Independence Day Sayings

Celebrating liberty, freedom, and the American spirit — 771 sayings

It is difficult to imagine how many of those who love liberty, and who sincerely desire it, are yet ready to give it up at the first alarm.

— Alexis de Tocqueville 1848
Love & Relationships

The basic liberties can be restricted only for the sake of liberty itself.

— John Rawls 1971
Justice & Rights

Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.

— Sigmund Freud 1930
Justice & Rights

We are moving toward a world in which the word 'freedom' will become obsolete.

— B.F. Skinner 1971
Justice & Rights

The struggle for freedom is not a struggle for independence from control, but for control by oneself.

— B.F. Skinner 1971
Justice & Rights

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

— Diogenes c. 350 BCE
Justice & Rights

The greatest blessing of mankind is the freedom of mind.

— Diogenes c. 350 BCE
Justice & Rights

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.

— Aung San Suu Kyi 1995
Justice & Rights

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

— Edmund Burke 1775
Justice & Rights

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

— Edmund Burke 1772
Justice & Rights

The effects of liberty on the human mind are not always favourable to the peace of society, or to the order of a state.

— Edmund Burke 1790
Justice & Rights

The more extensive the liberty of the press, the more extensive the security of the people.

— Jeremy Bentham 1776
Justice & Rights

Every law is an evil, for every law is an infraction of liberty.

— Jeremy Bentham 1802 (published)
Justice & Rights

The modern individual lives in a constant tension between freedom and necessity.

— Georg Simmel 1907
Justice & Rights

The more organized society becomes, the more individual freedom is threatened.

— Georg Simmel 1907
Justice & Rights

Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.

— P.T. Barnum Late 19th Century
Money & Business

The normative content of modernity is to be found in the ideals of freedom and equality.

— Jurgen Habermas 1985
Justice & Rights

The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.

— Paulo Freire 1968
Political

The life my people want is a life of freedom.

— Sitting Bull 1877
Justice & Rights

I have undertaken vengeance. I want Liberty and Equality to reign in Saint Domingue.

— Toussaint Louverture 1793
Justice & Rights
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