Anthony Ashley Cooper Quote - Liberty Quotes Blog

"Reason and virtue alone can bestow liberty."

by:	Anthony Ashley Cooper Lord Shaftesbury, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury
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Categories:	Liberty, Reason, Virtue
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Reader comments about this quote:

Though liberty exists as a result of reason and virtue, the opposite is not true. Liberty has more components than the two subcomponents offered.Reason and virtue would also here have to be defined with at least a cause & effect, non-emotional consequence, and non-religious eventuality that harmonize with natural law. Further, liberty can not be bestow, it is a definitive result inalienable rights, religious freedom, harmony to natural law, etc. -- Mike, Norwalk
Five stars for intent -- RBESRQ
Reason and virtue are just fine, but it didn't work too well with King George. Sometimes you have to take up arms to preserve or to have freedom. Our Founding Fathers knew this all to well. -- jim k, Austin
While Liberty is a natural-born foundation of life, it does require responsibility to be maintained. We are free to choose, but we are not free from the consequences of those choices. The Golden Rule is still golden for a reason. -- E Archer, NYC
Liberty is a reasonable way to live and a resaonable way for a people to govern themselves when a people have a high esteem for the quality of virtue. King George was unreasonable. Liberty as we know it and fought for in 1776 was born out of the enlightenment and an understanding that people are innately virtuous. That understanding has been and is still being tested mightily, but one of the virtuous may be patience -- Waffler, Smith