#liberty

He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings! ↗

— Emily Dickinson

#liberty

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#liberty

I would defend the liberty of consenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent. ↗

— Arthur C. Clarke

#liberty

Failure of government programs prompts more determined effort, while the loss of liberty is ignored or rationalized away...whether is it is the war on poverty, drugs, terrorism...or the current Hitler of the day, an appeal to patriotism is used to convince the people that a little sacrifice of liberty, here or there, is a small price to pay...The results, though, are frightening and will soon become even more so. ↗

— Ron Paul

#liberty

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#individuality #liberty #tyranny #liberty

When Alexander the Great visited the philosopher Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for him, Diogenes is said to have replied: ‘Yes, stand a little less between me and the sun.’ It is what every citizen is entitled to ask of his government. ↗

— Henry Hazlitt

#productivity #economics

I was not heroic enough to purchase liberty at the price of caste. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#liberty #heroism

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. ↗

— Lord Acton

#higher #highest #itself #liberty #means

Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recognition of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily true; that what we like is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open. ↗

— Clive Bell

#convince #effective #fundamental #good #liberty

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. ↗

— Frank Herbert

#become #captive #desires #discipline #find