Threats To Liberty Quotes

History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

Thurgood Marshall

Inspirational, Rights, Historical

"Neither Liberty, Nor Safety" by Virginia Postrel, reason.com. June 1989.

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Of course, there are dangers in religious freedom and freedom of opinion. But to deny these rights is worse than dangerous, it is absolutely fatal to liberty. The external threat to liberty should not drive us into suppressing liberty at home. Those who want the government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

Harry S. Truman

Suicide, Religious, Home

Address at National Archives, Washington, D.C., 15 Dec. 1952

104 Copy quote

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Of course, there are dangers in religious freedom and freedom of opinion. But to deny these rights is worse than dangerous, it is absolutely fatal to liberty.

Harry S. Truman

Religious, Rights, Liberty

Harry S. Truman (1956). “The Truman administration, its principles and practice”

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Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.

Thomas Jefferson

Pursuit Of Happiness, Government, People

Declaration of Independence (1776).

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Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

Harry S. Truman

Suicide, Men, Law

Address at National Archives, Washington, D.C., 15 Dec. 1952

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An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.

Eugene McCarthy

Liberty, Bureaucracy, Threat

Eugene J. McCarthy (2004). “Parting Shots from My Brittle Bow: Reflections on American Politics and Life”, p.109, Fulcrum Publishing

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We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Thomas Jefferson

Life, Change, Happiness

Declaration of Independence (1776).

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...that standing army can never be formidable (threatening) to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in the use of arms.

Alexander Hamilton

Army, Gun, Law

8 Copy quote
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

Walter E. Williams

Men, Independence, Unalienable Rights

27 Copy quote
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson

Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

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When all the objectives of government include the achievement of equality - other than equality before the law - that government poses a threat to liberty.

Margaret Thatcher

Government, Law, Achievement

5 Copy quote
"Little Brother" sounds an optimistic warning. It extrapolates from current events to remind us of the ever-growing threats to liberty. But it also notes that liberty ultimately resides in our individual attitudes and
actions. In our increasingly authoritarian world, I especially hope that teenagers and young adults will read it - and then persuade their peers, parents and teachers to follow suit.

Dan Gillmor

Teacher, Brother, Attitude

7 Copy quote
In fact, it's the greatest threat to liberty of all kinds, whether it is freedom of religion, whether it is freedom of speech, whether it is freedom of the press, whether it is freedom of association, all of the rights that are enshrined in the First Amendment are threatened by the active, aggressive homosexual lobby and the homosexual agenda.

Bryan Fischer

Rights, Freedom Of Speech, Liberty

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