My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Writer, Playwright
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
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) Irish Novelist, Artist
If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word “freedom” out of your vocabulary.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
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
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
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
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, Lawyer, Politician
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
There’s something contagious about demanding freedom.
—Robin Morgan (b.1941) American Activist, Writer, Poet, Editor
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
—Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American Philosopher, Educator, Author
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader, Philosopher, Civil Rights Activist
You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.
—Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American Author, Editor, Orator
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) Irish Novelist, Artist
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
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
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader, Philosopher, Civil Rights Activist
We have confused the free with the free and easy.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.
—Che Guevara (1928–67) Argentinean Political leader, Diplomat, Physician, Author
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
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
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
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
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
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
Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader, Philosopher, Civil Rights Activist
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
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
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, Clergyman
We are all of us the worse for too much liberty.
—Terence Ancient Roman Playwright
A forest bird never wants a cage.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright, Poet, Theater Personality
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
O Liberty…! is it well|To leave the gates unguarded?
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Poet, Novelist, Traveler, Editor
Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be acquired.
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945) British Head of State, Lawyer
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, Head of State
There are two good things in life—freedom of thought and freedom of action.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) French Playwright, Novelist, Short Story Writer
Void of freedom, what would virtue be?
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Writer, Poet, Politician, Memoirist
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 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 Universalist Clergyman, Writer
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
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 Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
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, Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
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
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
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 Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
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 Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader, Head of State
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
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
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
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 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
Is any man free except the one who can pass his life as he pleases?
—Persius (34 CE –62 CE) Roman Poet, Critic
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist, Short Story 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 Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
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 Muslim Religious Leader, Human Rights Activist
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) British Philosopher, Civil Servant
Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.
—Edwin Arnold (1832–1904) English Poet, Journalist, Editor
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
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
Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy, attributable to the same causes as the freedom.
—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
If you think you’re free, there’s no escape possible.
—Ram Dass (b.1931) American Hindu Teacher, Author
Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright, Poet, Theater Personality
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