Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Freedom
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“Man's most sacred privilege is freedom of will, the ability to obey or disobey his Maker.”
Joseph H. Hertz (1872–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our Party supports and will continue to support peoples fighting for their freedom. In so doing, the Soviet Union does not look for advantages, does not hunt for concessions, does not seek political domination and is not after military bases. We act as we are bid by our revolutionary conscience, our communist convictions.”
Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Peoples everywhere wish and long for peace and freedom in their simplest and clearest connotations: an end to armed conflict and to the suppression of the inalienable rights of man.”
Ralph Bunche (1904–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Women of the Hall: Rosa Parks," Women's National Hall of Fame (undated); said upon her 77th birthday (1990-02-04)
“I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter, (30 December 2019)
“59 years ago today I was released from Parchman Farm Penitentiary after being arrested in Jackson, MS for using a so-called "white" restroom during the Freedom Rides of 1961.”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter, (7 July 2020)
“I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation. Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete. — At the 1963 March on Washington”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Get in good trouble, necessary trouble': Rep. John R. Lewis in his own words Joshua Bote, USA Today (18 July 2020)
“Rewatching the Freedom Riders documentary, seeing the face of a young John Lewis, and I'm reminded of how so many of the ppl who spit on, cursed at, & assaulted these riders are ppl who are still alive today. Still alive, still voting, still here. None of this was that long ago.”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jul 18, 2020 On Twitter
Also quoted by: Clint Smith (writer)
“The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people. Freedom of the press, too.”
Fisher Ames (1758–1808) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to George Richards Minot (June 12, 1789), reported in Fisher Ames, Seth Ames, John Thornton Kirkland, Works of Fisher Ames: With a Selection from His Speeches and Correspondence (1854), p. 54.
“We lost one of one of the great leaders of our lifetime on Monday. She was a true friend of America, and a champion of freedom. We're going to ensure that Margaret Thatcher’s legacy is honored by the United States government in a way commensurate with her enormous achievements.”
John Boehner (born 1949) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the death of Margaret Thatcher. Southern Maryland News, April 14, 2013
“The Anarchists believe in civil society; only they insist that the freedom of civil society shall be complete instead of partial.”
Benjamin Tucker (1854–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The way towards 'wisdom' or towards 'freedom' is the way towards your inner being. This is the simplest definition of metaphysics.”
Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed in The Little Book of Romanian Wisdom (2011) edited by Diana Doroftei and Matthew Cross
“The Iranian revolution of today, therefore, is a natural heritage of the historical struggle for freedom and social equality among Arab people, who have continued to fight under the banner of Islam and to draw their inspiration from the teachings of the Koran and the prophet Muhammad (Page 4)”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A progressive Muslim is a Muslim who respects all religions. He doesn’t politicize his God. God is not a book. God is justice and freedom and love and honesty. That is what my father taught me–to be honest.”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My dream is a world without religion, with real morality and one standard for men and women, poor and rich. A world with no war, with equality and justice between genders and classes, real freedom and democracy. That would be to finish with patriarchy and capitalism and class, to have a really human society, to unveil the mind.”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After seven years of marriage, He wanted out. Now after seven months of freedom, It's clear that there's no doubt.She's gonna make it, And he never will. He's at the foot of the mountain, And she's over that hill. He's sinkin' at sea, And her sails are filled. She's gonna make it, And he never will.”
Garth Brooks (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And we will turn our motherland into the graveyard of the U.S forces and their families should wait for their dead bodies. The Taliban's war is only for the freedom of Afghanistan from the enemies of Muslims.”
Mullah Dadullah (1966–2007) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Taliban deploy thousands of suicide bombers - commander 02 Apr 2007.
“There is a terrorism which threatens security, honour, property and the like; there is a cultural terrorism which tears human identity apart; there is an information terrorism which deprives man of his freedom to breathe in an unpolluted atmosphere.”
Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri (1944–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The United States remains a country where there is trial by jury and more freedom of expression of every sort of opinion than anywhere else in the world – including England.”
