Freedom Quotes
Presidents are over-represented here. George W. Bush has the most entries, ahead of Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy, which says more about how often presidents talk about freedom than about how well they put it. The better writing tends to be elsewhere: Madison in the Federalist Papers (1787), Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition (1958), Dalí in his diary.
Two of the most repeated freedom quotes are flagged. “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is credited to Voltaire. Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote it in The Friends of Voltaire (1906), as a summary of his views. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance” is credited to Jefferson, but nobody has found it in his writings. The closest early version is by John Philpot Curran, in a speech of 1790.
Our policy is not built on envy or hatred, but on liberty for the individual man or woman.
[Translated]: The tree of liberty only grows when watered by the blood of tyrants.
People have been taught to expect far more from government than from freedom.
George W. Bush did a incredible job in the presidency, defending us from freedom.
To be full of things is to be empty of what matters. To be empty of things is to be full of freedom.
We must be vigilant in expanding and defending the liberties our democracy provides.
Spending money is not an assertion of your freedom. It is the key to your next enslavement.