freedom
Quotations
Quotations on the topic of ‘freedom’ from all listed authors (click on the ‘click to view listing’ links to view each quote in full).
-
“My grandfather was a man, when he talked about freedom, his attitude was really interesting. His view was that you had obligations or you had responsibilities, and when you fulfilled those obligations or responsibilities, that then gave you the liberty to do other things.” -Clarence Thomas
-
-
“Freedom has a price. Most people aren’t willing to pay it.” -Jack Kevorkian
-
“I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons taught us we were entitled to, no matter what the sacrifice.” -Rosabeth Moss Kanter
-
“Modernism released us from the constraints of everything that had gone before with a euphoric sense of freedom.” -Arthur Erickson
-
“I’ve come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.” -George McGovern
-
“There’s a glorious sense of freedom in comedy, just allowing myself to tell jokes, allowing myself to interrupt myself and tell old African folk stories that I made up – or didn’t – and Jamaican stories.” -Neil Gaiman
-
“The First Amendment freedom of religion is as important today as when the Bill of Rights was first written.” -Arlen Specter
-
“One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression.” -Howard Zinn
-
“Certain things happened in the early church. Women who had never had any freedom suddenly have the ability to stand up and speak and be treated as equals within the life of the church.” -Tony Campolo
-
“Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.” -Edward Gibbon
-
“The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.” -Johnny Carson
-
“When a truth is not given complete freedom, freedom is not complete.” -Vaclav Havel
-
“The problem of the world today is the people talk on and on about democracy, freedom, justice. But I don’t give a damn about democracy if I am worried about survival.” -Imelda Marcos
-
“There must be freedom for all to live, to think, to worship, no book, no avenue must be closed.” -James Larkin
-
“Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.” -Aneurin Bevan
-
“There are few things in politics more annoying than the Right’s utter conviction that it owns the patent on the word ‘freedom’ that when its leaders stand up for the rights of banks to be unregulated or capital gains to be untaxed, that it is actually and obviously standing up for human liberty, the noblest…
-
-
“It is not the simple statement of facts that ushers in freedom it is the constant repetition of them that has this liberating effect. Tolerance is the result not of enlightenment, but of boredom.” -Quentin Crisp
-
“The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.” -Saul Alinsky
-
“One of the rewards of success is freedom, the ability to do whatever you like.” -Sting
-
“Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.” -Garrett Hardin
-
“Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.” -Mortimer Adler
-
“The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.” -Sandra Day O’Connor
-
“I love the freedom of movement that my phone gives me. That has definitely transformed my life.” -Richard Branson
-
“Until you have lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is.” -Margaret Mitchell
-
“I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom.” -Michael Bloomberg
-
“I’m a multidimensional person and that’s the freedom of fashion: that you’re able to reinvent yourself through how you dress and how you cut your hair or whatever.” -Emma Watson
-
“No one who has lived even for a fleeting moment for something other than life in its conventional sense and has experienced the exaltation that this feeling produces can then renounce his new freedom so easily.” -Andre Breton
-
“Remove advertising, disable a person or firm from proclaiming its wares and their merits, and the whole of society and of the economy is transformed. The enemies of advertising are the enemies of freedom.” -David Ogilvy
-
“Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.” -Herbert Spencer
-
“In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom – along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.” -Noam Chomsky
-
“Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in his never wholly successful attempts to liberate himself from necessity.” -Hannah Arendt
-
“We call our country home of the brave and land of the free, but it’s not. We give a false portrayal of freedom. We’re not free – if we were, we’d allow people their freedom.” -Jesse Ventura
-
“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class-it is the cause of human kind, the very birthright of humanity.” -Anna Julia Cooper
-
“The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.” -Lady Bird Johnson
-
“A lot of people out there pay good lip service to the idea of personal freedom… right up to the point that someone tries to do something that they don’t personally approve of.” -Neal Boortz
-
“The Ego is partly free. partly determined, and reaches fuller freedom by approaching the Individual who is most free: God.” -Muhammad Iqbal
