best quotations about
Freedom |
| 134 quotes | Visits: 13,112 |
Quotations
 | Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politician & writer 44 likes |
 | Freedom is the power to choose our own chains. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 31 likes |
| Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politician & writer 31 likes |
 | While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 24 likes |
 | The good man is free, even if he is a slave. The evil man is a slave, even if he is a king. — Saint Augustine, 354-430, Christian theologian & philosopher 24 likes |
 | Our enemies have made the mistake that America's enemies always make. They saw liberty and thought they saw weakness. And now, they see defeat. — George W. Bush, 1946-, American President 23 likes |
| I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 18 likes |
 | The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage. — Thucydides, 460-394 BC, Ancient Greek historian 15 likes |
 | Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. — Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement 14 likes |
 | Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar. — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 14 likes |
 | Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 13 likes |
 | When liberty destroys order, the hunger for order will destroy liberty. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 12 likes |
| The freedom of Mankind does not lie in the fact that can do what we want, but that we do not have to do that which we do not want. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 12 likes |
| Free speech is a bourgeois prejudice. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 11 likes |
 | Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness. — Frank Tyger, 1929-2011, American cartoonist 11 likes |
 | Freedom is the greatest fruit of self sufficiency. — Epicurus, 341-270 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 10 likes |
 | If a society is to be free, its government has to be controlled. — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 10 likes |
 | If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. — Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist 8 likes |
| It is true that liberty is precious — so precious that it must be rationed. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 8 likes |
 | If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 8 likes |
| Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 8 likes |
 | Liberties aren’t given, they are taken. — Aldοus Huxley, 1894-1963, English writer 8 likes |
 | Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, American President 7 likes |
 | When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. — Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher 7 likes |
| Knowledge is power but only wisdom is liberty. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 7 likes |
| One cannot live in society and be free from society. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 7 likes |
 | My further advice on your relations to women is based upon that other motto of chivalry, “Serve all, love one.” — Honoré de Balzac, 1799-1850, French writer 7 likes |
 | Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. — Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821-1881, Russian writer 7 likes |
 | Liberty, not the daughter but the mother of Order. — Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1809-1865, French anarchist 7 likes |
 | Everybody says they want to be free. Take the train off the tracks and it’s free but it can’t go anywhere. — Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American self-help writer 6 likes |
 | Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 6 likes |
 | Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. — Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian leader of independence 6 likes |
 | The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. — Baruch Spinoza, 1632-1677, Dutch philosopher 6 likes |
| Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 6 likes |
 | The truly free man is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. — Jules Renard, 1864-1910, French writer 6 likes |
 | Responsibility is the price of freedom. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 6 likes |
 | Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. — Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, American President [1901-1909] 6 likes |
 | The general limits of your freedom are merely these: that you do not trespass upon the equal rights of others. — Dwight Eisenhower, 1890-1969, American general & President 6 likes |
 | Freedom belongs to those who have conquered it. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 6 likes |
 | Freedom is a very great reality, but it means above all things, freedom from lies. — D. H. Lawrence, 1885-1930, British writer 6 likes |
 | The price of freedom keeps going up, but the quality keeps deteriorating. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist 6 likes |
 | People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid. — Søren Kierkegaard, 1813-1855, Danish philosopher 6 likes |
 | Having money is a way of being free of money. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 5 likes |
