Liberty Quotes - Daily Email History

"That the religious right completely took over the word Christian is a given. At one time, phrases such as Christian charity and Christian tolerance were used to denote kindness and compassion. To perform a "Christian" act meant an act of giving, of acceptance, of toleration. Now, Christian is invariably linked to right-wing conservative political thought -- Christian nation, Christian morality, Christian values, Christian family."

~ Peter McWilliams  

"The spirit of liberty is the spirit
which is not too sure that it is right;
the spirit of liberty is the spirit
which seeks to understand
the minds of other men and women..."

~ Judge Learned Hand  

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

"What is tolerance? -- it is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly -- that is the first law of nature."

~ Voltaire  

"From the standpoint of freedom of speech and the press,
it is enough to point out that the state has no legitimate interest
in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful to them...
It is not the business of government to suppress
real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine."

~ Justice Tom C. Clark  

"Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

~ Thomas Paine  

"We must respect
the other fellow's religion,
but only in the sense
and to the extent that
we respect his theory
that his wife is beautiful
and his children smart."

~ H. L. Mencken  

"Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects and effects, a defect of which we become more sensible by every attempt to supply it. Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge and conceive themselves informed of the whole nature of things when they are shown their form or told their use; but the speculatist, who is not content with superficial views, harasses himself with fruitless curiosity, and still, as he inquires more, perceives only that he knows less."

~ Dr. Samuel Johnson  

"Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none."

~ Edmund Burke  

"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings,
and the feelings of others before your own rights."

~ John Wooden  

"There is nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitor."

~ Frank Clark  

"The Right of all members of society to form
their own beliefs and communicate them freely to others
must be regarded as an essential principle
of a democratically organized society."

~ Thomas I. Emerson  

"The First Amendment has erected
a wall between church and state.
That wall must be kept
high and impregnable.
We could not approve
the slightest breach."

~ Justice Hugo L. Black  

"All religions united with government
are more or less inimical to liberty.
All, separated from government,
are compatible with liberty."

~ Henry Clay  

"Freedom of religion means the right of the individual to choose
and to adhere to whichever religious beliefs he may prefer,
to join with others in religious associations to express these beliefs,
and to incur no civil disabilities because of his choice..."

~ Joseph L. Blau