Freedom Quotes

Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.
– Charles Lindbergh
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
– Ronald Reagan
Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.
– Malcolm X
I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.
– Eminem
You, the foreign media, have been the companion of my people in its long and painful journey to freedom.
– Corazon Aquino
You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.
– Abbie Hoffman
You make a movie for 9k for the freedom it allows you.
– Edward Burns
You learn that you either are going to have a police state where you don't have any freedom left, or you're going to build a world that doesn't create terrorists - and that means a whole different way of 'getting along.'
– John Shelby Spong
You know, you don't retreat in the defense of freedom. You don't retreat in the defense of moral government and limited government. You don't retreat because people are going to defend bad things.
– Russell Pearce
You know, if you are kind of rich, the best thing is that you don't have to think about money. The best thing you can buy with money is freedom, time. I don't know how much I earn a year. I have no idea. I don't know how much I pay in taxes.
– Haruki Murakami
You have the freedom to live and let live, to love and let love. Granting yourself that freedom is one of the healthiest, most constructive things you can do for yourself and the people who matter to you.
– Martha Beck
You have spent many lives and much treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it. And here you have a people who won it by themselves and need only the help to preserve it.
– Corazon Aquino
You have an absolute freedom in Mexican writing today in which you don't necessarily have to deal with the Mexican identity. You know why? Because we have an identity... We know who we are. We know what it means to be a Mexican.
– Carlos Fuentes
You don't have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.
– Malcolm X
You don't have freedom because you are a hyphenated American you have freedom because you are an individual, and that should be protected.
– Ron Paul
You cannot mistake Bush's clarity of purpose. He believes in a story about freedom and opportunity that makes his followers feel like they aren't just ticking their days down but are part of something larger than themselves.
– Eric Liu
You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
– Malcolm X
You can be a thousand different women. It's your choice which one you want to be. It's about freedom and sovereignty. You celebrate who you are. You say, 'This is my kingdom.'
– Salma Hayek
Yes, we have the freedom to do what we please, but it only works because we don't do everything we might please - we should exercise some degree of personal, and corporate, responsibility.
– Tammy Bruce
Working with David Cronenberg or Darren Aronofsky or even Steven Soderbergh isn't really like a typical Hollywood movie. These are true artists, and have a certain amount of freedom when they work, and they're more like independent filmmakers making their way through big studios.
– Vincent Cassel
Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
– Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory.
– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government.
– Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand
Without economic development, any potential for political openness and freedom will be questionable.
– Jose Maria Aznar
With paper printed books, you have certain freedoms. You can acquire the book anonymously by paying cash, which is the way I always buy books. I never use a credit card. I don't identify to any database when I buy books. Amazon takes away that freedom.
– Richard Stallman
With one man, there was a freedom and liberation. That was with Michael Hutchence, my partner in life.
– Kylie Minogue
With Napster and the sharing of music, of course, there are going to be people who exploit it. Greed has no end. But there's a lot of good that could happen. We shouldn't let the economic concerns of the major labels infringe on our freedom to share music.
– Ian MacKaye
Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.
– Ai Weiwei
While it's really hard to do, at the same time, I'm escaping my body, which I really want to do. I'm living someone else's life. I get very intensely into the story, into the interviews and the research. I'm experiencing things along with my subjects. I have a freedom I don't have in my physical life.
– Laura Hillenbrand
While Democrats fussed with the details of health care reforms, conservatives spent months telling the nation that the real issue is freedom, that what's on the line is American liberty itself.
– Thomas Frank
Wherever on this planet ideals of personal freedom and dignity apply, there you will find the cultural inheritance of England.
– Karel Capek
Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.
– Nelson Mandela
When you're not concerned with succeeding, you can work with complete freedom.
– Larry David
When we talk of freedom and opportunity for all nations, the mocking paradoxes in our own society become so clear they can no longer be ignored.
– Wendell Willkie
When there is state there can be no freedom, but when there is freedom there will be no state.
