Terence McKenna on freedom

Our ability to destroy ourselves is the mirror image of our ability to save ourselves.

The real secret of magic is that the world is made of words, and that if you know the words that the world is made of you can make of it whatever you wish.

I think people have a very narrow conception of what is possible with reality, that we’re surrounded by the howling abyss of the unknowable and nobody knows what’s out there.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to William Stephens Smith (13 November 1787). Manuscript at the Library of Congress.

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The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.

John Philpot Curran1750–1817Often credited to Thomas Jefferson

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin1706–1790This was first used by Franklin for the Pennsylvania Assembly in its “Reply to the Governor” (November 11, 1755) Reply to the Governor

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