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Famous Quotes about Liberty
 
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All wealth is the product of labor.
-- John Locke		 
The power of the legislative being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant and institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed, which being only to make laws, and not to make legislators, the legislative can have no power to transfer their authority of making laws, and place it in other hands.
-- John Locke		 
Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.
-- John Locke		 
I have no reason to suppose, that he, who would take away my liberty, would not, when he had me in his power, take away every thing else.
-- John Locke		 
Whosoever uses force without Right ... puts himself into a state of War with those, against whom he uses it, and in that state all former Ties are canceled, all other Rights cease, and every one has a Right to defend himself, and to resist the Aggressor.
-- John Locke		 
The Care therefore of every man's Soul belongs unto himself, and is to be left unto himself. But what if he neglect the Care of his Soul? I answer, What if he neglects the Care of his Health, or of his Estate, which things are nearlier related to the Government of the Magistrate than the other? Will the magistrate provide by an express Law, That such an one shall not become poor or sick? Laws provide, as much as is possible, that the Goods and Health of Subjects be not injured by the Fraud and Violence of others; they do not guard them from the Negligence or Ill-husbandry of the Possessors themselves.
-- John Locke		 
The body of People may with Respect resist intolerable Tyranny.
-- John Locke		 
The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.
-- John Locke (False)		 
Virtue is harder to be got than a knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.
-- John Locke		 
[H]e that thinks absolute power purifies men's blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need read the history of this, or any other age, to be convinced to the contrary.
-- John Locke		 
Tis a Mistake to think this Fault [tyranny] is proper only to Monarchies; other Forms of Government are liable to it, as well as that. For where-ever the Power that is put in any hands for the Government of the People, and the Preservation of their Properties, is applied to other ends, and made use of to impoverish, harass, or subdue them to the Arbitrary and Irregular Commands of those that have it: There it presently becomes Tyranny, whether those that thus use it are one or many.
-- John Locke		 
... whenever the Legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence. ... [Power then] devolves to the People, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty, and, by the Establishment of a new Legislative (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own Safety and Security, which is the end for which they are in Society.
-- John Locke		 
[I]t being reasonable and just, I should have a right to destroy that which threatens me with destruction: for by the fundamental law of nature, man being to be preserved as much as possible, when all cannot be preserved, the safety of the innocent is to be preferred: and one may destroy a man who makes war upon him, or has discovered an enmity to his being, for the same reason that he may kill a Wolf or a lion....
-- John Locke		 
Men being by nature all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of his estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent which is done by agreeing with other men, to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living in a secure enjoyment of their properties.
-- John Locke		 
[F]or nothing is to be accounted hostile force, but where it leaves not the remedy of such an appeal; and it is such force alone, that puts him that uses it into a state of war, and makes it lawful to resist him. A man with a sword in his hand demands my purse in the high-way, when perhaps I have not twelve pence in my pocket: this man I may lawfully kill. To another I deliver 100 pounds to hold only whilst I alight, which he refuses to restore me, when I am got up again, but draws his sword to defend the possession of it by force, if I endeavour to retake it. The mischief this man does me is a hundred, or possibly a thousand times more than the other perhaps intended me (whom I killed before he really did me any); and yet I might lawfully kill the one, and cannot so much as hurt the other lawfully. The reason whereof is plain; because the one using force, which threatened my life, I could not have time to appeal to the law to secure it: and when it was gone, it was too late to appeal. The law could not restore life to my dead carcass: the loss was irreparable; which to prevent, the law of nature gave me a right to destroy him, who had put himself into a state of war with me, and threatened my destruction. But in the other case, my life not being in danger, I may have the benefit of appealing to the law, and have reparation for my 100 pounds that way.
-- John Locke		 
[E]very Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his. The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into Commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property.
-- John Locke		 
And because it may be too great a temptation to human frailty, apt to grasp at power, for the same persons, who have the power of making laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves from obedience to the laws they make, and suit the law, both in its making, and execution, to their own private advantage, and thereby come to have a distinct interest from the rest of the community, contrary to the end of society and government: therefore in wellordered commonwealths, where the good of the whole is so considered, as it ought, the legislative power is put into the hands of divers persons, who duly assembled, have by themselves, or jointly with others, a power to make laws, which when they have done, being separated again, they are themselves subject to the laws they have made; which is a new and near tie upon them, to take care, that they make them for the public good.
-- John Locke		 
The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any Superior Power on Earth, and not to be under the Will or Legislative Authority of Man, but to have only the Law of Nature for his Rule.
-- John Locke		 
All men by nature are equal in that equal right that every man hath to his natural freedom, without being subjected to the will or authority of any other man; being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.