-
“True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.” -Milan Kundera
-
“America is just the country that how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind. There the politician has come to be looked upon as the very scum of society.” -Peter Kropotkin
-
“What we have at present is a system of loss socialism. Whatever goes wrong is shouldered by the general public and anything that works is privatised. Worshippers of market freedom have suspended the most important economic principle: Risk and liability go hand in hand.” -Sigmar Gabriel
-
“Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean. And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union – to secure peace – has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU,…
-
“The enemies of freedom do not argue they shout and they shoot.” -William Ralph Inge
-
“It is the people who scream the loudest about America and Freedom who see to be the most intolerant for a differing point of view.” -Rosanne Cash
-
“So sometimes the facts are good and sometimes the facts are bad, the important thing from the point of view of a principle as broad and important as freedom of speech is that the courts articulate and set forth in a very protective way what those principles are.” -Floyd Abrams
-
“I love to deer hunt and fish and drive down the back roads in my truck. All those things basically equal freedom to me – and not having to return that message or call from my record company or management. At some point, I need to recharge.” -Blake Shelton
-
“We in the United States should be all the more thankful for the freedom and religious tolerance we enjoy. And we should always remember the lessons learned from the Holocaust, in hopes we stay vigilant against such inhumanity now and in the future.” -Charlie Dent
-
“The magic of America is that we’re a free and open society with a mixed population. Part of our security is our freedom.” -Madeleine Albright
-
“We know there is no such thing as freedom without the risk of failure.” -Rick Perry
-
“We know what works. Freedom Works. We know what’s right. Freedom is right.” -George H. W. Bush
-
“There’s a certain amount of freedom involved in cycling: you’re self-propelled and decide exactly where to go. If you see something that catches your eye to the left, you can veer off there, which isn’t so easy in a car, and you can’t cover as much ground walking.” -David Byrne
-
“The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.” -David Riesman
-
“It was so much fun to have the freedom to wander America, with no assignments. For 25 or 30 years I never had an assignment. These were all stories I wanted to do myself.” -Charles Kuralt
-
“Freedom cannot be given… It can only be taken away.” -David Allan Coe
-
“I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.” -Nina Simone
-
“But if people want to swim in the Thames, if they want to take their lives into their own hands, then they should be able to do so with all the freedom and exhilaration of our woad-painted ancestors.” -Boris Johnson
-
“Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether.” -Luis Bunuel
-
“We need the children of Indonesia and the Philippines to manufacture our freedom of choice.” -Marc Maron
-
“Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating the Jewish state. It runs a theocratic totalitarian state in Gaza, with no individual liberty, and no freedom of speech or press.” -Dennis Prager
-
“To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.” -Maya Lin
-
“I can remember when Democrats believed that it was the duty of America to fight for freedom over tyranny.” -Zell Miller
-
“The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we’ll see the rising of the moon.” -Bobby Sands
-
“Civilization is the order and freedom is promoting cultural activity.” -Will Durant
-
“As long as there is rape… there is not going to be any peace or justice or equality or freedom. You are not going to become what you want to become or who you want to become. You are not going to live in the world you want to live in.” -Andrea Dworkin
-
“Once I know people know who I am, it gives me a lot of licence and freedom to behave in ways I wouldn’t normally.” -Larry David
-
“It is very easy to make clear what you want a film to say, but I did not wish to engage in overt propaganda, even for the right cause. I wanted to create an experience through the films, something where people could have the freedom of their own response to them.” -Godfrey Reggio
-
“It is clear that not in one thing alone, but in many ways equality and freedom of speech are a good thing.” -Herodotus
-
“And it’s one thing to give people freedom and something else to deny the rights of Christians to assert their faith in order to keep Hindus from feeling upset.” -Pat Robertson
-
“Not to sound overly cheesy but I really appreciate the freedom we have in America – especially as a female.” -Katy Perry
-
