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Famous Quotes about Liberty
 
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A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should to rest on inference.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. It places the governors indeed more at their ease at the expense of the people. The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given much more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen States in the course of eleven years is but one for each State in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one. Nor will any degree of power in the hands of the government prevent insurrections. In England, where the hand of power is heavier than with us, there are seldom half a dozen years without an insurrection. In France, where it is still heavier but less despotic, as Montesquieu supposes, than in some other countries and where there are always two or three hundred thousand men ready to crush insurrections, there have been three in the course of the three years I have been here, in every one of which greater numbers were engaged than in Massachusetts.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Money and not morality is the principle of commerce and commercial nations.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Delay is preferable to error.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Laws provide against injury from others, but not from ourselves.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
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		 
If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation... to a continuance in union... I have no hesitation in saying, 'let us separate.'
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under the protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected – these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts; but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere; and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue and freedom, would be my choice.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Every species of government has its specific principles. Ours perhaps are more peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It is a composition of the freest principles of the English constitution, with others derived from natural right and natural reason.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
[N]othing can be more opposed [to American principles] than the maxims of absolute monarchies. Yet, from such, we are to expect the greater number of emigrants. They will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and render it a heterogenous, incoherent, distracted mass.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
During the course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap its safety.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
The Ambassador [of Tripoli] answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their profit, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, & to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise—
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.
-- Thomas Jefferson		 
Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government, a bureaucratic elite which believes our Constitution is outmoded.
-- Senator William Jenner		 
I want to make one thing clear. This war against our constitution is not being fought way off in Madagascar or in Mandalay. It is being fought here—in our schools, our colleges, our churches, our women’s clubs. It is being fought with our money, channeled through the State Department. It is being fought twenty-four hours a day—while we remain asleep. How many of you Senators know what the UN is doing to change the teaching of the children in your own home town? The UN is at work there, every day and night, changing the teachers, changing the teaching materials, changing the very words and tones—changing all the essential ideas which we imagine our schools are teaching to our young folks. How in the name of Heaven are we to sit here, approve these programs, appropriate our own people’s money—for such outrageous “orientation” of our own children, and of the men and women who teach our children, in this Nation’s schools?
-- William Jenner		 
It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.
-- Jerome K. Jerome		 
Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, 'It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.'
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, 'It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.'
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
-- Jesus of Nazareth		 
What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth.
-- Jewish Proverb		 
Truth is the safest lie.
-- Jewish Proverb		 
[I]t’s an unfortunate reality in many of the journalistic environments we exist today. We can’t criticize certain people, or dig into certain stories, or follow our noses on the trail of corruption if it means upsetting our publishers, sponsors, and donors.
-- Zaid Jilani		 
ThinkProgress national security bloggers were called into a meeting with CAP senior staff and basically berated for opposing the Afghan war and creating daylight between us and Obama. It confused me a lot because on the one hand, CAP was advertising to donors that it opposed the Afghan war -- in our “Progressive Party,” the annual fundraising party we do with both Big Name Progressive Donors and corporate lobbyists (in the same room!) we even advertised that we wanted to end the war in Afghanistan. But what that meeting with CAP senior staff showed me was that they viewed being closer to Obama and aligning with his policy as more important than demonstrating progressive principle, if that meant breaking with Obama.
-- Zaid Jilani		 
Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies to all subjects.
-- Andrew Johnson		 
I have never met a more dedicated bunch of people than I did working in the union, at every level. The work is difficult and demanding, and very few people would do it if they didn’t believe in its righteousness. However, the conviction that you know what’s best insulates you against reflecting morally on your own actions and it teaches you to begin assessing morality in terms of either the ends justifying the means, or even worse, of mere good intention justifying those means.
-- Ben Johnson		 
We are reluctant to admit that we owe our liberties to men of a type that today we hate and fear -- unruly men, disturbers of the peace, men who resent and denounce what Whitman called 'the insolence of elected persons' -- in a word, free men.
-- Gerald W. Johnson		 
The first casualty when war comes is Truth.
-- Hiram Johnson		 
The first casualty when war comes is truth.
-- Hiram W. Johnson		 
Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.
-- James Weldon Johnson		 
Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
-- Kimberly Johnson		 
I believe that one of the great problems for us as individuals is the depression and the tension resulting from existence in a world which is increasingly less pleasing to the eye.
-- Lady Bird Johnson		 
Free speech, free press, free religion, the right of free assembly, yes, the right of petition... well, they are still radical ideas.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson		 
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson		 
Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson		 
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harm it would cause if improperly administered.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson		 
Every man should know that his conversations, his correspondence, and his personal life are private.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson		 
China, Cuba, countries where the only freedoms are those bestowed on a whim by the state -- these countries jail their kids for burning the flag. We do not. America was created around dissent. Our freedom is founded upon the right to make known our opinion without threat of government interdiction -- Old Glory is the ultimate, tangible expression of this national belief.
-- Marvin Johnson		 
Patriotism and respect are earned through the substance and values of a nation, not by its physical symbols. By making the American flag untouchable, Congress would be sending the message that approval of our nation is an obligation not a choice.
-- Marvin Johnson		 
The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
If you depart from moral absolutes, you go into a bottomless pit. Communism and Naziism were catastrophic evils which both derived from moral relativism. Their differences were minor compared to their similarities.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
Every good historian is almost by definition a revisionist. He looks at the accepted view of a particular historic episode or period with a very critical eye.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
If you depart from moral absolutes, you go into a bottomless pit. Communism and Nazism were catastrophic evils which both derived from moral relativism. Their differences were minor compared to their similarities.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
Throughout history, the attachment of even the humblest people to their freedom…has come as an unpleasant shock to condescending ideologues.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.
-- Paul Bede Johnson		 
They who most loudly clamour for liberty do not most liberally grant it.
-- Dr. Samuel Johnson		 
In order that all men might be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.
-- Dr. Samuel Johnson		 
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
-- Dr. Samuel Johnson		 


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