Despots themselves do not deny that freedom is excellent; only they desire it for themselves alone, and they maintain that everyone else is altogether unworthy of it. ibid.
Providence has not created mankind entirely independent or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced, beyond which he cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is powerful and free. ibid.
Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. Thucydides
We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free. Epictetus, Discourses
To die hating them, that was freedom. George Orwell, 1984
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ibid.
Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the colour of their skin. Wendell Willkie, Our World, 1943
The cause of Freedom is the cause of God. William Lisle Bowles, English clergyman & poet
Are you freer today than you were a year ago? Alex Jones, American Dictators
The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
None are most hopeless enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
If the whole world I once could see
On free soil stand, with the people free
Then to the moment might I say
Linger awhile ... so fair thou art. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust
I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven’t tried that for a while. Maybe this time it’ll work. George Carlin
You can say what you want about this country. And I love this place. I love the freedoms we used to have. George Carlin
I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land. Harriet Tubman
What art thou, freedom? Oh, could slaves
Answer from their living graves
This demand, tyrants would flee
Like a dream’s dim imagery.
Thou art not, as imposters say,
A shadow soon to pass away
A superstition and a name
Echoing from the cave of fame.
For the labourer thou art bread,
And a comely table spread
From his daily labour come
To a neat and happy home.
Thou art clothes and fire and food,
For the trampled multitude
No – in countries that are free
Such starvation cannot be
As in England now we see. Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy
That sweet bondage which is freedom’s self. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab
A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom. Amiri Baraka, American poet & dramatist
O Freedom! What liberties are taken in thy name! Daniel George, The Perpetual Pessimist, 1963
Our freedom is but a light that breaks through from another world. Nikolay Gumilev, The Tram That Lost Its Way, 1921
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires. Nelson Mandela
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
I will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days. Nelson Mandela
Freedom is not something that one people can bestow as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them. Kwame Nkrumah, 1953
Remember that every single man, woman and child in the state of South Carolina awakens to a freer, safer world because of George Bush. Barbara Bush, televised interview
When men are brought face to face with their opponents, forced to listen and learn and mend their ideas, they cease to be children and savages and begin to live like civilised men. Then only is freedom a reality, when men may voice their opinions because they must examine their opinions. Walter Lippmann
Ask the first man you meet what he means by defending freedom, and he’ll tell you privately he means defending the standard of living. Martin Niemoller, address January 1958
Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts. Baruch Spinoza
He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason. Baruch Spinoza
I have resigned. I will not be pushed. Filed. Stamped. Indexed. Briefed. Debriefed. Or numbered. My life is my own. My life is my own. I am not a number. I am a free man. The Prisoner, TV series 1967-68
Only very slowly and late have men come to realise that unless freedom is universal it is only extended privilege. Christopher Hill, Century of Revolution, 1961
We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than that only freedom can make security secure. Karl Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies, 1945
No-one can be perfectly free till all are free; no-one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no-one can be perfectly happy till all are happy. Herbert Spencer
We must force the people to be free. Louis Antoine Leon de Saint-Just
So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannise will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious or otherwise, to put shackles on sleeping men. Voltaire
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
War – have no fear for atomic energy,
Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long will they kill our prophets?
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it is just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfil the Book.
Won’t you help to sing
This song of freedom,
Is all I ever have
Redemption songs. Bob Marley, Redemption Songs
Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life. Bob Marley
What is our common bond? Freedom! Bill Cooper
You may object that it is not a trial at all; you are quite right, for it is only a trial if I recognize it as such. Franz Kafka, The Trial
It is often better [variation: safer] to be in chains than to be free. ibid.