Freedom Quotes

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
– Hans Christian Andersen
In all the great periods of the drama perfect freedom of choice and subject, perfect freedom of individual treatment, and an audience eager to give itself to sympathetic listening, even if instruction be involved, have brought the great results.
– George P. Baker
America is stronger than ever. We will forever remember those we lost on September 11, 2001. In honoring their memory, we will remain true to our commitment to freedom and democracy.
– Evan Bayh
Bush will keep up that policy that gives the United State the role of promoting freedom in the world.
– Silvio Berlusconi
Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.
– Hugo Black
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.
– Daniel J. Boorstin
We need objects to remind us of the commitments we've made. That carpet from Morocco reminds us of the impulsive, freedom-loving side of ourselves we're in danger of losing touch with. Beautiful furniture gives us something to live up to. All designed objects are propaganda for a way of life.
– Alain de Botton
Havel was influenced by the fact that the Communist system considered itself to be the ultimate in scientific rationalism. Communism was touted from the beginning as a scientific way of looking at the problems of society. It wasn't. It probably never could be. It represented an effort to control society with a philosophy that was antithetical to freedom and democracy.
– George E. Brown, Jr.
None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
– Pearl S. Buck
From watching the news one would think the Iraqis want us out of their country. But an overwhelming majority of Iraqis support our involvement there. Our freedom is contagious and we helped liberate them.
– Jim Bunning
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
Today, our brave military men and women, just as those who have gone before them, stand on alert, securing freedom at home and guarding the innocent abroad.
– Conrad Burns
For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein's regime is a better and safer place.
– George W. Bush
Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.
– George W. Bush
The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.
– George W. Bush
The momentum of freedom in our world is unmistakable - and it is not carried forward by our power alone. We can trust in that greater power Who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that is to come, we can know that His purposes are just and true.
– George W. Bush
The story of America is the story of expanding liberty: an ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more. Our nation's founding commitment is still our deepest commitment: In our world, and here at home, we will extend the frontiers of freedom.
– George W. Bush
The wisest use of American strength is to advance freedom.
– George W. Bush
We can't allow the world's worst leaders to blackmail, threaten, hold freedom-loving nations hostage with the world's worst weapons.
– George W. Bush
We're pursuing a strategy of freedom around the world, because I understand free nations will reject terror. Free nations will answer the hopes and aspirations of their people. Free nations will help us achieve the peace we all want.
– George W. Bush
The most dramatic realization was that in surrender I would find more freedom and power than I'd ever known.
– Brett Butler
I have always been very worried about hops of feminism who are highly regulative or repressive towards. I am against normativities and for sexual freedom. I always hated this saying that feminism is the theory and lesbianism must be the practice.
– Judith Butler
Our ideals of freedom, set forth and realized in our Constitution, are our greatest export to the world.
– Robert Byrd
Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.
– Lord Byron
I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.
– Mikhail A. Bakunin
In an impoverished Europe which conflict had ripped apart, people yearned for peace, freedom, stability and a new chance to prosper.
– Jan Peter Balkenende
We are dutybound to turn these places surrounding us - sacred to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism - into a bridge and a symbol of freedom of access and worship, coexistence in peace... under the sovereignty of Israel.
– Ehud Barak
Ah! Freedom is a noble thing! Freedom makes man to have liking: freedom all solace to man gives: he lives at ease that freely lives!
– John Barbour
And should think freedom more to prize, than all the gold in world that is.
– John Barbour
As freedom-loving people across the globe hope for an end to tyranny, we will never forget the enormous suffering of the Holocaust.
– Bob Beauprez
As we honor and thank the brave men and women of our military who fight today to guarantee our freedom, we realize there is no greater force in the world than the energy of free people, and we must remember that spreading that energy is the best way to help our country remain free and secure.
– Bob Beauprez
Those who today still feel a sense of impotence can do something: they can support Amnesty International. They can help it to stand up for freedom and justice.
– Peter Benenson
The quest for freedom, dignity, and the rights of man will never end.
– William J. Brennan, Jr.
We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so, we dilute the freedom this cherished emblem represents.
– William J. Brennan, Jr.