“The political core of any movement for freedom in the society has to have the political imperative to protect free speech.” -Bell Hooks
-
“Among the best traitors Ireland has ever had, Mother Church ranks at the very top, a massive obstacle in the path to equality and freedom. She has been a force for conservatism… to ward off threats to her own security and influence.” -Bernadette Devlin
-
“No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.” -Dean Acheson
-
“Every therapeutic cure, and still more, any awkward attempt to show the patient the truth, tears him from the cradle of his freedom from responsibility and must therefore reckon with the most vehement resistance.” -Alfred Adler
-
“In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties.” -Henri Frederic Amiel
-
“Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe, old age flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.” -Edith Wharton
-
“I’m not a drug addict. My wild period wasn’t about drugs it was about sexual freedom.” -Calvin Klein
-
“The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.” -Emma Goldman
-
“We chose more freedom instead of more government. We chose the principles of our founding to solve the challenges of our time. We chose a special man to lead us in a special time. We chose Mitt Romney to lead our nation.” -Marco Rubio
-
“Negation is the mind’s first freedom, yet a negative habit is fruitful only so long as we exert ourselves to overcome it, adapt it to our needs once acquired it can imprison us.” -Emile M. Cioran
-
“The freedom to be an individual is the essence of America.” -Marilyn vos Savant
-
“To me, freedom entitles you to do something, not to not do something.” -Shel Silverstein
-
“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.” -Roald Dahl
-
“And why do we, who say we oppose tyranny and demand freedom of speech, allow people to go to prison and be vilified, and magazines to be closed down on the spot, for suggesting another version of history.” -David Icke
-
“Don’t ever dare to take your college as a matter of course – because, like democracy and freedom, many people you’ll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you.” -Alice Duer Miller
-
“As a consequence of the victories we have registered during our first ten years of freedom, we have laid a firm foundation for the new advances we must and will make during the next decade.” -Thabo Mbeki
-
“I’ve returned to being an amateur without any ties or strings attached, which gives me a freedom I never had before.” -Cat Stevens
-
“Working with HBO was an opportunity to experience creative freedom and ‘long-form development’ that filmmakers didn’t have a chance to do before the emergence of shows like ‘The Sopranos.’” -Martin Scorsese
-
“In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom.” -J. G. Ballard
-
“I felt extremely uncomfortable as the focal point, in the spotlight. I really like the behind the scenes role, because all my freedom is there.” -Brian Eno
-
“The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.” -Denis Diderot
-
“I think there’s some connection between absolute discipline and absolute freedom.” -Alan Rickman
-
“In 1960, when I came out of prison as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there’s available… in America right now.” -Merle Haggard
-
“Freedom is not a gift nor does it simply exist for us to have, but rather it is a sacred duty, and its blessed yield of hope is born from none other than the blood of the innocent.” -Bryant H. McGill
-
“I’ve used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly, I’ve still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth.” -Jimmy Carter
-
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” -Malcom X
-
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.” -Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
-
“Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.” -Daniel J. Boorstin
-
“Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.” -Germaine Greer
-
“I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now.” -Jackie Chan
-
“Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men.” -Bede Griffiths
-
-
“But on average, I go to the gym about four or five times a week. Today, I’m so experienced in training – I’m actually listening to my body now. My body needs freedom. When I train I create serenity and I produce oxygen in my blood. It helps me to think better and relax. By…
-
“We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.” -Boris Yeltsin
-
“There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, founded not upon visionary ideas, but upon the long experience of many generations within the shores of this happy isle, that in freedom you lay the firmest foundations both of loyalty and order.” -William E. Gladstone
-
“A mere forty years ago, beach volleyball was just beginning. No bureaucrat would have invented it, and that’s what freedom is all about.” -Newt Gingrich
-
“Victorious living does not mean freedom from temptation, nor does it mean freedom from mistakes.” -E. Stanley Jones
-
-
