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Freedom

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“Subject - (1) a person subject to political rule; (2) a free agent, instigator of its activity - subjects can realize themselves as free agents only by means of redoubling themselves as, only in so far as they project, transpose the pure form of their freedom into the very heart of the substance opposed to them; into the person of the subject-monarch as head of state.”
Slavoj Žižek (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What for? What does a sixty-odd-year-old slavewoman who walks like a three-legged dog need freedom for? And when she stepped foot on free ground she could not believe that Halle knew what she didn’t; that Halle, who had never drawn one free breath, knew that there was nothing like it in this world. It scared her.”
Toni Morrison (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As Gandhi taught, freedom can be reclaimed only by refusing to cooperate with unjust, immoral laws. The fight for truth—employing the principles of civil disobedience, nonviolence, and noncooperation—is not just our right as free citizens of free societies. It is our duty as citizens of the earth. (p184)”
Vandana Shiva (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fundamental to everything the [ancient] Greeks achieved was their conviction that good for humanity was possible only if men were free, body, mind, and spirit, and if each man limited his own freedom. A good state or work of art or piece of thinking was possible only through the self-mastery of the free individual, self-government.”
Edith Hamilton (1867–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Behind their fluffy rhetoric about free trade and free markets lurks a hostility toward freedom for ordinary people — and a love affair with police and prisons.”
David McNally (professor) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is a free country. A free society throws up these kinds of people, who exercise their freedom in unusual ways. And if this is how he wants to do it, I must accept his constitutional right to do so.”
Pricasso (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The American press is extraordinarily free and vigorous, as it should be. It should be, not because it is free of inaccuracy, oversimplification and bias, but because the alternative to that freedom is worse than those failings.”
Robert Bork (1927–2012) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Anthony Lewis, "Abroad At Home; Getting Even", The New York Times (April 11, 1985); described as something Bork "wrote recently in a libel case".
“Free speech does not empower us, and it does not equal freedom. Free speech is a privilege that can be — and is — taken away by the government when it serves their interests.”
Peter Gelderloos (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But yet, since He knew that it would be good, He created both angels and men free to do that which is righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be good for them to have the exercise of free-will; and because He likewise knew it would be good, He made general and particular judgments; each one’s freedom of will, however, being guarded.”
Justin Martyr (100–165) said by 165 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dialogue with Trypho, chapter CII. In ANF1, that is, Roberts A, Donaldson J and Coxe AC (1885) Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 1. [Cf chapter LXXXVIII.]
“On the immigration issue the suspicions towards democracy and the distrust towards free speech have come largely from the Left. The distrust of free speech has been especially noticeable amongst a small scatter of academics, members of a profession that by its very nature depends on freedom of inquiry and speech.”
Geoffrey Blainey (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The less free the people within any two nations are, the bloodier and more destructive the war between them; the greater their freedom, the less likely such wars occur. Free people do not make war on each other.”
Rudolph Rummel (1932–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only the democratic struggle of the people for their own freedom will free Turkey from authoritarianism and fear and free its s — the judiciary and the press — from tutelary control by the government.”
Selahattin Demirtaş (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another discovery: We are not liberated until we liberate others. So long as we need to control other people, however benign our motives, we are captive to that need. Giving them freedom, we free ourselves. And they are free to grow in their own way.”
Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The freedom of any individual carries within it the seed of a free and complete community without government, a free society that lives in organic and decentralized totality, united in its pursuit of the great human goal: Anarchist Communism!”
Nestor Makhno (1888–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Countries that have more freedom are 12 times richer than those that are repressed. The lowest percentile in free countries is better off than 90% of the population in repressed countries. Poverty is 25 times lower and extreme poverty is 50 times lower. And citizens in free countries live 25% longer than citizens in repressed countries.”
Javier Milei (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have learned from the difficult exigencies of life that freedom is a philosophical state of mind and existence. The mind is the only place where I can exist and feel free. In my mind, I am absolutely free.”
Margaret Walker (1915–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have arrived as free among the free, equal among the equal, in the name of humanity, the best values of mankind, in the interest of the rights of man, a nation, a state. We confirm our interest in participating in the building of a new Europe with shared values of democracy, human rights and freedom, while respecting the right for an individual path towards the achievement of these values.”
