At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.
– Eric Idle
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. ...The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.
– Frank Herbert
Birds and the people who love freedom have something common: They must fly freely to feel that they are alive!
– Mehmet Murat ildan
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
– John Adams
By academic freedom I understand the right to search for truth and to publish and teach what one holds to be true. This right implies also a duty one must not conceal any part of what on has recognized to be true. It is evident that any restriction on academic freedom acts in such a way as to hamper the dissemination of knowledge among the people and thereby impedes national judgment and action.
– Albert Einstein
By interpreting freedom as the propagation and immediate gratification of needs, people distort their own nature, for they engender in themselves a multitude of pointless and foolish desires, habits, and incongruous stratagems. Their lives are motivated only by mutual envy, sensuality, and ostentation.
– Fyodor Dostoevsky
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.
– Hubert Humphrey
Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.
– Ronald Reagan
Comtemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen and then ask yourself, What should be the reward of such sacrifices... If ye love wealth better than freedom, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands that feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
– Samuel Adams
Conformity is the jailer of freedom, and the enemy of growth.
– John F. Kennedy
Destiny, Fate, Dreams, These unstoppable ideals are held deep in the heart of man; as long as there are people who seek freedom in this life; these things shall not vanish from the earth.
– Gold Rodgers
Do not degrade me in the military uniform I wear for it represents the love I have for my country, and the sacrifices myself and millions of other American soldiers make everyday to protect the freedom we enjoy by living in the United States of America.
– Larry
Do not let the fame come near to you! Protect your freedom! Fame must be avoided so as to breathe freely! Stay in the shadow to work comfortably! Away from the crowds, in the heart of calmness, there is wonderful peace of mind that no fame can ever give you!
Don't live in the castles; freedom is in the fields! But I can also say: Don't live in the fields; security is in the castles!
Empty your birdcage, empty your aquarium! To love is to give freedom; to love is to refuse the prisons!
Europe is spreading its wings. In freedom. In prosperity. And in peace. It is a truly proud moment for the European Union. It is a triumph for liberty and democracy. To our new members I say: “Warmly welcome to our family”. Our new Europe is born.
– Anders Fogh Rasmussen, (Prime Minister of Denmark) Family photo after the European Council meeting in Copenhagen, 13 December 20
Even though I was their captive, the Indians allowed me quite a bit of freedom. I could walk about freely, make my own meals, and even hurl large rocks at their heads. It was only later that I discovered they were not Indians at all, but dirty clothes hampers.
– Jack Handey Deep Thoughts
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
– Jim Morrison
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
– Nelson Mandela
For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom, and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.
– George W. Bush, Speech to UN General Assembly, September 21, 2004
Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.
– Hannah Arendt
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...We here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
– Abraham Lincoln
Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen.
– Bob Marley