A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Does today mean nothing to you?', Daily Herald (4 July 1953), p. 4
“The great underlying conflict was between freedom and organization. Could the war be conducted by 'Liberal' methods—that is, by voluntary recruiting and by laissez-faire economics? Or must there be compulsory military service, control of profits, and direction of labour and industry?”
A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Politics in the First World War', Politics in Wartime and Other Essays (1965), p. 21
“I was attracted to Romanesque sculptures, to the complete re-invented figures and the freedom with which the Romanesque artist constructed them. He does not copy, he creates in a totally anti-Renaissance fashion can say that in Romanesque sculpture I have found a starting point for distortion.”
Fernand Léger (1881–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kunst und Zeugnis, Dora Vallier, Zürich 1967, p. 67
“We are a small nation. Our military strength in proportion to the mighty armaments of modern nations can never be considerable. Our strength as a nation will depend upon our economic freedom, and upon our moral and intellectual force. In these we can become a shining light in the world.”
Michael Collins (Irish leader) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Path to Freedom (1968 [2010]), p. 64
“About military efforts: No one wants war, neither we nor you. Our greatest efforts have been focusing on own people and forces within our boundaries, without war, to uproot the zealot Mullahs governing our country and replace them with a secular, democratic government which respects human rights and freedom.”
Amir-Abbas Fakhravar (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hope of attaining true freedom by purely political means has become an insane delusion. (from "The Pasternak Affair").”
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men may one day feel that they are partakers of a common nature, and that true freedom and perfect equity, like food and air, are pregnant with benefit to every constitution.”
William Godwin (1756–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can't stop us on the road to freedom You can't stop us 'cause our eyes can see Men with insight, men in granite Knights in armor intent on chivalry She's as sweet as Tupelo honey She's an angel of the first degree She's as sweet as Tupelo honey Just like honey, baby, from the bee”
Van Morrison (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the talk now is of freedom and pride (pride!), but these young hotheads in their pink bell-bottoms, clamouring for the right to do it in the streets if they feel like it, do not seem to appreciate, or at least seem to wish to deny, the aphrodisiac properties of secrecy and fear.”
John Banville (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to issue a call to everyone in the world who believes in the values of tolerance, freedom, democracy, humanism, to all those who are persecuted by tyranny, by dictatorships.”
Nicolas Sarkozy (born 1955) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nicolas Sarkozy: Victory speech excerpts 6 May 2007
“I have come to salvage Elphin's honor and his freedom. Taliesin am I, primary chief bard to Elphin. Primary chief poet Am I to Elphin. And my native country Is the place of the Summer Stars. John the Divine Called me Merlin, But all future kings Shall call me Taliesin.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religion is usually nothing but a supplement to or even a substitute for education, and nothing is religious in the strict sense which is not a product of freedom.”
Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #233
“I am a novelist, not an activist... But I think that no one who reads what I write or who listens to my lectures can doubt that I am enlisted in the freedom movement. As an individual, I am primarily responsible for the health of American literature and culture. When I write, I am trying to make sense out of chaos. To think that a writer must think about his Negroness is to fall into a trap.”
Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "An American Novelist Who Sometimes Teaches" by John Corry in The New York Times (20 November 1966).
“[T]here's always an element of crime in freedom.”
Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nelson Mandela was a voice for justice and a symbol for freedom - and his legacy reminds us that we all share a responsibility to continue building a just, sustainable, and equitable world for all. On this #MandelaDay and every day, let’s keep working together to make an impact.”
Justin Trudeau (born 1971) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement on Twitter marking the anniversary of the birth of South African anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Nelson Mandela (18 July 2020)
“The Republic of South Africa has a new formula under the National Party's leadership: black nations can get freedom without firing shots or revolution.”
