Quotes About Self-governance

Well, I'll tell you one thing, you can give him all the help in the world, but unless he learns to fend for himself, it'll be useless.

At the end of the day all I've ever asked for is to be allowed to succeed and fail on my own merits. Not based on what somebody else wants me to do or thinks I should do. Or, what they want me to say or what they think I should say.

I'm not for laws. We need a minimum of laws.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

If Americans desire to be both ignorant and free, they want what never has been and what never will be.

Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

It's not about usefulness, it's about autonomy.

The only person who can ever set bounds on you should be yourself.

I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.

Who to himself is law no law doth need,Offends no law, and is a king indeed.

The touchstone of everything that can be concluded as a law for a people lies in the question whether the people could have imposed such a law on itself.

Faulheit und Feigheit sind die Ursachen, warum ein so großer Teil der Menschen, nachdem sie die Natur längst von fremder Leitung frei gesprochen, dennoch gerne zeitlebens unmündig bleiben; und warum es anderen so leicht wird, sich zu deren Vormündern aufzuwerfen.

Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit. Unmündigkeit ist das Unvermögen, sich seines Verstandes ohne Leitung eines anderen zu bedienen.

The human mind resents control.

Men who feel themselves strong enough to decide for themselves what is best for themselves, and not just to be told what is best for others.

All is bad that is imposed from without,' said Lizalor.

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one. This is a most valuable and sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.

Cuba ought to be free and independent, and the government should be turned over to the Cuban people.

People are free to do whatever they want to do.

If there are rules, we're the ones making them. We can change them whenever we want to.

I will never be a leader of men, and neither do I want to be one, and neither do I want to be led. I thought: I want to lead only myself.

Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling.

It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives.

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty