Give us this day our television, and an automobile, but deliver us from freedom.
—Jean-Luc Godard, 1966I prefer liberty with unquiet to slavery with quiet.
—Sallust, c. 35 BCFreedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
—Rosa Luxemburg, 1918Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies.
—H.L. Mencken, 1925Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.
—James Baldwin, 1961Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1755Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.
—Rudy Giuliani, 1999The self is like an infant: given free rein, it craves to suckle.
—al-Busiri, c. 1250Democracy is the menopause of Western society, the grand climacteric of the body social. Fascism is its middle-aged lust.
—Jean Baudrillard, 1987Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.
—Agnes Repplier, 1916I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.
—Coretta Scott King, 1994Those who believe in freedom of the will have never loved and never hated.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1893Pushing someone toward liberty does not set her free; taking the chains off a prisoner does not give him freedom.
—Ken Bugul, 1982The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is pathetically untrue.
—Margot Asquith, 1922People will never fight for your freedom if you have not given evidence that you are prepared to fight for it yourself.
—Bayard Rustin, 1986Like a broken gong be still, be silent. Know the stillness of freedom where there is no more striving.
—Siddhartha Gautama, c. 500 BCCommunities do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1863As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
—Abraham Lincoln, c. 1858Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
—Pericles, c. 431 BCNone who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
—Pearl S. Buck, 1943Despotism subjects a nation to one tyrant—democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839Ah! Freedom is a noble thing!
—John Barbour, 1375It’s easy to be independent when you’ve got money. But to be independent when you haven’t got a thing—that’s the Lord’s test.
—Mahalia Jackson, 1966Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903If the bird does like its cage, and does like its sugar, and will not leave it, why keep the door so very carefully shut?
—Olive Schreiner, 1883Freedom of the press is only guaranteed to those who own one.
—A.J. Liebling, 1960That sweet bondage which is freedom’s self.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1813Power is so apt to be insolent, and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good terms.
—George Savile, c. 1690A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
—Amiri Baraka, 1962Let us make our own mistakes, but let us take comfort in the knowledge that they are our own mistakes.
—Tom Mboya, 1958In every human breast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom; it is impatient of oppression and pants for deliverance.
—Phillis Wheatley, 1774If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1843We who officially value freedom of speech above life itself seem to have nothing to talk about but the weather.
—Barbara Ehrenreich, 1991Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent.
—Louis Brandeis, 1928