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Quotes about freedom

567 quotes from 261 people

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If you wanna be free, you’ve gotta accept everything.
JMJason Mechalek
Who aint a slave? Tell me that.
Herman Melville1819–1891Moby-Dick (1851), Chapter IIn context
Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?
Herman Melville1819–1891Moby-Dick (1851), Chapter CXXXIIIn context
- God
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956
- Laws
I have believed all my life in free thought and free speech⁠—up to and including the utmost limits of the endurable.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956“For the Defense Written for the Associated Press, for use in my obituary” (20 November 1940)
I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956“What I Believe” in The Forum 84 (September 1930), p. 139; some of these expressions were also used separately in other Mencken essays.
- Knowledge
- Truth & Lies
Without freedom the human mind is prevented from unleashing its creative force.
Angela Merkelborn 1954Remarks by German Chancellor Angela Merkel before a joint session of Congress on November 04, 2009.
The yearning for freedom cannot be contained by walls for long.
Angela Merkelborn 1954Remarks by President Obama and Chancellor Merkel in an Exchange of Toasts on June 07, 2011.
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Ch. 1: IntroductoryIn context
- Government
- Liberty
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called, and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Ch. III: Of Individuality, As One of the Elements of Well-BeingIn context
- Liberty
- Power
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter IIn context
- Liberty
If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
There’s too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him. Of defining him rather than letting him go. It’s part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad.
Arthur Miller1915–20051963 interview, used in The Century of the Self (2002)
- Power
The prisoner is not the one who has committed a crime, but the one who clings to his crime and lives it over and over.
Henry Miller1891–1980The Rosy Crucifixion I: Sexus (1949), Ch. 14
- Forgiveness