Last Updated: December 17, 2022 by Quote.cc Team
What is freedom? Freedom can be defined as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.” It also means having free will and being without undue or unjust constraints, or enslavement.
Freedom is your birthright. It means ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Freedom gives you the chance to decide for yourself and determine the direction of your life. It allows you to create your own life and well-being.
We have compiled some of the most inspirational, famous quotes on the freedom to give you the courage to make your own choices and determine how you live your life. Enjoy!
Inspiring Quotes about Freedom and Independence
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Top 10 Freedom Quotes
“When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.” – Charles Evans Hughes
“Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.” – Moshe Dayan
“There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free.” – Walter Cronkite
“’Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.” – Friedrich August von Hayek
“It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” – Samuel Adams
“May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.” – Peter Marshall
“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” – Pope John Paul II
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” – Ronald Reagan
“Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.” – George Macdonald
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson
See also: 240 Motivational Quotes That Will Remind You To Never Give Up On Your Dreams
What is Freedom?
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“Freedom has never been free.” – Medgar Evers
“Freedom is not enough.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.” – Herbert Hoover
“Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.” – Nietzsche
“Freedom is not an unlimited license, an unlimited choice, or an unlimited opportunity. Freedom is, first of all, a responsibility before the God from whom we come.” – Alan Keyes
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things.” – Ronald Reagan
“Financial freedom is available to those who learn about it and work for it.” – Robert Kiyosaki
“Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.” – Alan Dean Foster
“Freedom is the right to one’s dignity as a man.” – Archibald MacLeish
“Freedom is the right to live as we wish.” – Epictetus
“Freedom is never given; it is won.” – A. Philip Randolph
“Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better….” – Albert Camus
“Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.” – Hunter S. Thompson
“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell
“Freedom is not an end in itself, that how freedom is exercised matters as much as freedom itself.” – Stephen Harper
“Freedom is a struggle, and we do it together. Not only together as black citizens, but black and white together.” – Andrew Young
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something, and when you decide how to respond.” – Jeffrey Borenstein
“Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.” – Epictetus
“Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.” – Rosa Luxemburg
“Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.” – Ayn Rand from The Fountainhead
“Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.” – Daniel J. Boorstin
“A big part of financial freedom is having your heart and mind free from worry about the what-ifs of life.” – Suze Orman
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Power is duty; freedom is responsibility.” – Marie Dubsky
“The Divine Plan is one of Freedom.The inherent nature of man is ever seeking to express itself in terms of freedom because freedom is the birthright of every living soul.” – Ernest Holmes
“The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.” – Thucydides
“Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.” – Patrick Henry
“A place of freedom is the best place to have the most creativity.” – Matt McGorry
“Freedom, in general, may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.” – Bertrand Russell
“Ultimately, we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” – Marilyn Ferguson
“Liberty: One of Imagination’s most precious possessions.” – Ambrose Bierce
“Liberty is the possibility of doubting, of making a mistake,… of searching and experimenting,… of saying No to any authority — literary, artistic, philosophical, religious, social, and even political.” – Ignazio Silone
“What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.” – Archibald MacLeish
“When a truth is not given complete freedom, freedom is not complete.” – Vaclav Havel
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask.” – Jim Morrison
“Economic freedom is … an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom.” – Milton Friedman
“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” – Aung San Suu Kyi
“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.” – Wole Soyinka
“What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.” – Maximilien Robespierre
Short Freedom Quotes
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“Freedom – to walk free and own no superior.” – Walt Whitman
“The best road to progress is freedom’s road.” – John F. Kennedy
“Freedom eans choosing your burden.” – Hephzibah Menuhin
“Freedom begins between the ears.” – Edward Abbey
“Let freedom never perish in your hands.” – Joseph Addison
“Freedom lies in being bold.” – Robert Frost
“Patterning your life around other’s opinions is nothing more than slavery.” – Lawana Blackwell
“Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.” – Voltaire
“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.” – Epictetus
“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.” – Edward R. Murrow
“To enjoy freedom, we have to control ourselves.” – Virginia Woolf
“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” – Aristotle
“I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.” – David Bowie
“We gain freedom when we have paid the full price.” – Rabindranath Tagore
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” – George Washington
“You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness.” – Robert Frost
“O Liberty…! is it well To leave the gates unguarded.” – Thomas Bailey Aldrich
“Too much freedom can lead to the soul’s decay.” – Prince
“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” – Jim Morrison
“Art is the daughter of freedom.” – Friedrich Schiller
“Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.” – Rabindranath Tagore
“Most people want security in this world, not liberty.” – H.L. Mencken
“Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.” – Thomas Campbell
“Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” – General John Stark
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” – George Washington Carver
“Freedom comes from strength and self-reliance.” – Lisa Murkowski
“True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.” – Brigham Young
“Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom.” – Friedrich Schiller
“I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.” – Simone de Beauvoir
“Who speaks of liberty while the human mind is in chains.” – Francis Wright
“For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Most will give up an acre of freedom for a closet of security.” – Dr Idel Dreimer
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” – Coco Chanel
“There is no such thing as part freedom.” – Nelson Mandela
Famous Freedom Quotes
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“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” – Albert Einstein
“History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads.” – Charles de Gaulle
“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.” – Lord Acton
“Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.” – Woodrow Wilson
“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” – Patrick Henry
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“When freedom does not have a purpose when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society.” – Pope John Paul II
“The fact, in short, is that freedom, to be meaningful in an organized society must consist of an amalgam of hierarchy of freedoms and restraints.” – Samuel Hendel
“To pledge any kind is to declare war against nature; for a pledge is a chain that is always clanking and reminding the wearer of it that he is not a free man.” – Mark Twain
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” – Albert Camus
“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.” – Hubert H. Humphrey
“Nations grew corrupt Love bondage more than liberty; Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty.” – John Milton
“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” – Justice Louis Brandeis
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Those who nourish the hope that it will be possible to keep central government free of the corrupting tendencies of power and to staff it with a freedom-loving elite, overestimate the virtues of both the electorate and the elected, and underestimate the normative power of structural processes even over well-intended functionaries.” – Robert Nef
“We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights.” – Felix Frankfurter
“When plunder has become a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it.” – Frédéric Bastiat
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” – Winston Churchill
“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.” – Malcolm X
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell
“Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.” – Thomas Macaulay
“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.” – Adlai Stevenson
“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” – Winston Churchill
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Every human has four endowments – self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.” – Stephen Covey
“Liberty has as many chains as slavery, but the golden chains of liberty decorate, and the iron chains of slavery degrade.” – Austin O’Malley
“I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. ‘I have a problem. I’ll get a grant.’ ‘I’m homeless; the government must house me.’ They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. We must look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There’s no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation.” – Margaret Thatcher
“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.” – Ronald Reagan
“The Reagan years showed us that expanding economic freedom should be the North Star – the guiding light – of U.S. policy because it is the best way to achieve sustained and broad-based prosperity for all.” – Jon Kyl
“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” – Nelson Mandela
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela
“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” – Nelson Mandela
Inspirational Freedom Quotes
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“If you’re not ready to die for it, but the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.” – Malcolm X
“He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“I would rather die in freedom on my way back home than starving to death here.” – Morning Star
“A man can be free without being great, but no man can be great without being free.” – Khalil Gibran
“I’ve learned that fear limits you and your vision. It serves as blinders to what may be just a few steps down the road for you. The journey is valuable, but believing in your talents, your abilities, and your self-worth can empower you to walk down an even brighter path. Transforming fear into freedom – how great is that?” – Soledad O’Brien
“Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward.” – Drew Houston
“Everywhere, the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, — Necessity and Free Will.” – Thomas Carlyle
“Those who won our independence… valued liberty as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.” – Louis D. Brandeis
“I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.” – Madonna Ciccone
“There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.” – Charles Kingsley
“To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It’s freedom.” – Patti Smith
“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” – Edmund Burke
“The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Vicktor Emil Frankl
“Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.” – Nelson Mandela
See also: These Inspirational Quotes That Will Help People Live Their Best Lives
Personal Freedom Quotes
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“I’d like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free and wanted other people to be also free.” – Rosa Parks
“There must be freedom for all to live, to think, to worship, no book, no avenue must be closed.” – James Larkin
“Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.” – Vernon Howard
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine
“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” – Louis D. Brandeis
“Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick
“I want to give myself the freedom not to have to be projecting my whole life ahead.” – Robert Downey, Jr.