Vladimír Mečiar (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one begins with the false assumption of being free, all concern will be involved with how to keep such freedom in check, how to control sin. The result is the deadly religion of the Pharisee. If one begins with the assumption of bondage, the concern will be how to proclaim the gospel story in kindness, patience, and love so that people are enabled to be set free.”
C. FitzSimons Allison (born 1927) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How the press, for example, loves to brag to its victims—its readers—about its freedom. Yes, the press may be free to lie and distort and suppress and deceive and malign, but is it free to tell the truth?”
Willis Carto (1926–2015) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Imperium (1963), p. xv
“To free one's mind of chains is to free it of the care of what is acceptable or viewed so by society, this is when true freedom is discovered.”
John Dewey (misattributed) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This text is commentary (not a quotation of Dewey) that was added to this page at [//en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=John_Dewey&diff=prev&oldid=896209 05:36, 2 February 2009 (UTC)]; the text was later removed from th…
“When I was a little girl, my parents would say Puerto Rico can't be free because we would be poor like Cuba and poor like Haiti. Out of the fear of becoming poor we didn't dare to become free. Then a hurricane comes, devastates everything, and maybe we are as poor as Cuba and Haiti, but we are not free.”
Giannina Braschi (born 1953) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the aftermath of Hurricane Maria (El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico, July 23, 2018)
“It’s not as if grace did one half of the work and free choice the other; each does the whole work, in its own peculiar contribution. Grace does the whole work, and so does free choice – with this one qualification: That whereas the whole is done in free choice, so is the whole done of grace.”
Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153) said by 1153 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Grace & Free Choice, chap 14.(de Gratia Et Libero Arbitrio), Daniel O'Donovan, trans., Introduction, Bernard McGinn, Cistercian Publications, 1988, p. 37. (Note: Fr. Harry J. McSorley, C.S.P. Commenting on this teach…
“I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have.”
Arthur Rubinstein (1887–1982) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted from a 1977 interview by Robert MacNeil in the documentary Rubinstein at 90 — reported in Alan M. Kriegsmen (January 26, 1977) "The Magic of Rubinstein ...", The Washington Post, p. B7.
“In a free society, the ‘vision thing’ is left to private individuals; civil servants are kept on a tight leash, because free people understand that a ‘visionary’ bureaucrat is a voracious one and that the grander the government... the poorer and less free the people.”
Ilana Mercer first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: His Rhetoric, Our Reality,” Antiwar.com, January 26, 2005.
“The free flow of people across borders is not to be confused with the free flow of goods across borders. Free trade is a positive-sum game. Contrary to illegal immigration, it is always invited, consensual and hence mutually beneficial to the parties involved.”
Ilana Mercer first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: We Are the World,” WorldNetDaily.com, March 31, 2006.
“[...] your own are burning and your memories and you don't want to leave them. Everything will burn to the end, you suffer, but nobody is punishing you, they are just setting your soul free. Don't be afraid because while you fear death they will rend your soul like demons. Only calm down and you will see the angels who are setting you free and then you will be free.”
Dimitris Lyacos (born 1966) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From: Poena Damni Z213: Exit, p. 88, Shoestring Press, 2010.
“As an active privilege, [free speech] ranks with the privilege of committing murder: we may exercise it if we are willing to take the consequences. Murder is forbidden both in form and in fact; free speech is granted in form but forbidden in fact. By the common estimate both are crimes, and are held in deep odium by all civilized peoples. Murder is sometimes punished, free speech always.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Midwest Airlines Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 3, 2003
“We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace. We know that oppressive governments support terror, while free governments fight the terrorists in their midst. We know that free peoples embrace progress and life, instead of becoming the recruits for murderous ideologies.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am confident we will meet this challenge as we have so many times before. But we cannot if we retreat into isolationism. We will only succeed in this interconnected world by continuing to lead the fight for free people and free and fair trade. A free and prosperous global economy is essential for America's prosperity. That means jobs and economic growth right here at home.”
