Freedom Quotes - Page 40

• We can't impose freedom, but we can eliminate roadblocks to freedom, and to allow free societies to develop.

  George W. Bush

  Free Society, Roadblock

  George W. Bush (1982). “Public paper of the presidents of the United States”, p.1035, Government Printing Office

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• Inner freedom demands the rejection of any imposition that injures our dignity.

  Fausto Cercignani

  Rejection, Demand, Dignity

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• Secret thoughts are only half free: they fly undisturbed in the skies of the inner freedom, but they can never leave them.

  Fausto Cercignani

  Sky, Secret, Half

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• He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
  And all are slaves besides.

  William Cowper

  Slave, Freeman

  William Cowper (1855). “The complete poetical works of William Cowper, with life and critical notice of his writings”, p.193

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• A society that does not recognise that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Equality, Doe, Dignity

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek, p. 79, 1960.

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• Our faith in freedom does not rest on the foreseeable results in particular circumstances, but on the belief that it will, on balance, release more forces for the good than for the bad ... Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Balance, Doe, Belief

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek, 1960.

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• Freedom is the alone unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity; and is independence on the will and co-action of every other in so far as this consists with every other person's freedom.

  Immanuel Kant

  Men, Humanity, Independence

  Immanuel Kant (1836). “The Metaphysic of Ethics”, p.202

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• How does the light of a star set out and plunge into black eternity in its immortal course? The star dies, but the light never dies; such also is the cry of freedom.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Stars, Light, Black

  Nikos Kazantzakis (2012). “Saviors of God”, p.66, Simon and Schuster

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• The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education.

  John F. Kennedy

  Perseverance, Character, Government

  Address at the University of Washington's 100th Anniversary Program, November 16, 1961.

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• All students, members of the faculty, and public officials in both Mississippi and the Nation will be able, it is hoped, to return to their normal activities with full confidence in the integrity of American law. This is as it should be, for our Nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny.

  John F. Kennedy

  Integrity, Law, Liberty

  Radio and Television Report to the Nation on the Situation at the University of Mississippi, September 30, 1962.

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• Our goal is not victory of might but the vindication of right - not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.

  John F. Kennedy

  Goal, Victory, Cuban Missile Crisis

  Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation, delivered 22 October 1962

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• While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.

  John F. Kennedy

  Defense, Pursuit, Abandon

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.18, Best Books on

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• The essence of Vanderbilt is still learning, the essence of its outlook is still liberty, and liberty and learning will be and must be the touchstones of Vanderbilt University and of any free university in this country or the world. I say two touchstones, yet they are almost inseparable, inseparable if not indistinguishable, for liberty without learning is always in peril, and learning without liberty is always in vain.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Responsibility, Essence

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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• Only an educated and informed people will be a free people.

  John F. Kennedy

  People, Educated

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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• And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

  John F. Kennedy

  Citizens, Boast, Nations

  Civil Rights Address, delivered 11 June 1963

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• I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say. I am against any man and any organization which seeks to limit or deny that freedom... [and] the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men.

  H. L. Mencken

  Believe, Men, Thinking

  "Letters of H. L. Mencken". Book edited by Guy J. Forgue, 1961.

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• Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

  John Milton

  Fall, Sufficient

  1665 God speaking of Satan. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.3, l.96-9.

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• For stories teach us, that liberty sought out of season, in a corrupt and degenerate age, brought Rome itself to a farther slavery: for liberty hath a sharp and double edge, fit only to be handled by just and virtuous men; to bad and dissolute, it becomes a mischief unwieldy in their own hands: neither is it completely given, but by them who have the happy skill to know what is grievance and unjust to a people, and how to remove it wisely; what good laws are wanting, and how to frame them substantially, that good men may enjoy the freedom which they merit, and the bad the curb which they need.

  John Milton

  Men, Skills, Rome

  John Milton (1851). “The Prose Works of John Milton: With a Biographical Introduction”, p.245

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• The most fundamental liberal failure of the current era: the failure to embrace a moral vision of America based on the transcendent faith that human beings are more than the sum of their material appetites, our country is more than an economic machine, and freedom is not license but responsibility.

  Bill Moyers

  Country, Responsibility, America

  "For America's Sake". Speech on December 12, 2006. "Moyers on Democracy", p. 21, 2008.

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• Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen.

  George Orwell

  Writing, Rights, Disrespect

  George Orwell (1998). “It is what I think, 1947-1948”, Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd

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• Without security, civilization is cramped and dwarfed. Without security, there can be no freedom. Nor shall I say too much, when I declare that security, guarded of course by its offspring, freedom, is the true end and aim of government.

  Charles Sumner

  Government, Civilization, Too Much

  Charles Sumner (1856). “Last Three Speeches on Kansas Ad Freedom: Feb. 7th, March 6th, and May 19th & 20th, 1856”, p.619

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• Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
  Mother earth will swallow you
  Lay your body down.

  Stephen Stills

  Mother, Cost, Body

  "Song: 'Find the Cost of Freedom'". 1971.

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• Take my love, take my land.
  Take me where I cannot stand
  I don't care, I'm still free
  You can't take the sky from me.

  Joss Whedon

  Firefly, Land, Sky

  "The Ballad of Serenity". Song by Joss Whedon,

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• Believe in all the good things you keep inside
  There is no freedom in life without freedom of mind.

  Jeremy Enigk

  Believe, Mind, Good Things

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• I want free life, and I want fresh air;
  And I sigh for the canter after the cattle,
  The crack of the whip like shots in battle,
  The medley of horns, and hoofs, and heads
  That wars, and wrangles, and scatters and spreads;
  The green beneath and the blue above,
  And dash, and danger, and life and love.

  Frank Desprez

  Life And Love, War, Air

  Frank Desprez, “Laska”

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