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:
One of the most clearly marked trends for over twenty years has been the decline in civil liberties.
By the word "liberty" they meant liberty for property, not liberty for persons.
A nation based on freedom is just another place to go shopping.
Freedom of expression is after all, the bedrock of open societies.
Although Taiwan guarantees freedom of speech, it is still a democratic country ruled by law.
Political liberty is the residuary legatee of ecclesiastical animosities.