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Freedom
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“There have always been those who, though they see tragedy as the outcome of freedom, will nevertheless judge that tragedy is not too high a price to pay.”
Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Society says with the authority of its police power how intercourse will and will not occur. Any act so controlled by the state, proscribed and prescribed in detail, cannot be private in the ordinary sense. Privacy is essentially a sphere of freedom immune from regulation by the state. In that sense, intercourse has never occurred in private.”
Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sure, call me any ugly name you choose — The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I’m dead. I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“a light of freedom and democracy in what is otherwise a region of darkness will always have Canada as a friend”
Stephen Harper (born 1959) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: describing Israel in December 2013 ("last month") according to 18 January 2014 article from Times of Israel
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”
David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.”
David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is our freedom.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Harold Bloom, Milan Kundera (2003), [//books.google.it/books?id=SXDojRJFMPIC&pg=PA91 p. 91]
“True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As you live out your desolation, you can be either unhappy or happy. Having that choice is what constitutes your freedom.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. But with it came that bitch, Duty.”
David Brin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Knowledge isn’t restrained by the limits of Malthus. Information doesn’t need topsoil to grow in, only freedom. Given eager minds and experimentation, it feeds itself like a chain reaction.”
David Brin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am sure of the fact that Fidel and Chávez are commanders of the forces of freedom in America, to liberate America and the world.”
Evo Morales (born 1959) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Press conference during his first visit to Cuba, December 2005.
“There are days when solitude, for someone my age, is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall.”
Colette (1873–1954) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freedom (1908)
“Dissent is the mark of freedom.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ability... to experiment with imaginary situations, gives man a freedom... the pleasure in trying out and exploring imaginary situations. A child's play is concerned with this pleasure; and so is much of art, and much of science... [P]ure science... is a form of play, in this sense.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is our dreams that point the way to freedom. Those dreams are made realizable through our poems that give us the strength and courage to see, to feel, to speak, and to dare.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Interdependency between women is the way to a freedom which allows the I to be, not in order to be used, but in order to be creative. This is a difference between the passive be and the active being.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Last year COVID-19 kept us apart. This year we are finally together again. Tonight, we meet as Democrats Republicans and Independents. But most importantly as Americans. With a duty to one another to the American people to the Constitution. And with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny.”
“Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have revived all across the globe. Its hallmarks are familiar ones: contempt for the rule of law, contempt for democratic freedom, contempt for the truth itself.”
“The regime’s brutality and repression of the Syrian people, who have called for freedom and a representative government, not only endangers the Syrian people themselves, but also generates instability throughout the region.”
“I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.”
Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Shadow in the Land : Homosexuality in America (1989) by William Dannemeyer, p. 148
“The enterprise of Adolf Hitler, with all its clatter and fireworks, and all its cunning and dynamic energy, is the enterprise of an evil spirit, which is apparently allowed its freedom for a time in order to test our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Karl Barth (1886–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't necessarily believe that the sting of failure is a bad thing. It gives you a certain amount of freedom to just say fuck it!”
Billy Corgan (born 1967) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Guitar World. July 1998.
“A bunch of bong-smoking, America-bashing, flag-burning, yoga-posing, incense-burning, dolphin-saving, salmon-eating hypocrites. These are the sensitive, liberal people who are always yelling about people's freedom of speech and expression, unless you happen to say something that pisses them off.”
Richard Jeni (1957–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like a beast in a pen, I’m cut off From my friends, freedom, the Sun. But the hunters are gaining ground; I’ve nowhere else to run.”
Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pharisaism, obtuseness and tyranny reign not only in the homes of merchants and in jails; I see it in science, in literature, and among youth. I consider any emblem or label a prejudice.... My holy of holies is the human body, health, intellect, talent, inspiration, love and the most absolute of freedoms, the freedom from force and falsity in whatever forms they might appear.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Alexei Pleshcheev (October 4, 1888)
“He is no longer a city dweller who has even once in his life caught a ruff or seen how, on clear and cool autumn days, flocks of migrating thrushes drift over a village. Until his death he will be drawn to freedom.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Words like "freedom," "justice," "democracy" are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Crusade of Indignation," The Nation (New York, July 7, 1956), published in book form in The Price of the Ticket (1985)
“Nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He knew exactly what she meant: to get to a place where you could love anything you choose — not to need permission for desire — well now, that was freedom.”
Toni Morrison (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was a witness of two civil wars and their ghastly and tragic consequences, and I learnt, as never before, to value the freedom of British political traditions.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chatham News (28 December 1934), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 59
“The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.”
Edward Bernays (1891–1995) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Engineering of Consent", Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science No. 250 (March 1947), p. 113; Reprinted in Edward L. Bernays, Howard Walden Cutler, The Engineering of Consent, University of O…
“The essence of mathematics lies entirely in its freedom.”
Georg Cantor (1845–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom is dangerous, Cory, but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it away or let it slip away. You can’t sell it for bread and pottage.”
Octavia Butler (1947–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The human soul has need of truth and of freedom of expression. The need for truth requires that intellectual culture should be universally accessible, and that it should be able to be acquired in an environment neither physically remote nor psychologically alien.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell, And Freedom shrieked—as Kosciusko fell!”
Thomas Campbell (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where bastard Freedom waves The fustian flag in mockery over slaves.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails. That's why the Second Amendment is America's first freedom.”
Charlton Heston (1923–2008) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the National Press Club (September 14, 1997)
“You simply disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don’t. We disobey the social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom.” 16 February 1999”
Charlton Heston (1923–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else. We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. That's what "Worldtown" is about, that's what "Paper Planes" is about. It's what people in the third world live through.”
“Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod; They have left unstained what there they found — Freedom to whorship God.”
Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) said by 1835 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man’s freedom is lacking if somebody else controls what he needs, for need may result in man’s enslavement of man.”
Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Green Book (1975)
“We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.” Benito Mussolini”
John Cornyn (born 1952) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Twitter, February 24, 2019, quoting Benito Mussolini
“Since so-called Democratic Socialists have forgotten or never learned the lessons of history, and how their ideology is incompatible with freedom, I guess we have to remind or teach them.”
John Cornyn (born 1952) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Twitter, February 24, 2019
“If we devote ourselves to finding holes exactly shaped to house such great words as Freedom, Honor, Bliss, I agree, we shall spend a lifetime slipping and sliding and searching, and all in vain.”
J. M. Coetzee (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I came here to get freedom from the inane interruptions of the mentally deficient, but it seems I asked too much of fate.”
Saki (1870–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The stability of the internal medium is a primary condition for the freedom and independence of certain living bodies in relation to the environment surrounding them.”
Claude Bernard (1813–1878) first seen 1878 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Leçons sur les Phénomènes de la Vie Communs aux Animaux et aux Végétaux (1878-1879).
“The [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.”
Michael Ignatieff (born 1947) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nation Building Lite", New York Times Magazine (July 2002)