Famous Quotes & Sayings

Ask the first man you meet what he means by defending freedom, and he'll tell you privately he means defending the standard of living.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

Mary McCarthy

Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior.

Mark Twain

The highest pleasure to be got out of freedom, and having nothing to do, is labor.

Oscar Wilde

Better the rule of One, whom all obey, than to let clamorous demagogues betray our freedom with the kiss of anarchy.

Lydia M. Child

England may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes as to fetter the step of Freedom, more proud and firm in this youthful land than where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland, or couches herself among the magnificent mountains of Switzerland.

Michel de Montaigne

A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without reserve. In solitude alone can he know true freedom.

Michel de Montaigne

True it is that she who escapeth safe and unpolluted from out the school of freedom, giveth more confidence of herself than she who comet sound out of the school of severity and restraint.

Michel de Montaigne

True freedom is to have power over oneself for everything.

Michael Kimmelman

The paradox of the culture wars is that they have made celebrities out of some artists who would otherwise vanish. Censorship has become a growth industry. This may be the best argument, in the end, for unfettered freedom of expression.

Mark Twain

All gentle cant and philosophizing to the contrary notwithstanding, no people in this world ever did achieve their freedom by goody-goody talk and moral suasion: it being immutable law that all revolutions that will succeed, must begin in blood.

Mark Twain

We adore titles and heredities in our hearts and ridicule them with our mouths. This is our democratic privilege.

Mark Twain

A discriminating irreverence is the creator and protector of human liberty.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

God is not merely interestd in the freedom of brown men, yellow men, red men and black men.He is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho' we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Naomi Klein

Free speech is meaningless if the commercial cacophony has risen to the point where no one can hear you.

Miroslav Volf

Does a person have a right to change his or her own religion? This is a fundamental human right, just like a right to freedom of speech.

R. D. Laing

The brotherhood of man is evoked by particular men according to their circumstances. But it seldom extends to all men. In the name of our freedom and our brotherhood we are prepared to blow up the other half of mankind and to be blown up in our turn.

Potter Stewart

Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.

Nelson Mandela

The Liberty Bell is "a very significant symbol for the entire democratic world."

Nelson Mandela

I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.

Nelson Mandela

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

Nelson Mandela

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere.

Omar N. Bradley

Freedom-no word was ever spoken that has held out greater hope, demanded greater sacrifice, needed more to be nurtured, blessed more the giver. . . or came closer to being God's will on earth.

Oprah Winfrey

The only thing that can free you is the belief that you can be free.

Margaret Atwood

There is more than one kind of freedom," said Aunt Lydia. "Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

To freemen, threats are impotent.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

To freemen, threats are impotent. [Lat., Nulla enim minantis auctoritas apud liberos est.]