It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony.
– Benjamin Britten
To hear one voice clearly, we must have freedom to hear them all.
– Kerry Brock
The value set by her people on the freedom and sanctity of the individual, on justice and fair play, on mercy and tenderness towards the weak, and their dislike of lawless violence and their capacity to tolerate, forget and forgive have been, for all England's past mistakes and faults, a very real factor in human evolution.
– Arthur Bryant
There is no doubt that Iraqis, like Australians and Americans, love and desire freedom. However, if freedom doesn't mean the right to complete self-determination, unfettered by interests other than one's own, then that freedom is less than worthless - it's oppression.
– Amir Butler
The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.
– Thomas Campbell
A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.
– Albert Camus
Men are never really willing to die except for the sake of freedom: therefore they do not believe in dying completely.
– Albert Camus
Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.
– Albert Camus
I feel with TV you're allowed more freedom. With television there's more time to create something through the episodes. The fact that you're working harder on the surface seems more difficult, but you get into a way of working where if you're not allowed to stop and breathe and think about it, you just go on instinctively, which is the way I prefer anyway. It becomes a more spontaneous thing.
– Robert Carlyle
The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.
– Johnny Carson
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.
– Noam Chomsky
I had no idea of the enormous and unquestionably helpful part that humbug plays in the social life of great peoples dwelling in a state of democratic freedom.
– Sir Winston Churchill
Freedom can be manifested only in the void of beliefs, in the absence of axioms, and only where the laws have no more authority than a hypothesis.
– Emile M. Cioran
Tragic paradox of freedom: the mediocre men who alone make its exercise possible cannot guarantee its duration.
– Emile M. Cioran
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.
– Bill Clinton
We have to make sure that we are a force for peace and stability in the world, and that we're prepared to defend freedom and the security of the American people.
– Thad Cochran
Institutions - government, churches, industries, and the like - have properly no other function than to contribute to human freedom; and in so far as they fail, on the whole, to perform this function, they are wrong and need reconstruction.
– Charles Horton Cooley
Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving to the citizen as much freedom of action and of being, as comports with order and the rights of others, the institutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.
– James Fenimore Cooper
Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.
– Stephen Covey
Laws protecting the United States flag do not cut away at the freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment. . .Congress made this position clear upon passage of the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which prohibited desecration of the flag.
– Larry Craig
When people say 'What are underground comics?' I think the best way you can define them is just the absolute freedom involved... we didn't have anyone standing over us.
– Robert Crumb
The only freedom supposed to be left to the masses is that of grazing on the ration of simulacra the system distributes to each individual.
– Michel De Certeau
You have the highest of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without number, and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the human race.
– J. Reuben Clark
A few weeks will probably determine our fate. Perfect freedom, or Absolute Slavery. To some of us freedom or a halter.
– Abraham Clark
The Bill of Rights is a born rebel. It reeks with sedition. In every clause it shakes its fist in the face of constituted authority... it is the one guaranty of human freedom to the American people.
– Frank I. Cobb
Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.
– Robin G. Collingwood
The dynamism and freedom that characterizes the West is the product of Christianity's reforming itself and moving forward culturally. ... The ascendancy of the West is the story of the difference that Christianity makes, and it's a story we can't let our culture forget.
– Charles W. Colson
I just feel such freedom to do whatever. If a song's seven minutes or ten minutes long, then so be it - it's that long.
– Charlie Daniels
We had all this kind of freedom and 'get out of your head' kind of stuff and at the same time, we were trying to establish ourselves in the business. These two things are really difficult to bring together.
– Michael Davis
Today is a celebration of hope for the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people can now take control of their government and their future by creating a society that protects the rights endowed to us by our creator - life, liberty and freedom.
– Jim DeMint
We know from our own history that democratic institutions take decades to mature, and we know from past conflicts that freedom is not free.
– Jim DeMint
I was ecstatic they re-named 'French Fries' as 'Freedom Fries'. Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots.
– Johnny Depp
It's fun to imagine what you could do with that kind of money. I could buy that island I've wanted to buy all my life, and live there with my family. Or I could buy some great piece of art that's just going to feed my eyes every day. It's fun to toy with the notion of that, and it is very tempting because money, unfortunately is freedom in today's world.