“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.” – Thomas Paine
“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” – Hans Christian Andersen
“Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself – and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is.” – Jim Morrison
“The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.” – G.K. Chesterton
True Freedom Quotes
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“True success, true happiness lies in freedom and fulfillment.” – Dada Vaswani
“I am no bird; and no nett ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” – Charlotte Bronte from Jane Eyre
“I know, but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“True freedom requires the rule of law and justice and a judicial system in which the denial of rights to others does not secure the rights of some.” – Jonathan Sacks
“The ability to free your mind from unwanted thoughts is real freedom.” – Remez Sasson
“Unless the will is free, man has no freedom; and if he has no freedom he is not a moral agent, that is, he is incapable of moral action and also of moral character.” – Charles Finney
Funny Freedom Quotes
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“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” – Noam Chomsky
“We are free, truly free when we don’t need to rent our arms to anybody to be able to lift a piece of bread to our mouths.” – Ricardo Flores Magon
“Independence is a heady draught, and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive, and with each drink, you want more.” – Maya Angelou
“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.” – Frederick Douglass
“If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.” – Carl Schurz
“I’ve sold my soul for freedom. It’s lonely, but it’s sweet.” – Melissa Etheridge
“None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but licence.” – John Milton
“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” – Denis Diderot
Spiritual Freedom Quotes
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“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.” – Kahlil Gibran
“We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.” – Robert J. McCracken
“To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one’s freedom.” – Andre Gide
“You are loved; you are accepted, forgiven and freed to live for him.” – Aimee P. Miller, Sassy Saved
“I had reached the point, at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a Freeman in fact, while I remained a slave in form,” – Frederick Douglass
“As a rule, I believe people shouldn’t follow rules; rules should follow people.” – Eric Micha’el Leventhal
“The spiritual freedom we seek cannot be found by grasping at, retreating to, or protecting our perceived safe spaces. Our freedom lies in remaining open continuously, not only to Life’s changes but also to the Divine Light within us and others.” – Peter Santos
“The spiritual freedom we seek cannot be found by grasping at, retreating to, or protecting our perceived safe spaces. Our freedom lies in remaining open continuously, not only to Life’s changes but also to the Divine Light within us and others. This is our choice. Although often perceived as a weakness, being open and surrendering to the experience of the present moment is our greatest strength. By authentically living Life in the Now, we submit to Divine guidance where we find the freedom to see everything equally and sacred in Truth.” – Peter Santos
See also:
Fight For Freedom Quotes
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“Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools.” – D.H. Lawrence
“You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.” – Malcolm X
“Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.” – Bob Marley
“The sole end for which humanity is warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection … The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.” – John Stuart Mill
“We feel free when we escape — even if it be but from the frying pan into the fire.” – Eric Hoffer
“This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people to emancipate themselves.” – Errico Malatesta
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” – William Faulkner
“When the People contend for their liberty, they seldom get anything for their Victory but new Masters.” – George Savile
“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.” – Frank Herbert
“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.” – John Basil Barnhill
Freedom Of Speech Quotes
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“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” – Benjamin Franklin
“I believe in freedom of speech, but I believe we should also have the right to comment on freedom of speech.” – Stockwell Day
“Liberty doesn’t work as well in practice as it does in speeches.” – Will Rogers
“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.” – Benjamin Franklin
“I’m a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought.” – Jimmy Wales
“Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorise and which to prevent.” – Alan Dershowitz
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” – Soren Kierkegaard
“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” – Stephen Covey
“In Iran, there is no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech, no independent judiciary, no free elections. There is no freedom of religion – not even for Shiites, who are forced by Iran’s theocracy to adhere to one narrow set of official rules.” – Elliott Abrams
“Problems in our country haven’t been caused by Donald Trump, America and its ambitions or CIA spies. Our problems are rooted in a bad government system, the lack of free elections, independent courts and freedom of speech.” – Ksenia Sobchak
“Freedom of speech is freedom above all for those whose views you dislike most.” – Peter Hitchens
“Freedom of speech should be wide open as long as it doesn’t incite violence.” – Mike Leach
“Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality.” – Ben Shapiro
“Freedom of speech is a human right and the foundation upon which democracy is built. Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction upon democracy.” – Deeyah Khan
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” – George Washington
“It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.” – Leo McKern
“Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorize and which to prevent.” – Alan Dershowitz
“Love myself I do. Not everything, but I love the good as well as the bad. I love my crazy lifestyle, and I love my hard discipline. I love my freedom of speech and the way my eyes get dark when I’m tired. I love that I have learned to trust people with my heart, even if it will get broken. I am proud of everything that I am and will become.” – Johnny Weir
Freedom Quotes America
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“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.” – Samuel Adams
“Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to liberty, and few nations, if any, have found it.” – John Adams to Richard Rush
“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever.” – John Adams
“Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power.” – James Madison
“Freedom and not servitude is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy for superstition.” – Edmund Burke
“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Liberty and order will never be perfectly safe, until a trespass on the constitutional provisions for either, shall be felt with the same keenness that resents an invasion of the dearest rights, until every citizen shall be an Argus to espy, and an Aegeon to avenge, the unhallowed deed.” – James Madison
“It is impossible to conquer a nation determined to be free!” – Thomas Paine
“God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his Foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, ‘This is my Country.’ ” – Benjamin Franklin
“Where liberty dwells, there is my country.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Political freedom includes in it every other blessing. All the pleasures of riches, science, virtue, and even religion itself derive their value from liberty alone. No wonder therefore wise and prudent legislators have in all ages been held in such great veneration; and no wonder too those illustrious souls who have employed their pens and sacrificed their lives in defense of liberty have met with such universal applause. Their reputations, like some majestic river which enlarges and widens as it approaches its parent ocean, shall become greater and greater through every age and outlive the ruins of the world itself.” – Benjamin Rush to Catharine Macaulay
“Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! Receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.” – Thomas Paine
“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.” – Sam Adams
“The human mind will some day get back to the freedom it enjoyed 2000 years ago. This country, which has given to the world the example of physical liberty, owes to it that of moral emancipation also. For, as yet, it is but nominal with us. The inquisition of public opinion overwhelms in practice the freedom asserted by the laws in theory.” – Thomas Jefferson to John Adams
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” – Thomas Jefferson
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” – Thomas Paine
“The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms, and false reasoning, is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator, to the whole human race; and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice.” – Alexander Hamilton
“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Wear none of thine own chains; but keep free, whilst thou art free.” – William Penn
“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison
“Timid men…prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
“I believe that freedom of speech and freedom of religion go hand-in-hand in America.” – Kirk Cameron
“Let freedom be the mistress of thy heart.” – Mercy Otis Warren
“Liberty is the power to do everything that does not interfere with the rights of others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every individual has no limits save those that assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the same rights.” – Thomas Paine
“Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.” – John Adams
“There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.” – John Witherspoon
“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” – Edmund Burke
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field – the object is attained – and it now remains to be my earnest wish and prayer, that the Citizens of the United States could make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them.” – George Washington
“I would define liberty to be a power to do as we would be done by. The definition of liberty to be the power of doing whatever the law permits, meaning the civil laws, does not seem satisfactory.” – John Adams
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine
“’Tis a Common Observation here that our Cause is the Cause of all Mankind; and that we are fighting for their Liberty in defending our own.” – Benjamin Franklin
“It behoves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case others.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right…and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” – John Adams
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Our unalterable resolution should be to be free.” – Sam Adams
“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” – Thomas Paine
“Is life so dear, or peaceful so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry
“Remember, that in all countries where the freedom of the poor has been taken away, in whole or in part, that the freedom of the rich lost its defence. The circle has ever continued to constrict, till lessening to a point it became absolute.” – Thomas Paine
“In every human breast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom; it is impatient of oppression and pants for deliverance.” – Phyllis Wheatley
“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.” – John F. Kennedy
“The people…are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson
“We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I believe in America because we have great dreams, and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true.” – Wendell Willkie
“Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.” – Samuel Adams
Freedom Quotes Bible
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“This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