 | I would like to be free, totaly free... free like an aborted child. — Emile M. Cioran, 1911-1995, French-Romanian philosopher 5 likes |
| The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do. — Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher 5 likes |
 | Man is condemned to be free. — Jean-Paul Sartre, 1905-1980, French philosopher 5 likes |
| Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 5 likes |
 | The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion. — John Kennedy, 1917-1963, American President [1961-1963] 5 likes |
 | When I break any of the chains that bind me I feel that I make myself smaller. — Antonio Porchia, 1885-1968, Italian-Argentinian poet 5 likes |
 | Freedom lies in being bold. — Robert Frost, 1874-1963, American poet 5 likes |
 | Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. — Thomas Jefferson, 1749-1826, American President [1801-1809] 5 likes |
 | Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free. — Joseph De Maistre, 1753-1821, Savoyard diplomat & philosopher 5 likes |
 | It is always the same: once you are liberated, you are forced to ask who you are. — Jean Baudrillard, 1929-2007, French intellectual 4 likes |
 | Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed. — Charles Caleb Colton, 1780-1832, English cleric & writer 4 likes |
| Absolute freedom mocks at justice. Absolute justice denies freedom. To be fruitful, the two ideas must find their limits in each other. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 4 likes |
| Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 4 likes |
 | Man is free at the instant he wants to be. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 4 likes |
 | The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free. — Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862, American writer 4 likes |
| That man is truly free who desires what he is able to perform, and does what he desires. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 4 likes |
 | Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought. — Graham Greene, 1904-1991, British writer 4 likes |
| Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. — Søren Kierkegaard, 1813-1855, Danish philosopher 4 likes |
 | I have nothing in my mind except liberty and language. — Dionysios Solomos, 1797-1857, Greek poet 4 likes |
 | Liberty is the right to do what the laws permit. — Montesquieu, 1689-1755, French thinker 3 likes |
 | I love that town. No clocks. No locks. No restrictions. — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress (on Las Vegas) 3 likes |
 | A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze. — Margaret Atwood, 1939 -, Canadian writer 3 likes |
| We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, American President 3 likes |
 | If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too. — Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965, British writer 3 likes |
| There are two good things in life - freedom of thought and freedom of action. — Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965, British writer 3 likes |
 | Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought. — Lord Acton, 1834-1902, English historian 3 likes |
 | Freedom is only necessity understood. — William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher 3 likes |
 | In the mountains, there you feel free. — T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British poet, Nobel 1948 3 likes |
 | In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. — Franklin Roosevelt, 1882-1945, American President [1936-1945] 3 likes |
 | Freedom is not possible without authority - otherwise it would turn into chaos and authority is not possible without freedom - otherwise it would turn into tyranny. — Stefan Zweig, 1881-1942, Austrian writer 3 likes |
 | Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. — Aleister Crowley, 1875-1945, British magician & occultist, 3 likes |
 | The tyranny of necessity grants its slaves three kinds of freedom: opinion free from intellect, entertainment free from art, and orgies free from love. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 2 likes |
 | Liberty has restraints but no frontiers. — David Lloyd George, 1863-1945, British Prime Minister [1916-1922] 2 likes |
 | Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism. — Edward Gibbon, 1737-1794, English historian 2 likes |
 | When you lose all sense of self, the bonds of a thousand chains will vanish. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 2 likes |
 | Liberty, to define it, is nothing other than the absence of impediments to motion. — Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, English philosopher 2 likes |
 | The worst thing is not that the world is unfree, but that people have unlearned their liberty. — Milan Kundera, 1929-2023, Czech writer 1 likes |
 | The more free a man believes he is, the easier it is to indoctrinate him. |
 | There is nothing I congratulate myself on more heartily than on never having joined a sect. |
 | Too little liberty brings stagnation, and too much brings chaos. |
| Liberty is not an end, but a means. Whoever mistakes it for an end does not know what to do once he attains it. |
 | Yes, I’m free, said Karl, and nothing seemed more worthless than his freedom. |
| You are free and that is why you are lost. |
 | He says he wants to be free. Kill him! |
