Freedom Quotes

To evoke another great phrase of the American revolutionary heritage — widely though inconclusively attributed to Thomas Jefferson — the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Such a phrase is merely trite, however, unless we consider its deeper implications. For the French revolutionaries, as for so many regimes that have succeeded them across the world up to the present day, the call for vigilance against enemies, both external and internal, was the first step on the road to the loss of liberty, and lives.Of far more significance, and the true and tragic lesson of the epic descent into The Terror, is the summons to vigilance against ourselves — that we should not assume that we are righteous, and our enemies evil; that we can see clearly, and to others are blinded by malice or folly; that we can abrogate the fragile rights of others in the name of our own certainty and all will be well regardless.If we do not honor the message of human rights born in the revolutions of 1776 and 1786, as the French in their case most certainly failed to do, we too are on the road to The Terror.

~ David Andress

In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth

~ Abraham Lincoln

Brave Americans in past wars didn't die for the actual flag--they died for the freedom it represents, including the freedom to burn it.

~ Bill Maher

Both David Koresh and Timothy McVeigh fell in the fight for freedom, the right of the Americans to be left alone.

~ Eduard Limonov

A freedom given up is not so easily regained.

~ Rivera Sun

Wonderful? wrote J.O. Young in his diary. To stand cheering, crying, waving your hat and acting like a damn fool in general. No one who has spent all but 16 days of the this war as a Nip prisoner can really know what it means to see 'Old Sammy' buzzing around over camp.

~ Laura Hillenbrand

It is not the self respect and pride that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind to your children that matters. A strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations. Those blessed with a patriotic genetic legacy should run to the top of the mountain and roar with all fervency, “If they can over come, so will I!” When you know the ghosts that stand in support of you, you can begin to see life as they did—a life of joy, possibilities and freedom.

~ Shannon L. Alder

[I]t is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or of any number of men, at the entering into society to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights, when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are life, liberty, and property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up an essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right of freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.

~ Samuel Adams

The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.

~ Charles Darwin

The most ironic thing was that, the thing she valued the most was freedom. For according to her, happiness can never occur in bondage. In spite of the fact that death will set her free from all humanly bondages, she wanted to live, let life be the only bondage she was tied with. She wanted it. That one single bondage, to live boundlessly.

~ Pradnya Chabbi

If she is to love life and freedom and be brave then she must learn to let go. To see beauty without clinging to it, to feel pain without holding it hostage, and to feel love without worry of losing it.

~ G.g. Renee Hill

There is something beautiful in you seeking freedom.

~ Bryant Mcgill

Give me the discipline to get rid of the stuff that's not important, the freedom to savor the stuff that gives me joy, and the patience not to worry about the stuff that's messy but not hurting anybody.

~ Vinita Hampton Wright

We cry the same tears. We feel the same pain, of hurt, of hunger, of thirst. When we bleed, our blood is one color. The color of the price of freedom.

~ Michelle Muriel

Crime must be brought under control... Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all.

~ Nelson Mandela

No one can escape slavery, we are all slaves in some regards. We are slaves to our parent's expectations. We are slaves to the pressures of our peers. We are slaves to our own ideologies and faiths.

~ Mahima Martel

Here is a very simple and trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: If it's not about Christ, it's not Christianity.

~ D.r. Silva

Freedom for the Church comes from the necessity of the Word of God. Otherwise, it becomes arbitrariness and ends in a great many new ties.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Your worship is proportional to your communion with God and how you are free with Him.

~ Paul Gitwaza

No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t you understand that freedom depends upon the continuing possibility of rebel violence. When violence becomes unthinkable, freedom dies…

~ Samuel B. Southwell

We agreed that at least to some extent the whole punk movement is based on the Buddha's 1st noble truth of suffering & the dissatisfactory nature of the material world. The punks see through the lies of society & the oppressive dictates of modern consumer culture. Very few punks though seem to take it further & attempt to understand the causes & conditions of the suffering & falsehoods, unfortunately punks rarely come around to seeing that there is actually a solution & a path to personal freedom. My own life's experience w/ both Dharma practice & punk rock inspired me to try to bridge the gap between the two. I've tried to help point out the similarities, while also acknowledging the differences, & to show those of my generation who are interested that they can practice meditation & find there the freedom we have been seeking in our rebellion against the system.

~ Noah Levine

As she’d walked along this street, a million stars stretched across an indigo canvas, holding all the freedom she’d yearned for every night.

~ Katherine Mcintyre

Some tourist think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a ciry of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.

~ John Green

I let go of all that I had thought was wounded, for there is no ego to wound, no ego to hold on with; there is only love & freedom to love.

~ Jay Woodman

The aftermath of bearing shackles is an exquisite devastation, fraught with the ravages of survival. Even though one is no longer held captive—be that from a person, a government, or one’s inner self—the scars are deeply engraved into one’s psyche, and there’s no remedy for the soul. Many have the misconception that freedom equals happiness forever and ever.That’s a wicked delusion.

~ Laura Kreitzer

The people who build high, strong fences are the ones who survive the best. You deny that reality only at the risk of being driven into the wilderness yourself.

~ Haruki Murakami

Freedom is a subset of survival.

~ Toba Beta

Heterosexuality is the traditional way of expressing love and romance; the act of enjoyment between opposite sexes. It is not only for the purpose of enjoyment and pleasure, but also the human general survival. Whilst homosexuality is the freedom of enjoyment and pleasure from any means and ends.

~ M.f. Moonzajer

I care about a lot of issues. I care about libraries, I care about healthcare, I care about homelessness and unemployment. I care about net neutrality and the steady erosion of our liberties both online and off. I care about the rich/poor divide and the rise of corporate business.

~ Sara Sheridan

Absolute freedom is an illusion. For while an employed man might be free from starvation, he is a slave to his employer's financial aspirations, and, working-hours.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Weekends are an employee’s parole.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Freedom is the natural state, acceptance of bonds is a choice we make. We prefer to accept loss of freedom to losing something much less valuable but which we are not willing to sacrifice.

~ R.n. Prasher

P29 - the oppressed, having internalised the image of the oppressor and adopted his guideline are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to eject this image and replace it with autonomy and responsibility.

~ Paulo Freire

For many reasons, Dear,” Delia said in a soothing voice. “We are tired of running , tired of traveling. It is time for us to be together in a world where your kind of evil does not exist. Lucan growled at her, but she continued, And I could not let my daughter or my son feel responsible for the lives you planned to take today. They are good and strong, and they will rule this kingdom after they destroy you. They will restore our immortality; they will bring peace and life again. You may take my life today, I will grant you this, but soon, very soon they will take yours and my sacrifice will be for the greater good of my people.

~ Rachel Higginson

Freedom is inextricably linked to sacrifice and compromise.

~ Cory Bernardi

Who knows not sacrifice may never gain freedom.

~ Ogwo David Emenike

Are you free or were you sold a facsimile of freedom?

~ Bryant Mcgill

Teaching is a sacred art. This is why the noblest druid is not the one who conjures fires and smoke but the one who brings the news and passes on the histories. The teacher, the bard, the singer of tales is a freer of men's minds and bodies, especially when he roams without allegiance to one chieftain or another. But he is also a danger to the masters if he insists upon telling the truth. The truth will inevitably cause tremors in those who cling to power without honoring justice.

~ Kate Horsley