Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man.
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.
Of freedom and of life he only is deserving
Who every day must conquer them anew.
For every king, every despot is the sworn foe of freedom and of law.
Whether or not we can get together, remember well that art “lives” where absolute freedom is.
A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
Zosime who was never a slave but in body, has now gained freedom for her body too.
A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten.
An enactment for the favour and liberty of the subject ought to have a liberal construction.