#ties

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. ↗

— Frederick Douglass

#agitation #dissent #liberties #power #radicalism

You can't take the sky from me. ↗

— Joss Whedon

#freedom #human-spirit #lyrics #music #possibilities

Limited government is not a means to liberty, it is an end. That is to say, there are always going to be a group of citizens who cannot meet their basic needs, and there most assuredly will always be politicians willing to promise that they will meet them. The difference between liberty and tyranny by popular support, or correctly termed “democratic despotism, ” is little more than the vehicle a free society chooses to use in order to meet those needs. ↗

— Richard D. Baris

#political-parties #political-philosophy #political-science #political-theory #religion-and-science

The state does not oppose the freedom of people to express their particular cultural attachments, but nor does it nurture such expression—rather [...] it responds with 'benign neglect' [....] The members of ethnic and national groups are protected against discrimination and prejudice, and they are free to maintain whatever part of their ethnic heritage or identity they wish, consistent with the rights of others. But their efforts are purely private, and it is not the place of public agencies to attach legal identities or disabilities to cultural membership or ethnic identity. This separation of state and ethnicity precludes any legal or governmental recognition of ethnic groups, or any use of ethnic criteria in the distribution of rights, resources, and duties. ↗

— Will Kymlicka

#discrimination #ethnicity #individuals #liberalism #liberties

Es ist [...] meine tiefe Überzeugung, dass die Freiheit das Allerwichtigste im Zusammenleben ist und erst Freiheit unserer Gesellschaft Kultur, Substanz und Inhalt verleiht. ↗

— Joachim Gauck

#freedom #priorities #society #values #freedom

Set time aside each day to be free, and explore the creative abilities of your inner being. ↗

— Martin Suarez

#creativity #explore #freedom #freedom

Cities were always like people, showing their varying personalities to the traveler. Depending on the city and on the traveler, there might begin a mutual love, or dislike, friendship, or enmity. Where one city will rise a certain individual to glory, it will destroy another who is not suited to its personality. Only through travel can we know where we belong or not, where we are loved and where we are rejected. ↗

— Roman Payne

#cities-and-countries #city #enmity #glory #love

People love to be challenged as long as it comes from the context of friendship and from people who have already accepted the challenge. ↗

— Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

#jesus #missional #missional-church #missional-communities #friendship

Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell. ↗

— Criss Jami

#funny-but-true #hell #humor #introversion #introvert

The police called it choking, but I called it a two-handed neck hug. That’s how I knew she really loved me. 
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#attempted-murder #authorities #choke #choking #crime