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Quotes about freedom

567 quotes from 261 people

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Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.
Salman Rushdieborn 1947Address at Columbia University (1991)
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970
- Government
Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 13: Freedom in Society
- Economics
- Liberty
Too little liberty brings stagnation, and too much brings chaos.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Authority and the Individual (1949), p. 37
- Liberty
It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 12: Free Thought and Official Propaganda
- Thinking
Some part of life – perhaps the most important part – must be left to the spontaneous action of individual impulse, for where all is system there will be mental and spiritual death.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970The Impact of Science on Society (1952)
What then did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises?
Jean-Paul Sartre1905–1980“Orphée Noir (Black Orpheus)” preface, Anthologie de la Nouvelle Poésie Nègre et Malgache (1948)
- Race
I cannot make liberty my aim unless I make that of others equally my aim.
Jean-Paul Sartre1905–1980Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946), p. 52
- Liberty
Your entire universe will not be enough to make me guilty. You are the king of the Gods, Jupiter, the king of the stones and of the stars, the king of the waves of the sea. But you are not the king of men.
Jean-Paul Sartre1905–1980The Flies (1943), Act 3
- God
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on⁠—on⁠—and out of sight.
Siegfried Sassoon1886–1967Everyone Sang (1919)In context
- Happiness
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop!
Mario Savio1942–1996Speech at Sproul Hall, University of California, Berkeley (2 December 1964)
- Responsibility
Chivalry!⁠—why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection⁠—the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant⁠—Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.
Walter Scott1771–1832Ivanhoe (1819), Chapter XXIXIn context
- Honor
- Liberty
All Politeness is owing to Liberty. We polish one another, and rub off our Corners and rough Sides by a sort of amicable Collision. To restrain this, is inevitably to bring a Rust upon Mens Understandings.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury1671–1713Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, pp. 39-40; “Sensus Communis”.
- Debate
- Liberty
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Tempest (c. 1611), EpilogueIn context
- Forgiveness
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), #25
- Liberty
- Responsibility