James Baldwin on freedom

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex. You thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.

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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