“God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us – as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.” -John Calvin
-
“A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten.” -Kemal Ataturk
-
-
“Watching President Obama apologize last week for America’s arrogance – before a French audience that owes its freedom to the sacrifices of Americans – helped convince me that he has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.” -Rick Santorum
-
“Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness nothing but faith, faith and freedom.” -Gustave Flaubert
-
“Our culture is just a series of checks and balances. The whole idea that we’re in a battle between tyranny and freedom – it’s a series of pendulum swings.” -Jon Stewart
-
“But if you can create an honorable livelihood, where you take your skills and use them and you earn a living from it, it gives you a sense of freedom and allows you to balance your life the way you want.” -Anita Roddick
-
“But, I don’t think any arranger should ever write a drum part for a drummer because if a drummer can’t create his own Interpretation of the chart and he plays everything that’s written, he becomes mechanical he has no freedom.” -Buddy Rich
-
“The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress.” -Ramana Maharshi
-
“Back then I didn’t think a woman like that, or a relationship like that, could exist with complete freedom and no jealousy or possessiveness. I thought it sounded too good to be true and I was certainly convinced it wasn’t the life for me!” -Sylvia Kristel
-
“I think this society suffers so much from too much freedom, too many rights that allow people to be irresponsible.” -Boyd Rice
-
“But I found that disappointing people is a good thing, because disapproval is freedom.” -Demetri Martin
-
“It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.” -Leo McKern
-
“The man form is higher than the angel form of all forms it is the highest. Man is the highest being in creation, because he aspires to freedom.” -Paramahansa Yogananda
-
“Art is the daughter of freedom.” -Friedrich Schiller
-
“That freedom can never be attained by a nation without suffering and sacrifice has been amply borne out by the recent tragic happenings in this subcontinent.” -Muhammad Ali Jinnah
-
“Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice.” -Desmond Tutu
-
“And what do Democrats stand for, if they are so ready to defame concerned citizens as the ‘mob’ – a word betraying a Marie Antoinette delusion of superiority to ordinary mortals. I thought my party was populist, attentive to the needs and wishes of those outside the power structure. And as a product of the…
-
“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.” -Herbert Hoover
-
“I was interested by the idea that artists working in a totalitarian dictatorship or tsarist autocracy are secretly and slightly shamefully envied by artists who work in freedom. They have the gratification of intense interest: the authorities want to put them in jail, while there are younger readers for whom what they write is pure…
-
“I have no choice about whether or not I have Parkinson’s. I have nothing but choices about how I react to it. In those choices, there’s freedom to do a lot of things in areas that I wouldn’t have otherwise found myself in.” -Michael J. Fox
-
“None can love freedom heartily, but good men the rest love not freedom, but licence.” -John Milton
-
“Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.” -Golda Meir
-
“Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players… they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure.” -Arsene Wenger
-
“That’s what we do in this country. That’s the American Dream. That’s freedom, and I’ll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners.” -Paul Ryan
-
“I don’t like definitions, but if there is a definition of freedom, it would be when you have control over your reality to transform it, to change it, rather than having it imposed upon you. You can’t really ask for more than.” -Mark Knopfler
-
“Men are freest when they are most unconscious of freedom. The shout is a rattling of chains, always was.” -David Herbert Lawrence
-
“The United States of America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins. The killers will fail, and the Iraqi people will live in freedom.” -George W. Bush
-
“The fifth freedom is freedom from ignorance.” -Lyndon B. Johnson
-
“People demand freedom only when they have no power.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
-
“The road to freedom lies not through mysteries or occult performances, but through the intelligent use of natural forces and laws.” -Ernest Holmes
-
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” -A. J. Liebling
-
“Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second generation full of courage issue forth let a people loving freedom come to growth.” -Margaret Walker
-
“I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.” -William Morris
-
“Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console.” -Charles Caleb Colton
-
