Freedom

No fetters in the Bay State—no slave upon our land!

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core… I know why the caged bird sings! 1

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

Dayadhvam: I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.

And hey Mr. Cop Ain’t got no birth certificate on me now

I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s.

I struck the board, and cried, ‘No more.

The world was all before them, where to choose

Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.

’Tis just like a summer birdcage in a garden; the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair, and are in a consumption, for fear they shall never get out.

No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.

The State exists for man, not man for the State… I believe that the most important mission of the State is to protect the individual and make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality. The State should be our servant; we should not be slaves of the State. The State violates this precept when it forces us to perform military service.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.

‘Freedom from fear’ could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.

I understand by 'freedom of spirit' something quite definite - the unconditional will to say No where it is dangerous to say No.

Nothing has been purchased more dearly than the little bit of reason and sense of freedom which now constitutes our pride.

To do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife , it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity.

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow Through Eden took their solitary way.

They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak.

Wealth I ask not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I ask, the heaven above And the road below me.

We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide water, inescapable. Deer walk upon our mountains, and the quail Whistle about us their spontaneous cries; Sweet berries ripen in the wilderness; And, in the isolation of the sky, At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make Ambiguous undulations as they sink, Downward to darkness, on extended wings.