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Famous Quotes about Liberty
 

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If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
-- Samuel Adams
 
If our Trade be taxed, why not our Lands, or Produce in short, everything we possess? They tax us without having legal representation.
-- Samuel Adams
 
It is always dangerous to the liberties of the people to have an army stationed among them, over which they have no control ... The Militia is composed of free Citizens. There is therefore no danger of their making use of their Power to the destruction of their own Rights, or suffering others to invade them.
-- Samuel Adams
 
Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance. Let us remember that "if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom," it is a very serious consideration ... that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.
-- Samuel Adams
 
All Men have a Right to remain in a State of Nature as long as they please: And in case of intolerable Oppression, civil or religious, to leave the Society they belong to and enter into another. When Men enter into Society, it is by voluntary Consent, and they have a Right to demand and insist upon the performance of such Conditions and previous Limitations as form an equitable original Compact.
-- Samuel Adams
 
Among the natural Rights of the Colonists are these: First, a Right to Life; secondly, to Liberty; thirdly, to Property; together with the Right to support and defend them in the best Manner they can. Those are evident Branches of, rather than Deductions from, the Duty of Self-Preservation, commonly called the first Law of Nature.
-- Samuel Adams
 
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.
-- Samuel Adams
 
Governors have no Right to seek and take what they please; by this, instead of being content with the Station assigned them, that of honorable Servants of the Society, they would soon become Absolute Masters, Despots,and Tyrants. Hence, as a private Man has a Right to say what Wages he will give in his private Affairs, so has a Community to determine what they will give and grant of their Substance for the Administration of public Affairs.
-- Samuel Adams
 
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.
-- Samuel Adams
 
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
-- Samuel Adams
 
Were the talents and virtues which heaven has bestowed on men given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of a few? Or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by all?
-- Samuel Adams
 
The said constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.
-- Samuel Adams
 
And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press,  or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; or to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States, or of some one or more of them; or to prevent the people from petitioning, in a peaceable and orderly manner, the federal legislature, for a redress of grievances; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions.
-- Samuel Adams
 
All might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they should.
-- Samuel Adams
 
A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.
-- Joseph Addison
 
Clinton realized that America could not economically afford the Protocol Gore negotiated. The Clinton-Gore's Energy Department found Kyoto would lead to $400 billion a year in lost output. ... Gore tries to throw Enron on the back of the current administration. But it was Enron Board Chairman Kenneth Lay who sold Clinton-Gore on Kyoto's cap and trade system. Gore, Clinton, and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin met with Lay on Aug. 7, 1997 to go over goals and procedures for the Kyoto session. ... The corporate smoking memo here was not that from an ExxonMobil adviser to oppose Dr. Watson, but the Enron internal memo saying Kyoto 'would do more to promote Enron's business than almost any other regulatory initiative'.
-- Ken Adelman
 
A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt dangerous.
-- Alfred Adler
 
Dogma is the convictions of one man imposed authoritatively upon others.
-- Felix Adler
 
In a country of such recent civilization as ours, whose almost limitless treasures of material wealth invite the risks of capital and the industry of labor, it is but natural that material interests should absorb the attention of the people to a degree elsewhere unknown.
-- Felix Adler
 
Through the rapid proliferation of laws reaching every corner of human existence, “the government is manufacturing more criminals now than ever before.” The list of illegal activities includes more minutiae than one would think possible. Beer-makers are barred from listing alcohol content on bottles, and liquor distilleries cannot advertise on TV. Filling one’s own prairie pothole can land a property owner in jail, as can protecting private property from unlawful intruders. Placing handbills in neighbors’ mailboxes is strictly prohibited, and attempting to sell nectarines of an improper size is a federal offense. Companies are no longer allowed to give salaried professionals partial days off without pay, and in Texas it is a crime to call oneself an interior designer without the government’s permission. It is perhaps easier to recount all that remains legal than all that is now prohibited.
-- Jonathan H. Adler
 
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
-- Mortimer Adler
 
Do you think someone who is about to rape you is going to stop and think about a condom?
-- Eli Adorno
 
I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.
-- Aeschylus
 
Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.
-- Aeschylus
 
Time as he grows old teaches all things.
-- Aeschylus
 
Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another's might.
-- Aeschylus
 
