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Quotes about freedom

567 quotes from 261 people

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Civil liberties had their origin and must find their ultimate guaranty in the faith of the people. If that faith should be lost, five or nine men in Washington could not long supply its want.
Robert H. Jackson1892–1954Douglas v. Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 182 (1943)
- Liberty
If the psychic energies of the average mass of people watching a football game or a musical comedy could be diverted into the rational channels of a freedom movement, they would be invincible.
Wilhelm Reich1897–1957The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 1: Ideology As Material Power, Section 4: The Social Function of Sexual Suppression
There are as many perfections as there are imperfect men. And while to the claims of charity a man may yield and yet be free, to the claims of conformity no man may yield and remain free at all.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen.
George Orwell1903–1950“The Freedom Defence Committee” in “The Socialist Leader (18 September 1948)
All over the world, wherever there are capitalists, freedom of the press means freedom to buy up newspapers, to buy writers, to bribe, buy and fake “public opinion” for the benefit of the bourgeoisie.
Vladimir Lenin1870–1924Collected Works, Vol. 32, pp. 504–9.
- Journalism
Freedom does not consist in any dreamt-of independence from natural laws, but in the knowledge of these laws, and in the possibility this gives of systematically making them work towards definite ends.
Friedrich Engels1820–1895Anti-Dühring, pt. 1, ch. 11 (1877)
- Knowledge
The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Address at the University of Washington
- Character
Liberty is a great celestial Goddess, strong, beneficent, and austere, and she can never descend upon a nation by the shouting of crowds, nor by arguments of unbridled passion, nor by the hatred of class against class.
Annie Besant1847–1933The Political Thought of Annie Besant, p. 104
- Liberty
Man is free at the instant he wants to be.
Voltaire1694–1778Brutus, act II, scene I (1730)
Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.
Terry Pratchett1948–2015Wyrd Sisters (1988)
- Work
No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.
Alexis de Tocqueville1805–1859Democracy in America, Volume II (1840), Book Three, Chapter XXII.
- War & Peace
The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom — these are the pillars of society.
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906The Pillars of Society (1877), Act IV
- Truth & Lies
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
William Hazlitt1778–1830Political Essays (1819), “The Times Newspaper”
- Liberty
- Power
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
Rebecca West1892–1983“The Tosh Horse,” The New Statesman (1925)
- Reading
Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.
Virginia Woolf1882–1941A Room of One’s Own (1929), Ch. 4, p. 90
- Reading