Freedom

America is incomparably less endangered by its own Communists than by the hysterical hunt for the few Communists that are here.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to assure the unhindered development of the individual… That is why I consider myself to be particularly fortunate to be an American.

Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling for it. A citizenry that is politically indifferent will always end up enslaved no matter what form its constitution and legal institutions take.

As long as I have any choice, I will stay only in a country where political liberty, toleration, and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule.

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.

Individual freedom provides a better basis for productive labor than any form of tyranny.

We must be free or die, who speak the tongue

We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.

’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.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Wherever a man goes, men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate oddfellow society.

A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

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.

Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.

You only have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power—he’s free again.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

Englishmen never will be slaves: they are free to do whatever the Government and public opinion allow them to do.

I am condemned to be free.

One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

It means everything—it means freedom.

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.