Quotes About Freedom

I'm so busy doing what I must do that I don't have time for what I ought to do . . . and I never get a chance to do what I want to do!" "Son, that's universal. The way to keep that recipe from killing you is occasionally to do what you want to do anyhow. Which is right now.

As for the second notion, the idea that we could lose our freedom by succumbing to a wave of religious hysteria, I am sorry to say that I consider it possible. I hope that it is not probable. But there is a latent deep strain of religious fanaticism in this our culture; it is rooted in our history

You don't own a cat, he is a free citizen. Take

As for the tank, not only is it unAmerican and probably subversive to eat without watching stereo but also the racket from it would interfere even with a directional mike aimed at us from a distance . . .

Robert A. Heinlein

But a well-run tyranny is almost as scarce as an efficient democracy.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly . . . it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

Manuel, on some subjects I don't trust even myself. Limiting the freedom of news 'just a little bit' is in the same category with the classic example 'a little bit pregnant.' We are not yet free nor will we be as long as anyone—even our ally Mike—controls our news. Someday I hope to own a newspaper independent of any source or channel. I would happily set print by hand, like Benjamin Franklin.

Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.

That we were slaves I had known all my life—and nothing could be done about it. True, we weren't bought and sold—but as long as Authority held monopoly over what we had to have and what we could sell to buy it, we were slaves.

For some tense moments it seemed that we were going to be hanged or shot or at least locked up forever in their deepest dungeon for the crime of not being Californians.

Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly . . . it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. —Thomas Paine

I say 'art' advisedly, for art is undefined, undefinable, and without limits. I can use the word without fear of misusing it, for it has no exact meaning. There are as many meanings as there are artists.

A credit card is a leash around your neck. In the world of credit cards a person has no privacy…

Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws—always for other fellow.

Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws—always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up.

The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots . . . —Thomas Jefferson, 1787

A managed democracy is a wonderful thing, Manuel, for the managers . . . and its greatest strength is a 'free press' when 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and the managers define what is 'irresponsible.

Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes.

Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of

government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master. You now have freedom—if you can keep it. But do remember that you can lose this freedom more quickly to yourselves than to any other tyrant.

We lived here a while. No annex then, had to have an armed guard just to pee.

nobody has ever been able to keep a girl off her back when she decides it's time. When she decides—that's the key to the matter.