In war, truth is the first casualty.
-- Aeschylus
 
Words are the physicians of the mind diseased.
-- Aeschylus
 
Only when man's life comes to its end in prosperity can one call that man happy.
-- Aeschylus
 
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope
-- Aeschylus
 
It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.
-- Aeschylus
 
For somehow this is tyranny's disease, to trust no friends.
-- Aeschylus
 
It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
-- Aesop
 
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
-- Aesop
 
The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
-- Aesop
 
Better to starve free than be a fat slave.
-- Aesop
 
The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.
-- Aesop
 
The gods help them that help themselves.
-- Aesop
 
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
-- Aesop
 
Familiarity breeds contempt.
-- Aesop
 

-- Aesop
 
Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.
-- Aesop
 
Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.
-- Aesop
 
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
-- Aesop
 
Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.
-- Aesop
 
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
-- Aesop
 
While I see many hoof marks going in, I see none coming out. It is easier to get into the enemy's toils than out again.
-- Aesop
 
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
-- Aesop
 
Union gives strength.
-- Aesop
 
I will have nought to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath.
-- Aesop
 
Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
-- Aesop
 
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
-- Aesop
 
Vices are their own punishment.
-- Aesop
 
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
-- Aesop
 
Appearances often are deceiving.
-- Aesop
 
Slow and steady wins the race.
-- Aesop
 
We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
-- Aesop
 
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
-- Aesop
 
People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
-- Aesop
 
Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find - nothing.
-- Aesop
 
In fact, nothing is said that has not been said before.
-- Publius Terentius Afer
 
I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.
-- Publius Terentius Afer
 
Charity begins at home.
-- Publius Terentius Afer
 
Moderation in all things.
-- Publius Terentius Afer
 
Fortune helps the brave.
-- Publius Terentius Afer
 
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.
-- Publius Terentius Afer
 
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped.
-- African Proverb
 
Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
-- African Proverb
 
The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
-- Herbert Sebastien Agar
 
The American people should be made aware of the trend toward monopolization of the great public information vehicles and the concentration of more and more power over public opinion in fewer and fewer hands.
-- Spiro Agnew
 
If you've seen one city slum, you've seen them all.
-- Spiro Agnew
 
Every time I criticize what I consider to be excesses or faults in the news business, I am accused of repression, and the leaders of various media professional groups wave the First Amendment as they denounce me. That happens to be my amendment, too. It guarantees my free speech as it does their freedom of the press… There is room for all of us – and for our divergent views – under the First Amendment.
-- Spiro Agnew
 
[A] deep-rooted culture of incompetence and corruption has made it virtually impossible for government to function fairly and efficiently. And because most government employees are shielded by layers of protection, they couldn't care less. Never before in the history of this nation has there been a greater divide between a self-serving federal leviathan and millions of Americans... 'Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,' Ronald Reagan reminded us during his inaugural address in 1981. Nothing's changed since then, with one exception: It's gotten far worse.
-- Arnold Ahlert
 
From a “pragmatic” point of view, political philosophy is a monster, and whenever it has been taken seriously, the consequence, almost invariably, has been revolution, war, and eventually, the police state.
-- Henry David Aiken
 
The news is like a ship. If you take hands off the wheel, it pulls hard to the left.
-- Roger Ailes
 
That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression.
-- Alabama, Declaration of Rights Article I Section 35
 
Flowers don't open to the clock but to the sunshine spontaneous;for modern humans that manner of instinct is now extraneous.
-- Astrid Alauda
 
People have become as processed as food.
-- Astrid Alauda
 
The possession of unlimited power will make a despot of almost any man. There is a possible Nero in the gentlest human creature that walks.
-- Thomas Bailey Aldrich
 
We now have so many regulations that everyone is guilty of some violation.
-- Donald Alexander
 
Chief among the spoils of victory is the privilege of writing the history.
-- Mark Alexander
 
It is precisely this clinging to victimhood as a means of demonstrating one’s virtue and advancing one’s well-being that has led us into a society in which welfare and quotas are “civil rights,” government handouts are “entitlements,” and payment to girls having babies out of wedlock are “compassionate,” while hard-working, ambitious people are “greedy,” punishment of crime is “oppression,” and an independent thinker who stands for courage and self-reliance is dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.”
-- J. Tucker Alford
 
