Liberty Quotes - Daily Email History

"A sure sign of a genius is that all of
the dunces are in a confederacy against him."

~ Frank Lloyd Wright  

"Freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society -- once the right to travel is curtailed, all other rights suffer."

~ Justice William O. Douglas  

"This, then, is freedom in the external life of man --
that he is independent of the arbitrary power of his fellows."

~ Ludwig von Mises  

"Progress means movement in a desired direction, and we do not all desire the same things for our species."

~ C. S. Lewis  

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music which he hears,
however measured or far away."

~ Henry David Thoreau  

"The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy. They are more: they are the best basis of public liberty, and the strongest bulwark of public safety. It follows, that the greater the proportion of this class to the whole society, the more free, the more independent, and the more happy must be the society itself."

~ James Madison  

"The 1st Amendment embraces the individual's right to purchase and read whatever books she wishes to, without fear the government will take steps to discover which books she buys, reads, and intends to read."

~ Colorado Supreme Court  

"It is now well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas. ... This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, ... is fundamental to our free society."

~ Justice Thurgood Marshall  

"Two hundred ten years ago, the people who drafted our Bill of Rights decided that banning books wasn't the way to handle disagreements. They thought the best thing was more speech. It is a pity that county commissioners in 2002 don't agree."

~ Matt Coles  

"By a Declaration, Liberty is born.
With Courage she is nourished, and
with unceasing Commitment she is guarded."

~ Eric Schaub  

"The Declaration of Independence is the all-time masterpiece of ideological simplification. There in a single sentence of self-evident truth, the founding Fathers put into clear, easily understandable focus, the broad basis of man's relationship to God, to government, and to his fellow man."

~ Clarence Manion  

"My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration of the government, to be upon friendly terms with, but independent of, all the nations of the earth. To share in the broils of none. To fulfil our own engagements. To supply the wants, and be carriers for them all: Being thoroughly convinced that it is our policy and interest to do so."

~ George Washington  

"May [the Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe
it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all),
the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish
ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves,
and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form
which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded
exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened,
or opening, to the rights of man."

~ Thomas Jefferson  

"Independence is the recognition of the fact that
yours is the responsibility of judgement
and nothing can help you escape it --
that no substitute can do your thinking,
as no pinch-hitter can live your life."

~ Ayn Rand  

"It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority."

~ Benjamin Franklin