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Freedom

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“Terms like "liberty" and "individual freedom" invoked by generations of Americans who battled to widen the 1787 promise to "promote the general welfare" have been perverted to create a government primarily dedicated to the state and the political class that runs it. Yes, Virginia, there is a class war and ordinary people are losing it.”
Bill Moyers (1934–2025) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Moyers on Democracy (2008), Introduction, p. 2
“It is not our affluence, or our plumbing, or our clogged freeways that grip the imagination of others. Rather, it is the values upon which our system is built. These values imply our adherence not only to liberty and individual freedom, but also to international peace, law and order, and constructive social purpose. When we depart from these values, we do so at our peril.”
J. William Fulbright (1905–1995) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks in the Senate, June 29, 1961, Congressional Record, vol. 107, p. 11,703
“But from the beginning, this nation trusted in God, not man. Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.”
Mitt Romney (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If one is going to err, one should err on the side of liberty and freedom.”
Kofi Annan (1938–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Constitution of the United States has for its almost sole purpose the protection of the freedom of the people. We must combat every attempt to break down or to make it easy, under the pretended guise of legal procedure, to throw open the way to reaction or revolution. To adopt any other course is to put in jeopardy the sacred right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every friend of freedom... must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Open Letter to Bill Bennett" in The Wall Street Journal (7 September 1989)
“The instant case involves liberty of the person both in its spatial and more transcendent dimensions.... Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today.... As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.”
Anthony Kennedy (born 1936) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (26 June 2003).
“You are a guardian and protector of liberty. You may be the only thing that stands between freedom and slavery. And if you can, join those who are willing to take a stand in Washington, DC on 9-12. If not, stand together somewhere in your community on 9-12. Get involved. They're very well organized in their communities, and I didn't realize how many socialist communities there were.”
Glenn Beck (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Under the rule of a repressive whole, liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination. The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual.”
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, come as comes the morn. Serene and strong and full of faith, America, arise, With steady hope and mighty help to join thy brave Allies. O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire, Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom’s altar-fire: For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease, And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace.”
Henry van Dyke (1852–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would rather face the terrorists than lose my civil liberties. If protecting our safety means taking away our Bill of Rights, then could I be so crass and bold as to scream "Give me liberty or give me death"? Once freedom is gone—the bedrock foundation that built our country—what's left to stand for and believe in?”
Jesse Ventura (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]f American champions of civil liberty could all think in terms of economic freedom as the goal of their labors, they too would accept "workers' democracy" as far superior to what the capitalist world offers to any but a small minority. Yes, and they would accept — regretfully, of course — the necessity of dictatorship while the job of reorganizing society on a socialist basis is being done.”
Roger Nash Baldwin (1884–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a passion for freedom is not in vogue, patriots may sound the alarm till they are weary. The Act of Habeas Corpus, by which prisoners may insist on being brought to trial within a limited time, is the corner-stone of our liberty.”
Horace Walpole (1717–1797) first seen 1758 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes of 1758, published in Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second (1822), p. 226; also published as "Memoirs of the Year 1758" in Memoirs of King George II, Vol. III (1985), p. 10
“There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, "I disagree." We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators, our news media, our lawmakers and, above all, to the one among us we elect President.”
Natalie Merchant (born 1963) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Nation (15 July 1991)
“Freedom and liberty lose out by default because good people are not vigilant.”
Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches (1984)
“Upon the liberty of the press and freedom of discussion, the basis of the constitution was known to rest. Take away these, and the whole fabric most fall.”
Charles James Fox (1749–1806) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons against the Treason Bill and Seditious Practices Bill (17 November 1795), quoted in The Speeches of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, in the House of Commons. Vol. VI (1815), p. 26
“If conservatives really believed in individual liberty, as they endlessly claim — and if they used both halves of their brains — then they'd be libertarians. Instead, they sabotage themselves, and their cause, by constantly generating one spurious reason after another to deprive other people of their freedom.”
