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.
Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.
Even love, the beloved Republic, that feeds upon freedom and lives.
Yes, we have more problems. But also more solutions, more opportunities and more freedom.
As soon as laws are necessary for men, they are no longer fit for freedom.
None of those who paid the price for our freedom should be forgotten.
The name of our beautiful reward is not profit. Its name is freedom.
What was the good working for freedom all your life and ending up without any freedom at all?
Freedom, like peace, can be made secure only as it is made universal.
Clearly when the liberties are left unrestricted they collide with one another.
Only a few prefer liberty, the majority seek nothing more than fair masters.