| I hope for nothing. I am afraid of nothing. I am free. — Nikos Kazantzakis, 1883-1957, Greek writer (inscription on his grave) |
 | When I look at history, I see hours of freedom and centuries of servitude. |
 | So much freedom, in Art, to do so little! |
 | Money is the sign of liberty. To curse money is to curse liberty – to curse life, which is nothing, if it be not free. |
 | The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves. — Bernard Baruch, 1870-1965, American businessman & statesman |
 | The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. |
 | Freedom without limits is just a word. |
 | People have so manipulated the concept of freedom that it finally boils down to the right of the stronger and richer to take from the weaker and poorer whatever they still have. |
| Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices. |
| Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech. — Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist |
 | To be free is often to be lonely. |
 | The price we have to pay for money is sometimes liberty. |
 | The whole world yearns after freedom, yet each creature is in love with his chains; this is the first paradox and inextricable knot of our nature. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
| Man’s freedom is relative and it cannot be held solely responsible for the imperfection of his nature. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | We recognize the free man by being attacked simultaneously or successively by the opposing parties. |
| Freedom still exists. You just have to pay the price. |
 | A person’s not free if their freedom has to be “given”. |
| There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master. |
| Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves. |
| It's the man who dares to take, who is independent, not he who gives. |
 | Freedom is a bit like money. It is not enough to be rich to know how to spend. |
 | The one who holds the chain is no freer than the one who drags. |
| Freedom does not like crowds. |
 | Freedom is often the first casualty of war. |
| Beware! Freedom of speech also includes the freedom to be misunderstood. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist |
| Freedom’s possibility is not the ability to choose the good or the evil. The possibility is to be able. |
 | The scientist seeks laws; the historian, causes; the artist, freedom. — Marty Rubin, 1930-1994, Canadian gay activist, author & journalist |
 | Nature never said to me: “Do not be poor”; still less did she say: “Be rich”; her cry to me was always: “Be independent”. |
 | You can do anything you want. This is your world. |
| You can do anything here — the only prerequisite is that it makes you happy. |
 | Freedom must be distinguished from democracy, with which it is often confused. |
 | Liberty, n. One of imagination's most precious possessions. |
| Any way you want it to be, that’s just right. |
| As a young Marxist in college during the 1950s heyday of the anti-Communist crusade led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, I had more freedom to express my views in class, without fear of retaliation, than conservative students have on many campuses today. |
Latin Quotes
 | Where there is doubt, there is freedom. Ubi dubium ibi libertas. — Publilius Syrus, 1st cent. AD, Roman author of maxims 55 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | Not pleasure, not glory, not power: freedom, only freedom. — Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer 3 likes |
| Only when Eternity takes Time by the hand, Only when infinity weds the finite's thought, Can man be free from himself and live with God. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
Ancient Greek
 | It seems that excessive freedom leads to excessive enslavement. Η άγαν ελευθερία έοικε εις άγαν δουλείαν μεταβάλλειν. — Plato, 427-347 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher ‐ Republic 18 likes |
 | No one is free if he cannot subdue himself. Ουδείς ελεύθερος εαυτού μη κρατών. — Epictetus, 50-120 AD, Ancient Greek Stoic philosopher 9 likes |
| We must free ourselves from the daily routine and the bonds of politics. Εκλυτέον εαυτούς εκ του περί τα εγκύκλια και τα πολιτικά δεσμωτηρίου. — Epicurus, 341-270 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 6 likes |
 | No one is free but Zeus. Ελεύθερος γαρ ου τις εστί πλην Διός. — Aeschylus, 525-456 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Prometheus Bound 4 likes |
Special Quotes
 | Liberty, Equality, Fraternity Liberté, égalité, fraternité. — National motto of France and a slogan of the French Revolution 7 likes |
 | Work sets you free. Arbeit macht frei. — Inscription on the entrance of various Nazi concentration camps (from the title of a novel by Lorenz Diefenbach, 1873) 2 likes |
Movie Quotes
 | I don't know if I'm unhappy because I'm not free, or if I'm not free because I'm unhappy. — from the film Breathless (1960) 7 likes |
 | - You have a chance to die for freedom. - Yes, well, freedom is wonderful. On the other hand, if you're dead, it's a tremendous drawback to your sex life. — from the film Bananas (1971) 4 likes |
 | It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. — from the film Fight Club (1999) 3 likes |
 | - You know I'm only a free man. - A meaningless reply. — from the film Alphaville (1965) 3 likes |
