Quotes About Freedom

Quién es, en realidad, el hombre? Es el ser que siempre decide lo que es.

No instinct tells him what he has to do, and no tradition tells him what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do. Instead, he either wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism).

Es esta libertad espiritual, que no se nos puede arrebatar, lo que hace que la vida tenga sentido y propósito

al hombre se le puede arrebatar todo, salvo una cosa: la libertad humana —la libre elección de la acción personal ante las circunstancias— para elegir el propio camino.

Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

If the man in the concentration camp did not struggle against this in a last effort to save his self-respect, he lost the feeling of being an individual, a being with a mind, with inner freedom and personal value. He thought of himself then as only a part of an enormous mass of people; his existence descended to the level of animal life.

there is a danger inherent in the teaching...that man is nothing but the result of biological, psychological and sociological conditions, or the product of heredity and environment. This neurotic fatalism is fostered and strengthened by a psychotherapy which denies that man is free. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.

The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.

U]ntil his last breath no one can wrest from a man his freedom to take one or another attitude toward his destiny.

suggested to him that we would promise each other to invent at least one amusing story daily, about some incident that could happen one day after our liberation. He

that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.

For in every case man retains the freedom and the possibility of deciding for or against the influence of his surroundings.

al hombre se le puede arrebatar todo salvo una cosa: la última de las libertades humanas —?la elección de la actitud personal que debe adoptar frente al destino—? para decidir su propio camino.

he either wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism).

At that moment there was very little I knew of myself or of the world--I had but one sentence in mind—always the same: I called to the Lord from my narrow prison and He answered me in the freedom of space." How long I knelt there and repeated this sentence memory can no longer recall. But I know that on that day, in that hour, my new life started. Step for step I progressed, until I again became a human being.

we are never left with nothing as long as we retain the freedom to choose how we will respond.

In the concentration camp every circumstance conspires to make the prisoner lose his hold. All the familiar goals in life are snatched away. What alone remains is "the last of human freedoms"—the ability to "choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.

They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances

Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will

And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. And

Y entonces, después de dar unos pasos en silencio, un prisionero le dijo a otro: ¡Qué bello podría ser el mundo!

It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom—which cannot be taken away—that makes life meaningful and purposeful.