Quotes About Liberty

The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone; and Reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it."33 Was it possible that God would devise such a system of natural laws and put man in the middle of them in order to create a nation of slaves? Locke said no.

Gridlock at the public level guarantees liberty at the private level: this was the dirty little secret Madison dared to unveil in the Federalist Papers. If scholars sometimes joke that David Hume is the "real" author of the Tenth Federalist, it is not just because it lays out Hume's vision of an extended republic managing to govern itself into perpetuity.

Locke's natural liberty includes liberty of thought, since reason is another of God's gifts, including our thoughts about religion. This made Locke the first great advocate of religious toleration

Liberty included an equality before the law, since all men are equal before God; and it included a generosity of spirit and independence of mind that Aristotle had recognized as the hallmark of the virtuous man and which Locke saw would prevent a state of normal liberty from degenerating into a "state of license"—in other words, a perpetual riot.

Proper government is not a restraint on our natural liberty, as Hobbes and others thought. It is a net increase, since it provides a framework of security in which we can enjoy our civil liberties in ways not possible in the state of nature. It "is the one great reason of men putting themselves into Society, and quitting the State of Nature.

the duty of the sovereign to respect that liberty: and when he doesn't, when "he that in a State of Society would take away the Freedom that belongs to those of that Society," and pretends to be our master rather than our servant, then it is he, not us, who is the real rebel against society.

with lawlessness freedom is inconsistent

a mass of ignorant, culturally degraded citizens easily becomes an immense drag on the system. They become easy prey to demagogues and applaud every attempt to undermine the foundations of that "natural liberty" which they have enjoyed in the first place.

The highest political buzz word is not liberty, equality, fraternity or solidarity it is service.

Then honor to the day that gave him birth, For it is also Freedom's natal day.

In a tribal organization, even in time of peace, service to tribe or state predominates over all self seeking in war, service for the tribe or state becomes supreme, and personal liberty is suspended.

For, contrary to the common opinion, it is the wealthy who are greedy of wealth; while the populace are to be gained by talking to them about liberty, their unknown god. And so much are they enchanted by the words liberty, freedom, and such like, that the wise can go to the poor, rob them of what little they have, dismiss them with a hearty kick, and win their hearts and their votes for ever, if only they will assure them that the treatment which they have received is called liberty.

God was alone when He made His decrees, and His determinations were influenced by no external cause. He was free to decree or not to decree, and to decree one thing and not another. This liberty we must ascribe to Him who is Supreme, Independent, and Sovereign in all His doings.

Dejad leer y dejad danzar, pedía Voltaire.

No hay teoría revolucionaria sin práctica revolucionaria, camarada mayor. —La libertad de lectura es algo tan precioso que debe ser racionada, camarada comisario.

la libertad del hombre no es sino la necesidad contenida en su interior.

En el Génesis, el diablo en forma de serpiente consigue que el hombre deje de ser un alienado estúpido y adquiera conciencia y albedrío, lucidez... Con el dolor y la incertidumbre que ese conocimiento y esa libertad implican.

Lo hermoso es enseñar a volar a un gorrioncillo, porque en su libertad va implícita tu renuncia...

Ya lo decían los griegos. Un pueblo libre y alegre será naturalmente laborioso. —Exacto. Y a los buenos gobernantes corresponde no imponer, sino garantizar esa clase de felicidad. —En

Fue legalizado así el Partido Socialista, y al poco tiempo también el Partido Comunista, ya en pleno e irreversible proceso hacia la libertad.

Se ha combatido mucho por la libertad, en nombre de ella o en busca de ella y, sin embargo, nadie sabe cómo definirla porque ese estado de ausencia de coerción o restricción impuesta sobre nosotros no ha existido nunca y no puede existir. Si alguna sociedad intentara lograr un orden de perfecta libertad saldría de la historia para recaer en el orden natural, con todas sus limitaciones y riesgos.

Any people seriously concerned with its own freedom has to be concerned about other people's freedom as well

I think I would not hold one in slavery at any rate, yet the point is not clear enough for me to denounce people upon.

Modernization did not demote the elderly. It demoted the family. It gave people—the young and the old—a way of life with more liberty and control, including the liberty to be less beholden to other generations. The veneration of elders may be gone, but not because it has been replaced by veneration of youth. It's been replaced by veneration of the independent self. *   *   *