Skip to content

What is the essence of America? The essence of America is finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from."

— Marilyn vos Savant

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: As quoted in Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes, & Brilliant Remarks (2007) by Karen Weekes, p. 173
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Marilyn vos Savant

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

Perfectionism : What's Bad About Being Too Good? (1987)

The original answer defines certain conditions, [...] Anything else is a different question.

If your head tells you one thing and your heart tells you another, before you do anything, you should first decide whether you have a better head or a better heart.

Loose Cannons: Devastating Dish from the World's Wildest Women (1998)

As quoted in The Truth in Words: Inspiring Quotes for the Reflective Mind (2002) by Paras, p. 92

All Marilyn vos Savant quotes →

Topics

Freedom

More quotes by Marilyn vos Savant

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

Courage: the heart and spirit of every woman : reclaiming the forgotten virtue (2001)

A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night.

What Type Am I? : Discover Who You Really Are (1998)

The length of your education is less important than its breadth, and the length of your life is less important than its depth.

The Reader's Digest (1992)

Think of a hypothesis as a card. A theory is a house made of hypotheses.

Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (1991)

What women want is what men want. They want respect.

Evergreen : A Guide to Writing with Readings (2003)

All Marilyn vos Savant quotes →

You may also like

You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

Julian Assange

What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?

Abraham Lincoln

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Marilyn vos Savant (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.