-- John Locke		 
It cannot be supposed that they should intend, had they a power so to do, to give to any one, or more, an absolute arbitrary power over their persons and estates, and put a force into the magistrate's hand to execute his unlimited will arbitrarily upon them. This were to put themselves into a worse condition than the state of nature, wherein they had a liberty to defend their right against the injuries of others, and were upon equal terms of force to maintain it, whether invaded by a single man, or many in combination. Whereas by supposing they have given up themselves to the absolute arbitrary power and will of a legislator, they have disarmed themselves, and armed him, to make a prey of them when he pleases; he being in a much worse condition, who is exposed to the arbitrary power of one man, who has the command of 100,000, than he that is exposed to the arbitrary power of 100,000 single men; no body being secure, that his will, who has such a command, is better than that of other men, though his force be 100,000 times stronger.
-- John Locke		 
Self-defence is a part of the law of nature; nor can it be denied the community, even against the king himself...
-- John Locke		 
The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.
-- John Locke		 
Is it worth the name of freedom to be at liberty to play the fool?
-- John Locke		 
[W]henever the legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence. Whensoever therefore the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society; and either by ambition, fear, folly or corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people; by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty ...
-- John Locke		 
Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance, this great land of ordered liberty, for if we stumble and fall, freedom and civilization everywhere will go down in ruin.
-- Henry Cabot Lodge		 
If you look like a rabbit, and act like a rabbit, you will be treated like a rabbit -- prey for all predators.
-- Stony Loft		 
Fatigue makes cowards of us all.
-- Vince Lombardi		 
The IRS has become morally corrupted by the enormous power which we in Congress have unwisely entrusted to it. Too often it acts like a Gestapo preying upon defenseless citizens.
-- Senator Edward V. Long		 
Democracy is like a raft. It won't sink, but you'll always have your feet wet.
-- Russell Long		 
All are architects of Fate, Working in these walls of Time; some with massive deeds and great, Some with ornaments of rhyme.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow		 
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow		 
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow		 
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow		 
How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself?  There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions.  You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.
-- Barry Lopez		 
Because law enforcement resources have been concentrated on the street drug trade in minority communities, drug arrests of minorities increased at 10 times the rate of increase for whites.
-- Los Angeles Times		 
If the rest of the country had adopted right-to-carry concealed-handgun provisions in 1992, about 1,500 murders and 4,000 rapes would have been avoided.
-- John R. Lott, Jr.		 
The most merciful thing in the world ... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
-- H. P. Lovecraft		 
The most merciless thing in the world ... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
-- H. P. Lovecraft		 
Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of opinion.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
And I honor the man \\ who is willing to sink \\ Half his present repute \\ for the freedom to think \\ And, when he has thought, \\ be his cause strong or weak \\ Will risk t’ other half \\ for the freedom to speak.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
The ultimate result of protecting fools from their folly is to fill the planet full of fools.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
True freedom is to share \\ All the chains our brothers wear \\ And, with heart and hand, to be \\ Earnest to make others free.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
Slow are the steps of freedom, but her feet turn never backward.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
But it was in making education not only common to all, but in some sense compulsory on all, that the destiny of the free republics of America was practically settled.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
And I honor the man who is willing to sink\\ half his present repute for the freedom to think,\\ and, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,\\ Will risk t' other half for the freedom to speak.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.
-- James Russell Lowell		 
Participation is an instrument of conquest because it encourages people to give their consent to being governed. ... Deeply embedded in people's sense of fair play is the principle that those who play the game must accept the outcome. Those who participate in politics are similarly committed, even if they are consistently on the losing side. Why do politicians plead with everyone to get out and vote? Because voting is the simplest and easiest form of participation by masses of people. Even though it is minimal participation, it is sufficient to commit all voters to being governed, regardless of who wins.
-- Theodore Lowi		 
Politicians say they're beefing up our economy. Most don't know beef from pork.
-- Harold Lowman		 
If we are ever in doubt about what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.
-- John Lubbock		 
All go free when multitudes offend. [Lat., Quicquid multis peccatur inultum est.]
-- Lucanus		 
And they are ignorant that the purpose of the sword is to save every man from slavery.
-- Lucanus		 
The remaining liberty of the world was to be destroyed in the place where it stood. [Lat., Libertas ultima mundi Quo steterit ferienda loco.]
-- Lucanus		 
The liberty of the people, he says, whom power restrains unduly, perishes through liberty. [Lat., Libertas, inquit, populi quem regna coercent, Libertate perit.]
-- Lucanus		 
The truth is the only thing worth having, and, in a civilized life, like ours, where so many risks are removed, facing it is almost the only courageous thing left to do.
