#liberty

I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. ↗

— Ronald Reagan

#limited-government #scope-of-government #law

Liberty," boomed Wednesday, as they walked to the car, "is a bitch who must be bedded on a mattress of corpses. ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#liberty

Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood. ↗

— Mahatma Gandhi

#liberty

He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings! ↗

— Emily Dickinson

#liberty

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#liberty

I would defend the liberty of consenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent. ↗

— Arthur C. Clarke

#liberty

Failure of government programs prompts more determined effort, while the loss of liberty is ignored or rationalized away...whether is it is the war on poverty, drugs, terrorism...or the current Hitler of the day, an appeal to patriotism is used to convince the people that a little sacrifice of liberty, here or there, is a small price to pay...The results, though, are frightening and will soon become even more so. ↗

— Ron Paul

#liberty

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#individuality #liberty #tyranny #liberty

Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery. ↗

— Plato

#individuals #into #liberty #lies #only

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#libertarian #liberty #power #community