It is precisely this clinging to victimhood as a means of demonstrating one’s virtue and advancing one’s well-being that has led us into a society in which welfare and quotas are “civil rights,” government handouts are “entitlements,” and payment to girls having babies out of wedlock are “compassionate,” while hard-working, ambitious people are “greedy,” punishment of crime is “oppression,” and an independent thinker who stands for courage and self-reliance is dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.”
-- J. Tucker Alford
 
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
-- Mohammed Ali
 
The man who views the world at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
-- Mohammed Ali
 
Mankind is at its best when it is most free. This will be clear if we grasp the principle of liberty. We must recall that the basic principle is freedom of choice, which saying many have on their lips, but few in their mind.
-- Dante Alighieri
 
For what is liberty but the unhampered translation of will into act?
-- Dante Alighieri
 
Mankind is at its best when it is most free. This will be clear if we grasp the principle of liberty. We must recall that the basic principle is freedom of choice, which saying many have on their lips but few in their minds.
-- Dante Alighieri
 
How to create a socialist state by Saul Alinsky:\\ There are 8 levels of control that must be obtained before you are able to create a socialist state. The first is the most important.\\\\ 1) Healthcare — Control healthcare and you control the people.\\ 2) Poverty — Increase the Poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.\\ 3) Debt — Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.\\ 4) Gun Control — Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.\\ 5) Welfare — Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income).\\ 6) Education — Take control of what people read and listen to — take control of what children learn in school.\\ 7) Religion — Remove the belief in the God from the Government and schools.\\ 8) Class Warfare — Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.\\
-- Saul Alinksy
 
A free and open society is an ongoing conflict, interrupted periodically by compromises.
-- Saul Alinsky
 
Do whatever you can to capture, or recapture, your life spark - unless it harms others, in which case suffer with as much happiness as you can muster.  Your nobility of spirit will spark itself.
-- Corri Alius
 
There is not anything, which has contributed so much to delude mankind in religious matters, as mistaken apprehensions concerning supernatural inspiration or revelation; not considering that all true religion originates from reason, and cannot otherwise be understood, but by the exercise and improvement of it.
-- Ethan Allen
 
Liberty cannot be caged into a charter or handed on ready-made to the next generation. Each generation must recreate liberty for its own times. Whether or not we establish freedom rests with ourselves.
-- Florence Ellinwood Allen
 
We believe the picture painters of the mass media are artfully creating landscapes for us which deliberately hide the real picture. In this book we will show you how to discover the "hidden picture" in the landscapes presented to us daily through newspapers, radio and television.
-- Gary Allen
 
After the insiders have established the United Socialist States of America (in fact if not in name), the next step is the Great Merger of all nations of the world into a dictatorial world government. … The Insiders’ code word for the world superstate is “new world order,” a phrase often used by Richard Nixon. The Council on Foreign Relations states in its Study No. 7: “The U.S. must strive to: A. BUILD A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER.” … A world government has always been the object of the Communists.
-- Gary Allen
 
By the time the (16th) Amendment had been approved by the states, the Rockefeller Foundation was in full operation...about the same time that Judge Kenesaw Landis was ordering the breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly...John D...not only avoided taxes by creating four great tax-exempt foundations; he used them as repositories for his 'divested' interests...made his assets non-taxable so that they might be passed down through generations without...estate and gift taxes...Each year the Rockefellers can dump up to half their incomes into their pet foundations and deduct the "donations" from their income tax.
-- Gary Allen
 
If one understands that Socialism is not a “share the wealth” program but is in reality a method to consolidate and control the wealth, then the seeming paradox of super rich men promoting Socialism becomes no paradox at all. Instead it becomes logical, even the perfect tool of power-seeking megalomaniacs. Communism, or more accurately Socialism, is not a movement of the down-trodden masses but of the economic elite.
-- Gary Allen
 
Reporters today are far removed from America's founding values and are alarmed and contemptuous of gun owners as dangerous lower classes.
-- Henry Allen
 
Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.
-- James Allen
 
Our life is what our thoughts make it. A man will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and others will alter towards him.
-- James Allen
 


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