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Quotes about freedom

567 quotes from 261 people

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The priceless heritage of our society is the unrestricted constitutional right of each member to think as he will.
Robert H. Jackson1892–1954American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442-43 (1950)
- Thinking
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.
- Liberty
- War & Peace
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey (6 January 1816) ME 14:384
- Education
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Archibald Stuart , Philadelphia (23 December 1791)
- Liberty
We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, self-preservation in the other.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826On slavery, in a letter to John Holmes (22 April 1820)
- Slavery
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Edward Carrington, Paris (27 May 1788)
- Government
- Liberty
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Eighth State of the Union Address (8 November 1808)
- Guns
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774); The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (19 Vols., 1905) edited by Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, Vol. 1, p. 211
- God
- Liberty
The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826A Summary View of the Rights of British America (July 1774)
- Slavery
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826The Declaration of Independence (1776), Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776), which he draftedIn context
- America
- Liberty
Since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasoning and opinions on a full hearing of all parties.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address (1805)
- Journalism
- Truth & Lies
When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826The Declaration of Independence (1776)In context
- America
- Government
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826The Declaration of Independence (1776)In context
- America
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Jesus7 BC–AD 30The Gospel of John (1611), Gospel of John, 8:32In context
- Truth & Lies
It is true I wished to escape; and so I wish still; is not this lawful for all prisoners?
JAJoan of Arc1412–1431First public examination (21 February 1431)