L. Neil Smith (1946–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”
George Mason (1725–1792) said by 1792 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The colonized people who have contributed to the enrichment of the capitalist West share neither its prosperity nor its relative freedom. And the imperatives of the marketplace set people against each other; the comforts of middle-class life are bought at the expense of the poor, liberty at the expense of community.”
Ellen Willis (1941–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) first seen 1786 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Dr. James Currie (28 January 1786) Lipscomb & Bergh 18:ii
“I came out of the Soviet Union no longer a communist, because I believed in personal freedom. Like all Americans, I took for granted the individual liberty to which I had been born. It seemed as necessary and as inevitable as the air I breathed; it seemed the natural element in which human beings lived.”
Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature and of the concepts of liberty, freedom, and self-determination. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. He (Obama) believes that the pie is fixed and that he needs to more equitably divide up the slices.”
Paul Ryan (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not only under Nazi rule that police excesses are inimical to freedom. It is easy to make light of insistence on scrupulous regard for the safeguards of civil liberties when invoked on behalf of the unworthy. It is too easy. History bears testimony that by such disregard are the rights of liberty extinguished, heedlessly at first, then stealthily, and brazenly in the end.”
Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Davis v. United States, 328 U.S. 582, 597 (1946).
“I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do. I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I have not in any respect injured your feelings.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) said by 1865 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That is why individuals and peoples need a “healing of memories”. This does not mean that they have to forget past events. Rather, they have to learn to look at them in a new way. Instead of remaining prisoners of the past, they have to recover their freedom to forgive. As the pope says: “The deadly cycle of revenge must be replaced by the new-found liberty of forgiveness.”
Kurien Kunnumpuram (1931–2018) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kunnumpuram, K. (ed) (2007) World Peace: An Impossible Dream?, Mumbai: St Pauls
“I am not going to talk about patriotism, duty, liberty, and the defense of freedom — because that's all dung to a soldier.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the long and dogged crusade that the human race has fought in favor of democracy, the ideal of liberty, of freedom, has always been the goal.”
John Allen Fraser (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not even when the political freedom of a nation is at stake should the Christian militant make use of an unchristian weapon. The following of Jesus Christ is infinitely more important than the maintenance of political liberty at the expense of his principles.”
Kirby Page (1890–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We started our struggle from 2005, and...we organized a lot of protests, weekly protests, in a place we called the Square of Liberty...We knew and know that the freedom of speech is the door to democracy and justice.”
Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His nation of liberty was founded on the backs of Negro slaves and at the cost of exterminating the aborigines. As far as I can tell, the Yankee’s idea of freedom is his right to carry a pistol with which he may shoot strangers in the street.”
Kage Baker (1952–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Unless the world is truly set apart from God and possesses a dependent but real liberty of its own analogous to the freedom of God, everything is merely a fragment of divine volition, and God is simply the totality of all that is and all that happens; there is no creation, but only an oddly pantheistic expression of God's unadulterated power.”
David Bentley Hart (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that the love of freedom and the hatred of oppression under-girds and vitalizes the whole republican movement. The principles of our fathers in regard to human liberty and equality still live in the hearts of their descendants, and will find appropriate expression and suitable exponents.”
Owen Lovejoy (1811–1864) first seen 1838 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in His Brother's Blood: Speeches and Writings, 1838–64 (2004), edited by William Frederick Moore and Jane Ann Moore, p. 158
“Liberty (or freedom) is the absence of coercion by other human beings.”
John Hospers (1918–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liberty is absence of restraint. Freedom is participation in government.”
John R. Commons (1862–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Congress does act slowly, often without foresight, and in ways detrimental to efficient government. But our entire consitutional scheme of checks and balances is intended to curb swift government action and to subordinate efficiency concerns to safeguard liberty and freedom.”
Bruce Fein (born 1947) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: AIDS in the workplace; the administration's impeccable logic, The New York Times (July 13, 1986)
“There is a battle shaping up in the world – a battle between the forces of archy – of statism, of political rule and authority – and its only alternative – anarchy, the absence of political rule. This battle is the necessary and logical consequence of the battle between individualism and collectivism, between liberty and the state, between freedom and slavery.”