George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The poor, stupid, free American citizen! Free to starve, free to tramp the highways of this great country, he enjoys universal suffrage, and, by that right, he has forged chains about his limbs. The reward that he receives is stringent labor laws prohibiting the right of boycott, of picketing, in fact, of everything, except the right to be robbed of the fruits of his labor.”
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I owned the world that hour as I rode over it... free of the earth, free of the mountains, free of the clouds, but how inseparably I was bound to them.”
Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On flying over the Rocky Mountains, as quoted in Lindbergh (1978) by Leonard Mosley
“The Partnership for a Drug Free America? Please, make me laugh and gag at the same time with that title. They're a lobbying arm for the liquor and prescription drug industries. They don't want a drug-free America, they want an America free of the drugs that are their competition. Prozac doesn't want to go up against marijuana, it will lose.”
Bill Maher (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The explanation for "free software" is simple — a person who has grasped the idea of "free speech, not free beer" will not get it wrong again.”
Richard Stallman (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have free will, but not of my own choice. I have never freely chosen to have free will. I have to have free will, whether I like it or not!”
Raymond Smullyan (1919–2017) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Is God a Taoist? (1977)
“Free will was another matter. It could not be laughed off, because it could be directly experienced—yet his own free will had worked to create the same scene over and over again. Apparently human will must be considered as one of the factors which make up the processes in the continuum—”free” to the ego, mechanistic from the outside.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are all free—to walk our appointed paths. Just as a stone is free to fall when you toss it into the air. No one is free in the abstract meaning you give the word.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To accept capitalism and Free Enterprise as articles of faith without agreeing that we must be free to consider whether what is offered is free and freeing is itself enslavement.”
Gerry Spence (1929–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was speaking out in Minnesota—my hometown, in fact—and a guy stood up in the audience, said, "Mr. Friedman, is there any free trade agreement you’d oppose?" I said, "No, absolutely not." I said, "You know what, sir? I wrote a column supporting the CAFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade initiative. I didn’t even know what was in it. I just knew two words: free trade.”
Thomas Friedman (born 1953) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meet the Press (23 July 2006), referring to the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
“So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock And the guard will say to me, "Oh my patient prisoner you waited for this day and finally, you are free! You are free! You are free!”
Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A free religion and a free people in a free land.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Merthyr Tydfil (November 1890), quoted in Thomas Jones, Lloyd George (1951), p. 11
“Free Press is a Marxist organization, and it— the FCC is now riddled with Free Press people. The White House, riddled with people that are taking phone calls from Free Press.”
Glenn Beck (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's no fine line between "free speech" and "hate speech": Free speech is hate speech; it's for the speech you hate – and for all your speech that the other guy hates. If you don't have free speech, then you can't have an honest discussion.”
Mark Steyn (born 1959) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stay Quiet and You'll Be Okay", steynonline.com (9 May 2015)
“By constantly repeating, "I am free, I am free", a man verily becomes free. On the other hand, by constantly repeating, "I am bound, I am bound", he certainly becomes bound to worldliness. The fool who says only, "I am a sinner, I am a sinner", verily drowns himself in worldliness. One should rather say: "I have chanted the name of God. How can I be a sinner? How can I be bound?”
Ramakrishna (1836–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I say I am free, I merely state a fact. If you are an adult, you are free from infancy. I am free from all description and identification. (…).”
Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Partisanship should be kept out of the pulpit... The blindest of partisans are preachers. All politicians expect and find more candor, fairness, and truth in politicians than in partisan preachers. They are not replied to — no chance to reply to them.... The balance wheel of free institutions is free discussion. The pulpit allows no free discussion.”
Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary (3 January 1892)
“Following the free also works in the other direction. If one way to increase product value is to make products free, then many things now free may contain potential value not yet perceived.”
Kevin Kelly (editor) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Upon the decks they take beef-tea Who are so free, so free, so free, But down the ladder in the engine-room (Doom, doom, doom, doom) The great cranks rise and fall, repeat, The great cranks plod with their Assyrian feet To match the monotonous energy of the sea.”
Louis MacNeice (1907–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source