work. What a distance we have traveled from the Age of Reason to our own times.”
Lew Rockwell (born 1944) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Freedom of Association" (1 June 2010).
“It is surely one of the strangest of our propensities to mark out those we love best for the worst usage; yet we do, all of us. We can take any freedom with a friend; we stand on no ceremony with a friend.”
Samuel Laman Blanchard (1804–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The freedom of improvising over a bass line disappeared from music only in the 19th century, and we're still paying for it. There's a culture among classical musicians of being passive, and it stems from following the notes, rather than one's own instincts.”
Joanna MacGregor (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing you believe is true. To know this is freedom.”
Byron Katie (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you’re only doing it for one play and you’re just not where you’re supposed to be, and freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, boy are you going to clean somebody’s clock for that one play.”
Randy Pausch (1960–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people that no taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given personally or by their representatives.”
John Dickinson (1732–1808) first seen 1764 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From the first draft of the Declaration of Rights and Grievances passed October 19, 1765 by The First Congress of the American Colonies, also known as the Stamp Act Congress; as cited in John Dickinson and the Revolutio…
“Sexual freedom, which has mixed the human races and muddled human ethics, is absolutely forbidden by gods. So as cultivators, you absolutely should not do that sort of thing. You may have a wife or a husband. This is the normal way of life for human beings. But you are committing a sin if you have sexual activity with someone who isn’t your husband or your wife.”
Li Hongzhi (born 1951) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 30 May 1998 in Frankfurt, Germany
“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”
Wole Soyinka (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I find myself lined up with the surrealists because Surrealism means freedom for the creative side of man, for surprise & discovery & life, for an opening out & widening of mans consciousness, for changing life & against conserving worn out traditions, for variety not a uniformity, for opening not closing.”
Henry Moore (1898–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let me ask you, do you love your freedom that you have here in America? Well, so do I.”
Sarah Palin (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Bill of Rights is a born rebel. It reeks with sedition. In every clause it shakes its fist in the face of constituted authority... it is the one guarantee of human freedom to the American people.”
Frank I. Cobb (1869–1923) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: LaFollette's Magazine (January 1920).
“Freedom to many means immediate betterment, as if by magic … Unless I can meet at least some of these aspirations, my support will wane and my head will roll just as surely as the tickbird follows the rhino.”
Julius Nyerere (1922–1999) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When he became prime minister of Tanganyika, 1960-09-01
“No one can define or measure justice, democracy, security, freedom, truth, or love. [...] But if no one speaks up for them, if systems aren't designed to produce them, if we don't speak about them and point toward their presence or absence, they will cease to exist.”
Donella Meadows (1941–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Might there not be a connection between the attempt to eradicate religion and the loss of freedom? It is unlikely that Mao, who launched his assault on the people and culture of Tibet with the slogan "Religion is poison," would have agreed that his atheist world-view had no bearing on his policies.”
John Gray (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The evil of totalitarianism is not only that it fails to protect specific liberties but that it extinguishes the very possibility of freedom.”
John Gray (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Near-ubiquitous technological monitoring is a consequence of the decline of cohesive societies that has occurred alongside the rising demand for individual freedom.”
John Gray (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hayek watched the interwar collapse with horror, as Keynes did, and shared many of Keynes’s liberal values. What he failed to understand is that these values cannot be renewed by applying any formula or doctrine, or by trying to construct an ideal liberal regime in which freedom is insulated from the contingencies of politics.”
John Gray (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What made it possible for me to exercise freedom of choice also made it impossible to know the future. Conversely, now that I know the future, I would never act contrary to that future. [...] Those who've read the Book of Ages never admit to it.”
Ted Chiang (born 1967) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Story of Your Life; first appeared in Starlight 2, 1998.
“Isabelle with her whip and boots and knives would chop anyone who tried to pen her up in a tower into pieces, build a bridge out of the remains, and walk carelessly to freedom, her hair looking fabulous the entire time.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men’s immediate path from the Insanity Track to the Sanity Track is in demanding that both sexes have the freedom to strike a balance between homeplace and workplace. Men must expect their wives to financially support them to be fathers as much as they now financially support their wives to be mothers. Women must have our approval to marry the warrior of love rather than the warrior of money.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“… keep in mind that the purpose of freedom is to create it for others.”
Bernard Malamud (1914–1986) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fixer (1966) p. 286
“Thus I alone, where all my freedom grew, In prison pine, with bondage and restraint: And with remembrance of the greater grief, To banish the less, I find my chief relief.”
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516–1547) said by 1547 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In short order they fell into the same pit as their rivals, who had for decades ignored the plain and simple fact that to a starving man “freedom” implies a full rice-bowl—or, if he has an exceptional imagination, a healthy ox to pull his plough. It has nothing to do with voting for a political delegate.”
John Brunner (1934–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It would have been a longer and slower job, I’m sure, and probably there would have been a high price to pay. But what is the price of freedom?” “What’s the price of life?” Donald countered bitterly.”
John Brunner (1934–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With good reason, Voznesensky is a hero to all those in the Soviet Union who want their poets to tell them the truth. But at the risk of his career, freedom, and perhaps even his life, he has never been able to do much more than drop hints.”
Andrey Voznesensky (1933–2010) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Clive James From the Land of Shadows (London: Picador, 1983) p. 222.