– Vladimir Lenin
When the United States was founded, the very idea of a nation premised on democratic principles of freedom and tolerance was viewed by the vast majority of the world as an experiment doomed to fail. Dictatorships, monarchies, and theocracies had for many centuries ruled the world.
– Eliot Spitzer
When public access to voting is impaired or when public confidence in voting is diluted, democracy suffers and our freedom is less secure.
– DeForest Soaries
When others stood idly by, you and your families gave your all, in defence of a risen people and in pursuit of Irish freedom and unity.
– Gerry Adams
When I went off to the army when I was 17 years old, I believed in America and the rights of freedom. But today I believe my government is lying to the American people and that my president, George Bush, is a criminal.
– Jack Herer
When I was younger, I was listening to a lot of Armenian music, you know, revolutionary music about freedom and protest. In the 70s I was listening to soul and the Bee Gees and ABBA, and funk.
– Serj Tankian
When I was teaching in the 1960s in Boston, there was a great deal of hope in the air. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive, Malcolm X was alive great, great leaders were emerging from the southern freedom movement.
– Jonathan Kozol
When I was in jail, I was a lot of people's favorite person. I practically ran the jail. I had more freedom than the police.
– Flavor Flav
When a truth is not given complete freedom, freedom is not complete.
– Vaclav Havel
What we have at present is a system of loss socialism. Whatever goes wrong is shouldered by the general public and anything that works is privatised. Worshippers of market freedom have suspended the most important economic principle: Risk and liability go hand in hand.
– Sigmar Gabriel
What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom 'to' and freedom 'from.'
– Marilyn vos Savant
What is our freedom fight about? Is it about the liberation of children or just having sex with them?
– Kate Millett
What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long.
– Thomas Sowell
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
– Salman Rushdie
What Churchill described as the twin marauders of war and tyranny have been almost entirely banished from our continent. Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean.
– David Cameron
Well, the first thing is that truth and power for me form an antithesis, an antagonism, which will hardly ever be resolved. I can define in fact, can simplify the history of human society, the evolution of human society, as a contest between power and freedom.
– Wole Soyinka
Well, one thing, you got to stand in a courtroom and listen to a judge sentencing you to 25 years in prison before you realize that freedom of expression can no longer be taken for granted.
– Larry Flynt
Well, I'm a libertarian conservative, so I believe in limited government/maximum individual freedom.
– John Bolton
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights that our destinies are bound together that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
– Barack Obama
We've got to understand that the whole nature of the way American democracy guards its freedom has been changed.
– John Ashcroft
We're giving our freedoms away. The American experiment was about freedom. Freedom to be stupid, freedom to fail, freedom to succeed.
– Glenn Beck
We will not waver we will not tire we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail.
– George W. Bush
We still believe in the America that is a land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom. We believe in the America that challenges each of us to be better and bigger than ourselves.
– Mitt Romney
We need the children of Indonesia and the Philippines to manufacture our freedom of choice.
– Marc Maron
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
We must face the fact that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice.
– Friedrich August von Hayek
We know what works. Freedom Works. We know what's right. Freedom is right.
– George H. W. Bush
We in the United States should be all the more thankful for the freedom and religious tolerance we enjoy. And we should always remember the lessons learned from the Holocaust, in hopes we stay vigilant against such inhumanity now and in the future.
– Charlie Dent
We hold our heads high, despite the price we have paid, because freedom is priceless.
– Lech Walesa
We don't have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets.
– Alan Dershowitz
We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Freedom is like that. It's like air. When you have it, you don't notice it.
– Boris Yeltsin
We do not commonly see in a tax a diminution of freedom, and yet it clearly is one.
– Herbert Spencer
We chose more freedom instead of more government. We chose the principles of our founding to solve the challenges of our time. We chose a special man to lead us in a special time. We chose Mitt Romney to lead our nation.