“Bondage is of the mind freedom too is of the mind. If you say ‘I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me’ free you shall be.” -Ramakrishna
-
“Those religions that are oppressive to women are also against democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.” -Taslima Nasrin
-
“Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.” -Charles Lindbergh
-
“Pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends.” -John Stuart Mill
-
“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” -Coretta Scott King
-
“We must face the fact that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice.” -Friedrich August von Hayek
-
“Art gives me the freedom I don’t have when I make music.” -Marilyn Manson
-
“To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves.” -Virginia Woolf
-
“Novelists have always had complete freedom to pretty much tell their story any way they saw fit. And that’s what I’m trying to do.” -Quentin Tarantino
-
“A political prisoner is someone who is out fighting for his or her people’s rights and freedom and is imprisoned for that alone.” -Leonard Peltier
-
“Today’s Constitution is a realistic document of freedom only because of several corrective amendments. Those amendments speak to a sense of decency and fairness that I and other Blacks cherish.” -Thurgood Marshall
-
“True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.” -Brigham Young
-
“I am conservative with a small ‘c.’ It’s possible to be conservative in fiscal policy, and tolerant on moral issues or questions of freedom of expression.” -Mick Jagger
-
“Analysis gave me great freedom of emotions and fantastic confidence. I felt I had served my time as a puppet.” -Hedy Lamarr
-
“Look, freedom is an overwhelming American notion. The idea that we want to see the world, the peoples of the world free is something that all of us subscribe to.” -Joe Biden
-
“Fiction is such a world of freedom, it’s wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.” -Alice Walker
-
“There are two good things in life – freedom of thought and freedom of action.” -W. Somerset Maugham
-
“Even before I knew I was gay, I knew I didn’t want to have a child. I knew I didn’t want to have one. I never want to have to release it from me. Listen, I love babies. I love children. And I melt when I’m around them. I also love my freedom and I…
-
“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” -Hans Christian Anderson
-
“The freedom to fail is vital if you’re going to succeed. Most successful people fail from time to time, and it is a measure of their strength that failure merely propels them into some new attempt at success.” -Michael Korda
-
“American and Israel share a special bond. Our relationship is unique among all nations. Like America, Israel is a strong democracy, a symbol of freedom, and an oasis of liberty, a home to the oppressed and persecuted.” -William J. Clinton
-
“All people hope Islam helps everything in life. Islam will make jobs. Islam will make freedom. Islam will make everything.” -Ahmed Ali
-
“As we look forward to freedom, the shining city on the hill and the best days of America lying ahead, it is the men and women in uniform who protect, defend and make us proud to whom we should look and give thanks every night.” -Robin Hayes
-
“Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion all have a double aspect – freedom of thought and freedom of action.” -Frank Murphy
-
“Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.” -John Kenneth Galbraith
-
“How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.” -William Wordsworth
-
“Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.” -Lawrence Ferlinghetti
-
“Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and deserves to be met head-on and stamped out.” -Pierre Berton
-
“While the State exists there can be no freedom when there is freedom there will be no State.” -Vladimir Lenin
-
“Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.” -E. M. Forster
-
“I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance.” -Stephen Fry
-
“A state that suppresses all freedom of speech, and which by imposing the most terrible punishments, treats each and every attempt at criticism, however morally justified, and every suggestion for improvement as plotting to high treason, is a state that breaks an unwritten law.” -Kurt Huber
-
“Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.” -Peace Pilgrim
-
“So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.” -B. R. Ambedkar
-
“You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.” -Abbie Hoffman
-
“The only freedom I care about is the freedom to do right the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with on the cheapest terms to anyone who will take it of me.” -Thomas Huxley
-
“America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.” -John W. Gardner
-
“America is a model of force and freedom and moderation – with all the coarseness and rudeness of its people.” -Lord Byron
View More Quotations – By Author.
View More Quotations – By Topic.
Home.