"Liberty cannot be guaranteed by law. Nor by any thing else except the resolution of free citizens to defend their liberties."

Edward Abbey

Lord Acton

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

Lord Acton, Source: The History of Freedom, 1907

John Adams

"Statesmen...may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which Freedom can securely stand."

John Adams

"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

"...[L]iberty 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

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?'  Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

Samuel Adams

"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

"Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness."

Samuel Adams

"The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought. ...If therefore a people will not be free; if they have not virtue enough to maintain their liberty against a presumptuous invader, they deserve no pity, and are to be treated with contempt and ignominy."

Samuel Adams

"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt."

Samuel Adams

"If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they 
will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost."

Aristotle, Source: Politics, 343 BC

"But whence comes this liberty to do right to the man who is in ####### and sold under sin, except he be redeemed by Him who has said, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed?" And before this redemption is wrought in a man, when he is not yet free to do what is right, how can he talk of the freedom of his will and his good works, except he be inflated by that foolish pride of boasting which the apostle restrains when he says, "By grace are ye saved, through faith."

Augustine of Hippo

"We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life - physical, intellectual, and moral life. But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course. Life, faculties, production - in other words, individuality, liberty, property - this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place."

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

"Liberty is an acknowledgement of faith in God and his works."

Frederic Bastiat

"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence."

Charles A. Beard, US historian; (1874-1948)

Henry Ward Beecher

Edmund Burke

"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts."

"The people never give up their liberties, but under some delusion."

Edmund Burke

"The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations."

Edmund Burke

"The spirit of liberty is not merely, as multitudes imagine, a jealousy of our own 
particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others, and an unwillingness that any 
man, whether high or low, should be wronged and trampled under foot."

William Ellery Channing

Michael Cloud

Oliver Cromwell, letter to Walter Dundas, 12 Sept. 1650

"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."

John Philpot Curran, 1750 - 1817

Frederick Douglass

"I know no class of my fellowmen, however just, enlightened, and humane, which can be wisely and safely trusted absolutely with the liberties of any other class."

Fredrick Douglass

Benjamin Franklin (1755)

"In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own... Who ever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."

Benjamin Franklin

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a 
well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

Benjamin Franklin

"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

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

Benjamin Franklin

"No man's life, liberty or fortune is safe while our legislature is in session."

Benjamin Franklin

"Liberty is worth whatever the country is worth. It is by liberty that man has a country; 
it is by liberty he has rights."

Henry Giles

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"...[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties."

Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961), Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals

"The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit 
of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women..."

Judge Learned Hand, Source: Speech, 21 May 1944

Patrick Henry

"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 inevitably ruined."

Patrick Henry, Jun. 5, 1788 - from a speech opposing the adoption of the Constitution to the Virginia Ratifying Convention

"Politics must be the battle of the principles --- the principle of liberty against the 
principle of force."

Auberon Herbert

"Despite the tragic (and costly) exception of slavery, our ancestors believed that (1) the essence of economic liberty is the right to do whatever a person wants with his own money, including to refuse to donate it to charity; (2) charity is not a legitimate function of government; (3) it is morally wrong to force anyone, either through private coercion or government coercion, to donate his money; (4) it is morally wrong to take money, either through private or government coercion, from a person to whom it belongs in order to give it to someone to whom it does not belong; and (5) charity means nothing in terms of compassion and religion when it is accomplished through the coercive apparatus of the state. Rather than engaging in the perennial discussions over IRS abuses, tax-code simplification, deductions and tax shelters, Americans would be better served reflecting on their heritage of liberty, the meaning of freedom and the moral framework for a free society."

Jacob G. Hornberger

"Our institutions were not devised to bring about uniformity of opinion; if they had we 
might well abandon hope. It is important to remember, as has well been said, 'the 
essential characteristic of true liberty is that under its shelter many different types 
of life and character and opinion and belief can develop unmolested and unobstructed.'"

Justice Charles Evans Hughes
Source: U. S. Supreme Court, Forbes Magazine, 1 November 1957

Thomas Jefferson

"What has destroyed liberty and the rights of men in every government that has ever 
existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating of all cares and powers into 
one body."

Thomas Jefferson

"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 law,' because law is 
often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."

Thomas Jefferson

"I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty."

Thomas Jefferson

"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."

Thomas Jefferson

"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

"When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."

