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.
93 percent of Chinese... value security over freedom, as compared to... 28 percent of Americans.
I have not come here with reference to any flag but that of freedom.
Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.
Freedom succumbs to dizziness. Further than this, psychology cannot and will not go.
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.
The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order.
The Constitution is the sole source and guaranty of national freedom.