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Quotes about liberty

136 quotes from 75 people

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Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois (11 September 1858)
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Gettysburg Address (1863)
- America
Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be acquired.
David Lloyd George1863–1945Speech in the House of Commons (10 May 1928)
Liberty has restraints but no frontiers.
David Lloyd George1863–1945International Liberal Conference (July 1928)
The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.
James Madison1751–1836“Outline” notes (September 1829), in The Writings of James Madison (1910) by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 9, p. 357
- America
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
James Madison1751–1836“Political Observations” (1795-04-20)
- War & Peace
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 10 (November 22, 1787)In context
- Politics
The people are their own liberators.
Nelson Mandela1918–2013
Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy.
José Martí1853–1895Martí: Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)
- Truth & Lies
Man loves liberty, even if he does not know that he loves it. He is driven by it and flees from where it does not exist.
José Martí1853–1895Martí: Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)
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
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
- 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
- Freedom
Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.
John Milton1608–1674
License they mean when they cry, Liberty!
For who loves that must first be wise and good.
John Milton1608–1674On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises, reported in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)