Thomas Jefferson

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty."

Thomas Jefferson

"The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches."

Thomas Jefferson

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

Thomas Jefferson

Alan Keyes

James Madison

"Every word of the Constitution ultimately decides a question between power and liberty."

James Madison

"A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people."

James Madison

"The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided 
for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad."

James Madison

"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because 
it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from 
these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments 
for bringing the many under the domination of the few. No nation could preserve its 
freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

James Madison

"Liberty and order will never be completely 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."

James Madison

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

James Madison

Thomas Paine

"Though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire."

Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, #1, December 23, 1776

"An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to 
misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty 
secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty he 
establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."

Thomas Paine Source: Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 7 July 1795

"When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon."

Thomas Paine

"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 unto himself."

Thomas Paine

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, M.D.

"...[W]ars have been used throughout modern history to justify rapid expansion of state power at the expense of personal liberty. We cannot remain free if we allow the endless, undeclared war on terror to serve as an excuse for giving up every last vestige of our privacy. ... Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves what kind of society we hope to leave our children and grandchildren.  A civilized and free society would not be discussing, much less seriously debating, any proposal to enlist private citizens to act as federal neighborhood snitches."

Rep. Ron Paul

"Times of tragedy and war naturally bring out strong emotions in all of us.  Yet we must be careful to preserve personal liberty and privacy rights in the months ahead.  Sometimes the people are only too anxious to sacrifice their constitutional liberties during a crisis, hoping to gain some measure of security.  Yet nothing would please the terrorists more than if we willingly gave up some of our cherished liberties because of their actions."

Rep. Ron Paul

"Let us be convinced that there is not enough hate or anger to silence the cries for liberty or to extinguish the flame of justice and truth. We must have faith that those who now are apathetic, anxious for security at all costs, forgetful of the true spirit of American liberty, and neglectful of the Constitution, will rise to the task and respond accordingly."

Rep. Ron Paul

William Pitt

Ronald Reagan

"Liberty is the most precious gift we offer our citizens."

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, 09/11/2002

Who is 'we' and how are the citizens theirs? Just askin'. RAB

"Liberty doesn't work as well in practice as it does in speeches."

Will Rogers

"When liberty becomes license, some form of one-man power is not far distant."

Theodore Roosevelt

"If liberty should be the highest political end, then what is the grounding for that goal?  It should be clear ... that, first and foremost, liberty is a moral principle, grounded in the nature of man.  In particular, it is a principle of justice, of the abolition of aggressive violence in the affairs of men. Hence, to be grounded and pursued adequately, the libertarian goal must be sought in the spirit of an overriding devotion to justice. But to possess such devotion on what may well be a long and rocky road, the libertarian must be possessed of a passion for justice, an emotion derived from and channeled by his rational insight into what natural justice requires.  Justice, not the weak reed of mere utility, must be the motivating force if liberty is to be attained."

Murray N. Rothbard

"The only foundation for... a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments."

Benjamin Rush, signed the Declaration of Independence

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835)

Henry David Thoreau

Mark Twain

George Washington

"Your love of liberty -- your respect for the laws -- your habits of industry -- and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness."

George Washington

Daniel Webster

Noah Webster

William Allen White, 1940

Walt Whitman

"Western values are superior to all others. Why? The indispensable achievement of the West was the concept of individual rights. It's the idea that individuals have certain inalienable rights and individuals do not exist to serve government but governments exist to protect these inalienable rights. It took until the 17th century for that idea to arrive on the scene and mostly through the works of English philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume. While Western values are superior to all others, one need not be a Westerner to hold Western values. A person can be Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, African or Arab and hold Western values. It's no accident that Western values of reason and individual rights have produced unprecedented health, life expectancy, wealth and comfort for the ordinary person. There's an indisputable positive relationship between liberty and standards of living. Western values are by no means secure. They're under ruthless attack by the academic elite on college campuses across America. These people want to replace personal liberty with government control; they want to replace equality with entitlement; they want to halt progress in the name of protecting the environment. As such, they pose a much greater threat to our way of life than any terrorist or rogue nation. Multiculturalism and diversity are a cancer on our society, and, ironically, with our tax dollars and charitable donations, we're feeding it."

Dr. Walter Williams

"A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty...."

John Witherspoon

"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 #######."