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Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.

— Barry Goldwater

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More quotes by Barry Goldwater

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!

To my mind the single essential element on which all discoveries will be dependent is human freedom.

With No Apologies (1979)

Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar.

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.

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Attribution

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