Liberty Quotes
Bleating Sheep - Norman Vincent Peale
Once we roared like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security! The solution for America's problem is not in terms of big government, but it is in big men over whom nobody stands in control but God.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)
American Christian Reformed Pastor, Speaker and Author
Limit Governmental Powers - Woodrow T. Wilson
Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.
Woodrow T. Wilson
1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA
Liberty vs. Safety - Benjamin Franklin
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin Franklin. 1706-1790
Cabbies and Barbers - George Burns
Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.
George Burns
1896-1996, American Comedy Actor
Big Government - Davy Crockett
Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.
Davy Crockett
1786-1836, American Backwoodsman
Constitution is not Neutral - William O. Douglas
The constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.
William O. Douglas
1898-1980, American Supreme Court Justice
Unenforceable Laws - Albert Einstein
Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
Albert Einstein
1879-1955, German-born American Physicist
Less Government - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The less government we have the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
Protection from the Government - Milton Friedman
Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.
Milton Friedman
1912-2006, American Economist
Government Solutions - Milton Friedman
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
Milton Friedman
1912-2006, American Economist
Risk of War - John Hospers
The greater the hold of government upon the life of the individual citizen, the greater the risk of war.
John Hospers
Too Much Government - Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826, Third President of the USA
Obey the Law - Solon
Society is well governed when its people obey the magistrates, and the magistrates obey the law.
Solon
636?-558? B.C., Greek Statesman
Dictatorship - Harry S. Truman
Whenever you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
Harry S. Truman
1884-1972, Thirty-third President of the USA
Won't Free Themselves - Bruce Barton
What a curious phenomenon it is that you can get men to die for the liberty of the world who will not make the little sacrifice that is needed to free themselves from their own individual bondage.
Bruce Barton
1886-1967, American Author, Advertising Executive
Beware Well-meaning Individuals - Louis D. Brandeis
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal well meaning but without understanding.
Louis D. Brandeis
1856-1941, American Judge
Liberty Should End - Frederick Farrar
One's liberty should end when it becomes the curse of his neighbor.
Frederick Farrar
1831-1903, British Clergyman, Author
Take Liberty for Granted - M. Grundler
It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.
M. Grundler
Soul of Man - Robert Green Ingersoll
What light is to the eyes -- what air is to the lungs -- what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.
Robert Green Ingersoll
1833-1899, American Orator, Lawyer
Despotism - Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826, Third President of the USA
Good Behavior - Mary McCarthy
Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior.
Mary McCarthy
1912-1989, American Author, Critic
Security
Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
H. L. Mencken
1880-1956, American Editor, Author, Critic, Humorist
Guard Your Enemy - 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 to himself.
Thomas Paine
1737-1809, Anglo-American Political Theorist, Writer
Liberty Lost
Free people, remember this maxim: We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
1712-1778, Swiss Political Philosopher, Educationist, Essayist
Responsibility - George Bernard Shaw
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw
1856-1950, Irish-born British Dramatist
Rather be Poor - Woodrow T. Wilson
I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.
Woodrow T. Wilson
1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA
Going Abroad - John Quincy Adams
America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.
John Quincy Adams to Congress, July 4, 1821
1767-1848, Sixth President of the USA
Going Abroad w/ Fake Response - George W. Bush
America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.
John Quincy Adams to Congress, July 4, 1821
1767-1848, Sixth President of the USA
Yes we do.
George W. Bush in 2002
Forty-third President of the USA
Going Abroad w/Real Response - George W. Bush
America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.
John Quincy Adams to Congress, July 4, 1821
1767-1848, Sixth President of the USA
...our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary...
George W. Bush
Forty-third President of the USA
2002, West Point Academy