Famous Quotes:  Freedom / Liberty
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   The quotations below are compiled by David Burns for the use of students and others interested in exploring these topics further.  The inclusion of a quote does not necessarily imply that Mr. Burns agrees with its point of view.

Freedom / Liberty

   The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
    Thomas Jefferson, Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774.

   Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and 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, Speech at the Virginia Convention, 1775.

   We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
   Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, 1776.

   Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
   Thomas Paine, The Crisis (no. 4), 1777.

   We, too, born to freedom, and believing in freedom, are willing to fight to maintain freedom.  We, and all others who believe as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.
   Franklin Roosevelt, speaking at Oxford University, June 19, 1941.

   Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
   John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961.

   Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
   Unknown author.
 Freedom / Liberty

   Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.
   Inscription on the Liberty Bell, from the Old Testament, Leviticus 25:10.

   Ubi libertas, ibi patria.  [Where liberty dwells, there is my country.]
   Unknown Latin author.

   The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.
   G.W.F. Hegel, German philosopher, Philosophy of History, 1832.

   Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
   Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years, 1950.

   In the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. 
   In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of a most basic kind - too little food.  Even today, the Soviet Union cannot feed itself.
   After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity.  Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity [courtesy] and peace.  Freedom is the victor.
   Ronald Reagan, Speech at the Berlin Wall, 1987  










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Copyright 2006, 2012 by David A. Burns.  All rights reserved.  No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.