I believe in liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love.
—W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) American Civil Rights Activist, Sociologist, Historian, Academic, Journalist
But the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done…. The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words that may have all the effect of force…. The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
The liberated man is not the one who is freed in his ideal reality, his inner truth, or his transparency; he is the man who changes spaces, who circulates, who changes sex, clothes, and habits according to fashion, rather than morality, and who changes opinions not as his conscience dictates but in response to opinion polls.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word “freedom” out of your vocabulary.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
Freedom is but the possibility of a various and indefinite activity; while government, or the exercise of dominion, is a single, yet real activity. The longing for freedom, therefore, is at first only too frequently suggested by the deep-felt consciousness of its absence.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
We have confused the free with the free and easy.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be acquired.
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945) British Liberal Statesman
There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
No matter what a man does, he is not fully sane or human unless there is a spirit of freedom in him, a soul unconfined by purpose and larger than the practicable world.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
The Divine Plan is one of Freedom. The inherent nature of man is ever seeking to express itself in terms of freedom, because freedom is the birthright of every living soul.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object, and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
The experiences of camp life show that a man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even in the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.
—Che Guevara (1928–67) Argentine-Cuban Revolutionary
None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves. Discipline is deciding not to be led around by our gotta haves. It is the task of a lifetime, an indispensable prerequisite to success, and the only way to be truly free.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Whatever the price, identify it now. What will you have to go through to get where you want to be? There is a price you can pay to be free of the situation once and for all. It may be a fantastic price or a tiny one — but there is a price.
—Harry Browne (1933–2006) American Politician, Investor, Writer
We are all of us the worse for too much liberty.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Void of freedom, what would virtue be?
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. I call this the freedom multiplier.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves beside.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Freedom is poetry, taking liberties with words, breaking the rules of normal speech, violating common sense. Freedom is violence.
—Norman O. Brown (1913–2002) American Philosopher
Liberty, according to my metaphysics…is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.
—John Adams (1735–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
There must be no tampering with the delicate machinery by which religious liberty and equality are secured, and no fostering of any spirit which would tend to destroy that machinery.
—James Gibbons (1834–1921) American Catholic Religious Leader, Clergyman
I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was two things I had a right to, liberty and death. If I could not have one, I would have the other, for no man should take me alive.
—Harriet Tubman (c.1820–1913) American Abolitionist, Social Reformer
Real freedom comes from the mastery, through knowledge, of historic conditions and race character which makes possible a free and intelligent use of experience for the purpose of progress.
—Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846–1916) American Essayist, Editor
If you think you’re free, there’s no escape possible.
—Ram Dass (1931–2019) American Hindu, New Age Pioneer
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
After climbing a great hill, one finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk has not yet ended.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
The measure of a democracy is the measure of the freedom of its humblest citizens.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… and other people would be also free.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads.
—Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) French General, Statesman
The contest, for ages, has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
If you make a living, if you earn your own money, you’re free — however free one can be on this planet.
—Theodore H. White (1915–86) American Journalist, Historian, Novelist
Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights.
—Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American Judge
A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten.
—Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881–1938) Founder of the Turkish Republic
A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
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 Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Lies but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
—William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) English Poet, Critic, Editor
When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won’t do to get it, or what he doesn’t believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn’t believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire… or preserve his freedom.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
The will is never free — it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car — it can’t steer.
—Joyce Cary (1888–1957) English Novelist, Artist
Freedom is like taking a bath — you have to keep doing it every day!
—Florynce Kennedy (1916–2000) American Lawyer, Civil Rights Leader, Feminist, Activist
I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won’t let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
O Liberty…! is it well
To leave the gates unguarded?
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Poet, Novelist, Traveler, Editor
The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this armyOur cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expectWe have therefore to resolve to conquer or die.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
There is no truer and more abiding happiness than the knowledge that one is free to go on doing, day by day, the best work one can do, in the kind one likes best, and that this work is absorbed by a steady market and thus supports one’s own life. Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.
—R. G. Collingwood (1889–1943) English Philosopher, Historian, Archaeologist
Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
The oppression of any people for opinion’s sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
There are two good things in life—freedom of thought and freedom of action.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.
—Edwin Arnold (1832–1904) English Poet, Journalist, Editor
A forest bird never wants a cage.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
There are two freedoms—the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
For me, the principal fact of life is the free mind. For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity. A perpetually new and lively world, but a dangerous one, full of tragedy and injustice. A world in everlasting conflict between the new idea and the old allegiances, new arts and new inventions against the old establishment.
—Joyce Cary (1888–1957) English Novelist, Artist
All we have of freedom — all we use or know — this our fathers bought for us, long and long ago.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba — yes Cuba too.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
The most intellectual of men are moved quite as much by the circumstances which they are used to as by their own will. The active voluntary part of a man is very small, and if it were not economized by a sleepy kind of habit, its results would be null.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of man. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love—every man works his oar voluntarily!
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
—Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American Philosopher, Educator
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
There’s something contagious about demanding freedom.
—Robin Morgan (b.1941) American Activist, Writer, Poet, Editor
Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Bondage is… subjection to external influences and internal negative thoughts and attitudes.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
We human beings do have some genuine freedom of choice and therefore some effective control over our own destinies. I am not a determinist. But I also believe that the decisive choice is seldom the latest choice in the series. More often than not, it will turn out to be some choice made relatively far back in the past.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged.
—Alice Walker (b.1944) American Novelist, Activist
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise we do not believe in it at all.
—Noam Chomsky (b.1928) American Linguist, Social Critic
Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Let freedom never perish in your hands.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy, attributable to the same causes as the freedom.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort which it brings.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued – they may be essential to survival.
—Noam Chomsky (b.1928) American Linguist, Social Critic
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Is any man free except the one who can pass his life as he pleases?
—Persius (34–62 CE) Roman Satirist
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
The sovereignty of one’s self over one’s self is called Liberty.
—Albert Pike (1809–91) American Masonic Scholar, Orator, Jurist
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one
—Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Russian-born American Composer, Musician
No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
Liberty: One of Imagination’s most precious possessions.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, founded not upon visionary ideas, but upon the long experience of many generations within the shores of this happy isle, that in freedom you lay the firmest foundations both of loyalty and order.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) English Liberal Statesman, Prime Minister
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.
—Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American Author, Editor, Orator
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.
—Germaine Greer (b.1939) Australia Academic, Journalist, Scholar, Writer
You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.
—Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English Politician, Philosopher
Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
We have to call it “freedom”: who’d want to die for “a lesser tyranny?”
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
—Madonna (b.1958) American Pop Singer, Actress
Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
Women, like men, ought to have their youth so glutted with freedom they hate the very idea of freedom.
—Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) English Gardener, Author, Poet
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
—Frederick Douglass (1817–95) American Abolitionist, Author, Editor, Diplomat, Political leader
None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
It requires greater courage to preserve inner freedom, to move on in one’s inward journey into new realms, than to stand defiantly for outer freedom. It is often easier to play the martyr, as it is to be rash in battle.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American Poet, Dramatist
Freedom unexercised may become freedom forfeited.
—Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995) American Politician
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons taught us we were entitled to, no matter what the sacrifice.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.
—Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007) First Lady of the United States, Conservationist