– Johnny Depp
There are necessary evils. Money is an important thing in terms of representing freedom in our world. And now I have a daughter to think about. It's really the first time I've thought about the future and what it could be.
– Johnny Depp
I have said democracy and freedom do not work too well if you are hungry, if you are starving.
– Pete Domenici
Any test that turns on what is offensive to the community's standards is too loose, too capricious, too destructive of freedom of expression to be squared with the First Amendment. Under that test, juries can censor, suppress, and punish what they don't like, provided the matter relates to sexual impurity or has a tendency to excite lustful thoughts. This is community censorship in one of its worst forms.
– William O. Douglas
Christianity has sufficient inner strength to survive and flourish on its own. It does not need state subsidies, nor state privileges, nor state prestige. The more it obtains state support the greater it curtails human freedom.
– William O. Douglas
Our forbears worked hard this difficult land, and their reward was the freedom and independence of self-sufficiency.
– James H. Douglas
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.
– Frederick Douglass
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.
– Frederick Douglass
Aside from his scintilla of candor, Mr. Bush is still not leveling with us. As he said at his press conference on Monday, 'the enemies of freedom' know that 'a democratic Iraq will be a decisive blow to their ambitions because free people will never choose to live in tyranny.' They may choose to live in a theocracy, though. Americans did.
– Maureen Dowd
Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.
– Wayne Dyer
I do most of my business on that dirty Internet that you were just talking about, where I find there is a lot of freedom to report exactly what I want.
– Matt Drudge
History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
We have heard much of the phrase, peace and friendship. This phrase, in expressing the aspiration of America, is not complete. We should say instead, peace and friendship, in freedom. This, I think, is America's real message to the rest of the world.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
Recall that the United Nations commissioned Arab scholars and analysts to publish the Arab Human Development Report. What causes the backwardness, the scholars wondered, of 22 Arab states, covering nearly 300 million people? Their conclusion? Of all world regions, the Arab countries scored the lowest in freedom, media independence, civil liberties, political process and political rights.
– Larry Elder
I hold it a blasphemy to say that a man ought not to fight against authority: there is no great religion and no great freedom that has not done it, in the beginning.
– George Eliot
The intense happiness of our union is derived in a high degree from the perfect freedom with which we each follow and declare our own impressions.
– George Eliot
Every principle is a war-note. Whoever attempts to carry out the rule of right and love and freedom must take his life in his hand.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The revelation of thought takes men out of servitude into freedom.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
At a time when the Nation was at its lowest point, this generation dropped their individual pursuits to form the most potent military and powerful civilian engine the world has ever known. American, fighting and working together, as well as with our allies around the world, overcame the tremendous dangers of that time. We freed the world from the shackle of totalitarianism and made freedom ring.
– Lane Evans
There is a continuing, mandatory need for heresy in its most profound sense; for freedom to choose and follow truth wherever it leads.
– William Edelen
Americans always respond when a president calls them, as John F. Kennedy did in his inaugural address, to defend freedom.
– Suzanne Fields
Some of the press who speak loudly about the freedom of the press are themselves the enemies of freedom. Countless people dare not say a thing because they know it will be picked up and made a song of by the press. That limits freedom.
– Geoffrey Fisher
The real cure for what ails our health care system today is less government and more freedom.
– Steve Forbes
We are a nation in which freedom is alive in the squares and streets, in the daily work of the communications media, in the open relationship between the governing and the governed.
– Vicente Fox
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
– Viktor E. Frankl
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.
– Benjamin Franklin
History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.
– Milton Friedman
The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
– Bill Frist
Today, we do fight a different enemy, but one that is no less ruthless, no less determined, no less uncompromising than our enemies of those wars past. Once again, we must stay the course. Once again, we must have faith in our Armed Forces. Once again, we must hold tightly to the belief that freedom will prevail.
– Bill Frist
If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom.
– Robert Frost
Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living ?
– Mahatma Gandhi
Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details in the activities of man, and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him.
– Mahatma Gandhi