-- E. V. Lucas		 
Within seven centuries, [the ancient Greeks] invented for itself, epic, elegy, lyric, tragedy, novel, democratic government, political and economic science, history, geography, philosophy, physics and biology; and made revolutionary advances in architecture, sculpture, painting, music, oratory, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, anatomy, engineering, law and war... a stupendous feat for whose most brilliant state Attica was the size of Hertfordshire, with a free population (including children) of perhaps 160,000.
-- F. J. Lucas		 
There are no hopeless situations; There are only men who have grown hopeless about them.
-- Clare Boothe Luce		 
[T]he police do not and cannot protect law-abiding citizens from criminal violence. ... This thought may not occur to wealthy people who can shelter themselves in low-crime enclaves and who care not at all about their less fortunate neighbors. But no one knows it better than the police, who scrupulously preserve their own right to carry firearms on and off duty (and often after they retire as well) even while some of them advocate disarming those whom the police cannot protect.
-- Nelson Lund		 
You don't have to scratch liberalism very deeply to find socialism underneath, nor socialism to find authoritarianism underneath.
-- Don Luskin		 
Never — and I mean never — blindly trust the statistics you read [or hear] about the economy.
-- Don Luskin		 
Whenever the media covers anything I know about in intimate detail ... they always get it wrong. True on the left, and true on the right. Sigh. Double sigh.
-- Don Luskin		 
I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.
-- Martin Luther		 
Peace if possible, but truth at any rate.
-- Martin Luther		 
The man who has the will to undergo all labor may win to any good.
-- Martin Luther		 
Freedom for supporters of the government only, for members of one party only -- no matter how big its membership may be -- is no freedom at all. Freedom is always freedom for the man who thinks differently.
-- Rosa Luxemburg		 
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
-- Rosa Luxemburg		 
Without general elections, without unrestrained freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution…in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element.
-- Rosa Luxemburg		 
I've always said, the key organ here isn't the brain, it's the stomach. When things start to decline - there are bad headlines in the papers and on television - will you have the stomach for the market volatility and the broad-based pessimism that tends to come with it?
-- Peter Lynch		 
Civil libertarians must often remind government officials (and others) that if the First Amendment only protected the expression of popular and agreeable ideas, it would be totally unnecessary since those ideas would never be threatened by our democratic form of government. Our society's commitment to free speech is tested when we encounter the expression of ideas that are disagreeable -- or even offensive.
-- Timothy Lynch		 
We welcome almost any break in the monotony of things, a man has only to murder a series of wives in a new way to become known to millions of people who have never heard of Homer.
-- Robert Wilson Lynd		 
There is nothing in the universe that I fear, but that I shall not know all my duty, or shall fail to do it.
-- Mary Lyon		 
To argue against any breach of liberty from the ill use that may be made of it, is to argue against liberty itself, since all is capable of being abused.
-- Lord George Lyttleton		 
Tell the American people never to lose their guns. As long as they keep their guns in their hands, whatever happened here [China] will never happen there.
-- Donald S. MacAlvaney		 
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
The inescapable price of liberty is an ability to preserve it from destruction.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
Last, but by no means least, courage -- moral courage, the courage of one’s convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle -- the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
Wars are caused by undefended wealth.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
In war there is no substitute for victory.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -­ kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour -­ with the cry of grave national emergency. Always, there has been some terrible evil at home, or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of government power.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.
-- General Douglas MacArthur		 
None of the modes by which a magistrate is appointed, popular election, the accident of the lot, or the accident of birth, affords, as far as we can perceive, much security for his being wiser than any of his neighbours. The chance of his being wiser than all his neighbours together is still smaller.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
To punish a man because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds, or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him, that he will commit a crime, is persecution, and is, in every case, foolish and wicked.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
The maxim, that governments ought to train the people in the way in which they should go, sounds well. But is there any reason for believing that a government is more likely to lead the people in the right way than the people to fall into the right way of themselves?
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
It has often been found that profuse expenditures, heavy taxation, absurd commercial restrictions, corrupt tribunals, disastrous wars, seditions, persecutions, conflagrations, inundation, have not been able to destroy capital so fast as the exertions of private citizens have been able to create it.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
Institutions purely democratic must, sooner, or later, destroy liberty or civilization or both.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
Persecution produced its natural effect on them. It found them a sect; it made them a faction.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
There is surely no contradiction in saying that a certain section of the community may be quite competent to protect the persons and property of the rest, yet quite unfit to direct our opinions, or to superintend our private habits.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty, or civilization, or both.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
As freedom is the only safeguard of governments, so are order and moderation generally necessary to preserve freedom.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
And to say that society ought to be governed by the opinion of the wisest and best, though true, is useless. Whose opinion is to decide who are the wisest and best?
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 
Many politicians... are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool... who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay		 


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