Liberty is a different kind of pain from prison.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Man’s liberty ends, and it ought to end, when that liberty becomes the curse of his neighbors.
—Frederic William Farrar (1831–1903) English Clergyman, Writer
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
—Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Jurist
It is not true that democracy will always safeguard freedom of conscience better than autocracy. Witness the most famous of all trials. Pilate was, from the standpoint of the Jews, certainly the representative of autocracy. Yet he tried to protect freedom. And he yielded to a democracy.
—Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist
The human race cannot go forward without liberty. If this be correct, then all people everywhere should strive for liberty. If they achieve liberty, they will get a chance to pursue happiness and perhaps will be able to develop toward the ultimate goal of creation.
—Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957) American Naval Officer, Polar Explorer
We are as great as our belief in human liberty—no greater. And our belief in human liberty is only ours when it is larger than ourselves.
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American Poet, Dramatist
A nation may lose its liberties in a day, and not miss them in a century.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
Give me the liberty to know, to think to believe, and to utter freely, according to conscience, above all other liberties.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
I would rather not be a king than to forfeit my liberty.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
The spirit of liberty is not, as multitudes imagine, a jealousy of our own particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others, and an unwillingness that any one, whether high or low, should be wronged or trampled under foot.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
We must remember that a right lost to one is lost to all.
—W. Reece Smith Jr. (1925–2013) American Lawyer
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
In commemoration of the fact that France was our ally in securing independence the citizens of that nation joined with the citizens of the United States in placing in New York harbor an heroic statue representing Liberty enlightening the world. What course shall our nation pursue? Send the statue of Liberty back to France and borrow from England a statue of William the Conqueror?
—William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) American Orator, Politician, Secretary of State
A sound like a sound of thunder rolled,
And the heart of a nation stirred.
—William Ross Wallace (1819–81) American Poet, Lawyer
Safe popular freedom consists of four things, the diffusion of liberty, of intelligence, of property, and of conscientiousness, and cannot be compounded of any three out of the four.
—Joseph Cook
There can be no liberty that isn’t earned.
—Robert R. Young (1897–1958) American Financier, Industrialist
The most essential mental quality for a free people, whose liberty is to be progressive, permanent, and on a large scale, is much stupidity.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
—James Madison (1751–1836) American Founding Father, Statesman, President
Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Liberty is a thing of the spirit-to be free to worship, to think, to hold opinions, and to speak without fear-free to challenge wrong and oppression with surety of justice.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
I like to walk about among the beautiful things that adorn the world; but private wealth I should decline, or any sort of personal possessions, because they would take away my liberty.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Inventor
The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Easier were it to hurl the rooted mountain from its base, than force the yoke of slavery upon men determined to be free.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
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