Roy Childs (1949–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom is a God-given right. This means maximising liberty while minimising harm to others. Owning an AR-15 does no harm to others. Using it to kill people does. So murder is not a right. But property ownership — especially for defense — is.”
Raheem Kassam (born 1986) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter, 12:00 AM · September 2, 2019
“The social democracy of Germany must fulfill the role of champions of political freedom. The task of uniting the struggle for economic independence with that for political liberty has fallen upon the German laboring class.”
Wilhelm Liebknecht (1826–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many medical and legal professionals believe that in many ways marijuana is actually less harmful than my drug of choice, alcohol. So if adults choose to use marijuana instead of alcohol, the governments, as a matter of freedom and liberty, should not be able to prohibit them from doing so.”
James P. Gray (born 1945) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regulate marijuana like wine,” April 10, 2011, 2012, Gray’s campaign website,
“Each of us, Leonard Read said, must become candles of liberty in the darkness of collectivist ideas. The brighter we each shine through our understanding and ability to articulate the meaning of freedom, the more we will be beacons that can attract others.”
Richard Ebeling (born 1950) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Free Markets, the Rule of Law, and Classical Liberalism”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (May 1, 2004)
“I became familiar with literature before I knew freedom, so that it was literature that led me to liberty, not the other way around. Faith in literature and in the creative process brings protection. It generates antibodies that allow you to struggle against state terror.”
Ismail Kadare (1936–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lay down your weapons, you soldiers at the front. Lay down your tools, you workers at home. Do not let yourselves be deceived any longer by your rulers, the lip patriots, and the munitions profiteers. Rise with power and seize the reins of government. Yours is the force. To you belongs the right to rule. Answer the call for freedom and win your own war for liberty.”
Karl Liebknecht (1871–1919) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Call for Revolution (1918)
“Religious faith and its practice cannot be taken for granted and we must be resolved in our defense of our cherished freedom to practice our faith, especially in the context of a secular culture which many times is opposed to its basic beliefs. History has witnessed many instances of blatant disregard for religious liberty which has resulted in devastating persecution.”
Gerald Barbarito (born 1950) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This 'Fortnight for Freedom' (28 June 2012)
“Things like freedom and liberty and constitutional protection and unalienable rights that are beyond the scope of government. Those type of things are the only things that will help us deal with some of the division in our country.”
Jody Hice (born 1960) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Congressman Jody Hice: Religious Liberty and Good Business are Benefits of Republican Majority (29 March 2018)
“In Kashmir, rights relating to life, liberty, dignity of the people, and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution, embodied in the fundamental covenants and enforceable by courts of law, have been gravely violated.”
Nyla Ali Khan (born 1972) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Hidden Tragedy of Kashmir", Interview with Souad Sharabani, www.counterpunch.org, September 15, 2016.
“O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassion'd stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness. America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.”
Katharine Lee Bates (1859–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Making liberty tradable merchandise paves the way to ending independence. Everything becomes a commodity, even freedom.”
Robert Boswell (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is to me surprising that the repudiation of the entire theory and practice of conscription has not found expression in a wider and more powerful movement drawing strength from the widespread concern for individual liberty. We are horrified at many slighter infringements of individual freedom, far less terrible than this. But we are so accustomed to conscription that we take it for granted.”
Emily Greene Balch (1867–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now what is it that we mean when we talk about libertarianism? And let me quote the words of the greatest authority on freedom in Argentina, Professor Alberto Benegas Lynch Jr, who says that libertarianism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others based on the principle of non-aggression, in defence of the right to life, liberty and property.”
Javier Milei (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sachidananda Routray has well paid a tribute to Baji Rout with these opening lines of his poem: It is not a pyre, O Friends! When the country is in dark despair, It is the light of our liberty. It is our freedom-ﬁre.”
Baji Rout (1926–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source