– Marco Rubio
We can't equate democracy with Christianity because the largest democracy on earth is India, which is primarily Hindu. The third largest democracy is Indonesia, which is Islamic. Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs.
– Jimmy Carter
We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
We call our country home of the brave and land of the free, but it's not. We give a false portrayal of freedom. We're not free - if we were, we'd allow people their freedom.
– Jesse Ventura
We believe that salvation is to be found in wholesome work in a beloved land. Work will provide our people with the bread of tomorrow, and moreover, with the honor of the tomorrow, the freedom of the tomorrow.
– Theodor Herzl
We believe it wrong ever to take a dollar from a free citizen without a very necessary public purpose, because each such taking diminishes the freedom to spend that dollar as its owner would prefer.
– Mitch Daniels
We believe in individual initiative, personal responsibility, opportunity, freedom, small government, the Constitution. These principles, these American principles are key to getting our economy back to being successful and leading the world.
– Mitt Romney
We are living in the excesses of freedom. Just take a look at 42nd Street and Broadway.
– Will Durant
We are expected to believe that anyone who objects to the Department of Homeland Security or the USA Patriot Act is a terrorist, and that the only way to preserve our freedom is to hand it over to the government for safekeeping.
– L. Neil Smith
We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.
– William Glasser
We all have the right of freedom of speech under the First Amendment. We all don't have to agree with one another on our opinions. Everyone in my circle, that I run around with, we all feel the same about God, country, integrity and character.
– Luke Scott
Watching President Obama apologize last week for America's arrogance - before a French audience that owes its freedom to the sacrifices of Americans - helped convince me that he has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.
– Rick Santorum
Victorious living does not mean freedom from temptation, nor does it mean freedom from mistakes.
– E. Stanley Jones
Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. 'Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn.
– Richard Stallman
Ultimately, America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.
– Robert Kennedy
True freedom requires the rule of law and justice, and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others.
– Jonathan Sacks
True freedom is the capacity for acting according to one's true character, to be altogether one's self, to be self-determined and not subject to outside coercion.
– Corliss Lamont
Too much freedom can lead to the soul's decay.
– Prince
Today's Constitution is a realistic document of freedom only because of several corrective amendments. Those amendments speak to a sense of decency and fairness that I and other Blacks cherish.
– Thurgood Marshall
Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.
– Kevyn Aucoin
To us Americans much has been given of us much is required. With all our faults and mistakes, it is our strength in support of the freedom our forefathers loved which has saved mankind from subjection to totalitarian power.
– Norman Thomas
To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.
– Maya Lin
To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It's freedom.
– Patti Smith
To me, music has to be about freedom. It's the most important thing in my life.
– Joss Stone
To me, freedom entitles you to do something, not to not do something.
– Shel Silverstein
To her audience, Janis Joplin has remained a symbol, artifact and reminder of late Sixties youth culture. Her popularity never derived from her musical ability, but from her capacity to link her fantasies of freedom and immortality with ours.
– Jon Landau
To criticize a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous, but to criticize their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom.
– Rowan Atkinson
To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must be allowed to say, write and publish whatever they want. Freedom of expression is the most basic, but fundamental, right. Without it, human beings are reduced to automatons.
– Ma Jian
To be honest, I've always had far too much freedom. I had a job when I was 10. I started living on my own when I was 17 or 18. I've earned my own money I've traveled the world. What would I rebel against?
– Emma Watson
To be able to love and live in freedom means to be able to make godly decisions. To make godly decisions we have to surrender our egos and all the falsity and shame that goes with it.
– James McGreevey
Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.
– Charles Kennedy
Those who write the editorials and those who write the columns, they simply are unaccountable. They're free to impose their cultural politics in the name of freedom of the press.
– Jesse Jackson
This enemy of peace in the world today is unlike any we have seen in the past, and our military is learning from, and building on, previous successes while carrying peace and freedom into the future.
– Mark Kennedy