The
basis of a democratic state is liberty.
Aristotle (384 B.C.-322 B.C)
Liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot
subsist without it; and it is liberty to that which is good,
just, and honest.
John Winthrop (1588-1649)
Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely
according to conscience, above all liberties.
John Milton (1608-1674)
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin
by subduing the freeness of speech.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough
knowledge of the rights of man pervade all the nations of
the earth, so that a philosopher 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
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.
David Hume (1711-1776)
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny
of the republican model of government are justly considered…staked
on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
George Washington (1732-1799)
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government
ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger
the public liberty.
John Adams (1735-1826)
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone
who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve
it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you
are ruined.
Patrick Henry (1736-1739)
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at
the price of chains or 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
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 (1737-1809)
The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is
eternal vigilance…
John Philpot Curran (1790)
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences of too much
liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
Thomas Jefferson (1791)
Irresponsible power is inconsistent with liberty, and must
corrupt those who exercise it.
John Calhoun (1782-1850)
As long as I am an American citizen and American blood runs
in these veins I shall hold myself at liberty to speak, to
write, and to publish whatever I please on any subject.
Elija Lovejoy (1802-1837)
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself
the highest political end.
Lord Acton (1834-1902)
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Liberty has restraints but no frontiers.
Lloyd George (1863-1945)
Too little liberty brings stagnation and too much brings chaos.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking
the principle of liberty in the main business of human life,
that is to say, in the process by which men educate their
responses and learn to control their environment.
Walter Lippman (1889-1974)
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies
there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it…While
it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court
to save it.
Learned hand, jurist
Freedom
to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much.
That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of freedom's
substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the
heart of the existing order. If there is any fixed star in
our constitutional constellation, it is that no official,
high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics,
nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force
citizens to confess by word or act their faith within.
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson
Jehovah's Witness Case - WWII
There is no conflict between liberty and safety. We will have
both or neither.
Ramsey Clark (1927--)
History teaches us that grave threats to liberty often come
in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant
to endure.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (1989)
It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that
our Nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested;
and it is in those times that we must preserve our commitment
at home to the principles for which we fight abroad.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld - 2004
To purchase a copy of THE COST OF FREEDOM
- Civil Liberties, Security and the USA PATRIOT Act, please
click here.
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