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Independence Day Quotes

Despite the name, this is not a page about the American Fourth of July. It is built from the freedom and patriotism pages, and the writers who turn up come from all over: the Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos, the Italian anarchist Bruno Filippi, Shakespeare, Anna Quindlen. De Burgos has a line about an invaded nation where today’s battlefield is independence.

A few entries are there because of a keyword, not a mood. Cervantes’s remark about not thrusting his nose into other men’s porridge (Don Quixote, 1605) is about minding your own business. If you want something for a speech, sort by source grade and skip the oddities.

Random quote on Independence Day

Most quoted on independence day:

There are 'two undeniable' that are colliding with one another: "Do not doubt the Chinese Communist Party's determination to recover Taiwan" and "Do not doubt Taiwanese's determination to pursue democracy and freedom".

Han Kuo-yu Han Kuo-yu (2019)

The special trait making me an anarch is that I live in a world which I ‘ultimately’ do not take seriously. This increases my freedom; I serve as a temporary volunteer.

Ernst Jünger Eumeswil (1977)

As the liberty lads o'er the sea
Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,
So we, boys, we
Shall die fighting or live free,
And down with all kings but King Ludd!

Lord Byron Song for the Luddites (1816)

'Freedom is a passing thing,' a man said. 'Someone can always come and snatch it away.' (p212)

Edwidge Danticat The Farming of Bones (1998)

From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to slavery.

Booker T. Washington Up From Slavery (1901)

We're free and clear, Willy. We're free, we're free, we're free...

Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman (1949)

Most of Malaysia does not believe that I will get a fair trial or a decision based on the facts of the law. But I want to show young people that (my conviction) is a small price to pay in the struggle for freedom and justice.

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar Ibrahim (2014)

We should all have access to the mathematical knowledge and tools needed to protect us from arbitrary decisions made by the powerful few in an increasingly math-driven world. Where there is no mathematics, there is no freedom.

Edward Frenkel

The Cold War walls have come down. They have set free the spirits of freedom and democracy, but also unleashed the demons of new threats to security. Among those threats are unconventional capabilities of the so-called "states of concern."

Aleksander Kwaśniewski

In federated sports, this performance is judged by rules and regulations. But in the mountains, these rules and regulations are meaningless. Mountains are (still) a space of freedom, where lawlessness reigns for the good of everyone.

Kílian Jornet Burgada Above the Clouds (2020)

Fashion is an imposition, a rein on freedom.

Golda Meir Fallaci interview (1973)

There [is] only one nationalist Muslim in India: Maulana Nehru.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

[T]he firmness of structure inherent in the canonic form is perfectly compatible with genuine freedom and poetry of inspiration.

Walter Raymond Spalding Music: An Art and a Language (1920)

Without the state there would be anarchy for that is, despite all the perfervid ravings of the Marxist Left and statist Right, all that anarchy means—the absence of the state, the opportunity for liberty.

Karl Hess Foreword (1984) to The Market for Liberty (1970)

All the things you would do gladly, oh without enthusiasm, but gladly, all the things there seems no reason for your not doing, and that you do not do! Can it be we are not free? It might be worth looking into.

Samuel Beckett Molloy (1951)

Freedom was a word that everyone mentioned but none of us knew. There wasn't much left for anyone to die for, except the right to remain peculiar.

Colum McCann Let the Great World Spin (2009)

Freedom is the biggest myth ever created. It's a destructive, unachievable goal that has caused a great deal of pain. Very few people can handle freedom. A society is healthy and productive when it's under control.

John Twelve Hawks Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005)

The West will have to choose: either to come to terms with Russians, or to receive a retaliatory blow. This retaliatory blow will not be by means of war. We will resort to the same weapon: nationalism.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Soon comes the day all shall be free. Even you, and even me. Soon comes the day all shall die. Surely you, but never I.

Robert Jordan The Great Hunt (1990)

[But] we should not be kowtowing to anybody when it comes to freedom in this country.

Kevin Rudd

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