What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
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.
Most quoted on independence day:
Freedom gives us a chance to realize our human and individual uniqueness.
Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.
Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.
A free press is one where it's okay to state the conclusion you're led to by the evidence.
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.
The men of the future will yet fight their way to many a liberty that we do not even miss.