P. W. Botha (1916–2006) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As prime minister, Graaff-Reinet, 26 May 1984, as cited in PW Botha in his own words, Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1987, p. 35
“Our enemies latched unto the word "apartheid" and in a very sly manner transformed it into the strongest weapon in the onslaught against freedom and civilization in our country.”
P. W. Botha (1916–2006) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As state president at a parade of the SA Police College, Pretoria, 20 June 1986, as cited in PW Botha in his own words, Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1987, p. 37
“Just because you've become a young man now, There's still some things that you don't understand now. Before you ask some girl for her hand now, Keep your freedom for as long as you can now.My mama told me...'you better shop around' (Shop, shop around) a-whoa-yeah You better (uh-huh) shop around.”
Smokey Robinson (born 1940) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shop Around, written by Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy, Jr. (1960)
“By anarchist spirit I mean that deeply human sentiment, which aims at the good of all, freedom and justice for all, solidarity and love among the people; which is not an exclusive characteristic only of self-declared anarchists, but inspires all people who have a generous heart and an open mind...”
Errico Malatesta (1853–1932) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Umanita Nova (13 April 1922)
“There is little that matters more to me than my freedom and independence, artistic and otherwise. But I accept that once a book is put out into the world, it will be read, interpreted, and used by its readers as they see fit. I can agree or disagree, but by then the book is no longer mine; it's been given away to anyone else who cares to read it and invest themselves in it.”
Nicole Krauss (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who wishes to study the barometric level of spiritual freedom must examine the relationship of the state to its Jewish subjects.”
Moses Hess (1812–1875) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Translation brought in Prophecy and Politics: Socialism, Nationalism, and the Russian Jews, 1862-1917 by Jonathan Frankel
“If one looks with a penetrating eye into the facts, he will clearly perceive that no two things are so closely akin as independence of action and freedom, because the bad man has a multitude of encumbrances, such as love of money or reputation and pleasure, while the good man has none at all. He stands defiant and triumphant.”
Philo (15 BC–50) said by 50 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The good man … has learnt to set at naught the injunctions laid upon him by those most lawless rulers of the soul, inspired as he is by his ardent yearning for the freedom whose peculiar heritage it is that it obeys no orders and works no will but its own.”
Philo (15 BC–50) said by 50 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have a very clear evidence of freedom in the equality recognized by all the good in addressing each other.”
Philo (15 BC–50) said by 50 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A far greater glory is it to the wise to die for freedom, the love of which stands in very truth implanted in the soul like nothing else, not as a casual adjunct but an essential part of its unity, and cannot be amputated without the whole system being destroyed as a result.”
Philo (15 BC–50) said by 50 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Noble souls, whose brightness the greed of fortune cannot dim, have a kingly something, which urges them to contend on equal footing with persons of the most massive dignity and pits freedom of speech against arrogance.”
Philo (15 BC–50) said by 50 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the former one does not deprive the low of the freedom to reveal itself as fully as what it is.”
Leo Strauss (1899–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, with the glamour of the past upon them we are inclined to look back on old world festivities with regret and consider present day dances as a poor substitute for the old. From an artistic point of view, they maybe, but in individual freedom and independence of spirit they mark a stage upward.”
Flora Thompson (1876–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: August Chapter The Peverel Papers - A yearbook of the countryside ed Julian Shuckburgh Century Hutchinson 1986
“The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative. The history of the capitalist era is characterized by the degradation of my people: despoiled of their lands, their true culture destroyed... denied equal protection of the law, and deprived their rightful place in the respect of their fellows.”
Paul Robeson (1898–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Paul Robeson, The Whole World in His Hands (1981) by Susan Robeson, p. 60
“Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Learn to live in harmony with each other and nature. Living a thoroughly loving joyous abundant life is your god given right. Nature is abundant. Live according to the universal law, universal principles such as Brother/Sisterly Love, Universal Peace, Individual Freedom and Prosperity for all.”
James Gilliland (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“these pretended defenders of freedom of every nation of the world except Puerto Rico are mere bandits in the current history of mankind.”
Pedro Albizu Campos (1891–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source