“If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.” – C.S. Lewis
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17
“Everything is permissible for me” – but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissile for me – but I will not be mastered by anything.” – 1 Corinthians 6:12
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:36
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1
“But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” – Galatians 3:22
“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” – Ephesians 3:12
“I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” – Psalm 119:45
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”” – Galatians 5:13-14
“But now that you have been set free from sin and become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” – Romans 6:22
“Live as free men, but do not use your freedom to cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.” – 1 Peter 2:16
Financial Freedom Quotes
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“When you understand that your self-worth is not determined by your net-worth, then you’ll have financial freedom.” – Suze Orman
“To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise; turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence.” – Jim Rohn
“Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” – PT Barnum
“More important than the how we achieve financial freedom, is the why. Find your reasons why you want to be free and wealthy.” – Robert Kiyosaki
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” – Henry David Thoreau
“A good financial plan is a road map that shows us exactly how the choices we make today will affect our future.” – Alexa Von Tobel
“The goal isn’t more money. The goal is living life on your terms.” – Chris Brogan
“Real wealth is not about money. Real wealth is: not having to go to meetings, not having to spend time with jerks, not being locked into status games, not feeling like you have to say ‘yes,’ not worrying about others claiming your time and energy. Real wealth is about freedom.” – James Clear
“You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.” – Dave Ramsey
“Your economic security does not lie in your job; it lies in your own power to produce—to think, to learn, to create, to adapt. That’s true financial independence. It’s not having wealth; it’s having the power to produce wealth.” – Stephen Covey
See also:
Freedom And Responsibility Quotes
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“Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.” – Nelson Mandela
“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” – Plato
“Liberty is maintained by responsible freedom.” – Roger W Hanco*ck
“He who is allowed to do as he likes will soon run his head into a brick wall out of sheer frustration.” – Robert Musil
“The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear, toward others as well as ourselves.” – Oscar Arias
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” – Ronald Reagan
“Genius of AND. Embrace both extremes on a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing a OR B, figure out how to have A AND B-purpose AND profit, continuity AND change, freedom AND responsibility, etc.” – James C. Collins
“Courage is required not only in a person’s occasional crucial decision for his own freedom, but in the little hour-to-hour decisions which place the bricks in the structure of his building of himself into a person who acts with freedom and responsibility.” – Rollo May
“As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is our responsibility.” – Arnold J. Toynbee
“Liberty without Learning is always in peril and Learning without Liberty is always in vain.” – John F. Kennedy
“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circ*mstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” – Jim Rohn
“Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility.” – Ernest Becker
“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” – Denis Waitley
“We cannot learn freedom and responsibility within the confines of our own species. We cannot understand life and death and what they are for in exclusively human terms. Without that which is wild, the world becomes a cell block.” – Stephanie Mills
“Abraham Lincoln quote: You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
“Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” – Ronald Reagan
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Freedom and responsibility aren’t interconnected things. They are the same thing.” – Harry Browne
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” – Bob Dylan
“True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.” – Brigham Young
“Freedom is not a reward or a decoration that is celebrated with champagne…Oh no! It’s a…long distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting.” – Albert Camus
“Love can only exist where freedom and responsibility are operating.” – Henry Cloud
“I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.” – Bob Dylan
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” – Sigmund Freud
“To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one’s freedom.” – Andre Gide
“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
“The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circ*mstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom, even temporarily.” – Albert Camus
“Men must stop being jealous of their power and generously allow freedom and responsibility to others. The reward is harmonious families and society.” – Delphine de Girardin
“Anxiety is the dizziness we experience when we recognize we hold the freedom and responsibility for our life choices. More than anyone, alcoholics have a very clear sense of this dizziness, especially when we were coming to realize our own powerlessness over alcohol and that we could act differently.” – Peg O’Connor
See also: 150 Quotes That Inspire You To Take Responsibility For Your Life
In Conclusion
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Freedom and liberty are fundamental human rights that are key to achieving a functioning society. Freedom means the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance. One must be aware of how fragile freedom can be and how easily it has been taken away by others. People must look to the past to appreciate the freedom they currently possess.
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