400 Powerful Freedom Quotes That Will Set You Free

Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling for it. Albert Einstein

He only earns his freedom and his life who takes them every day by storm. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Stand for what’s right. Make your life beautiful. Make your life meaningful. Maxime Lagacé (See also: meaningful quotes)

A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire, or preserve his freedom. Malcolm X

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. George Washington

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear. Aung San Suu Kyi

No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free. Buddha

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. Albert Einstein

I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing. Ayn Rand

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. Albert Camus

Here is my secret: I don’t mind what happens. Jiddu Krishnamurti

To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves. Virginia Woolf

Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves. Friedrich Nietzsche

See also: positive quotes, simplicity quotes, zen quotes

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The Best Freedom Quotes

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Freedom lies in being bold. Robert Frost Click to tweet

I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! Patrick Henry

True freedom is always spiritual. It has something to do with your innermost being, which cannot be chained, handcuffed, or put into a jail. Rajneesh

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

Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious possessions. Ambrose Bierce

I read somewhere… how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong… but to feel strong. Christopher McCandless (Into The Wild movie)

I don’t care whether you’re a top Wall Street banker, if somebody has to tell you when to be at work, what to wear, and how to behave, you’re not a free person. Naval Ravikant

The English did not come to America from a mere love of adventure, nor to truck with or convert the savages, nor to hold offices under the crown, as the French to a great extent did, but to live in earnest and with freedom. Henry David Thoreau

Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life. Bob Marley Click to tweet

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. Moshe Dayan

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. Franklin D. Roosevelt

The freedom from something is not true freedom. The freedom to do anything you want to do is also not the freedom I am talking about. My vision of freedom is to be yourself. Rajneesh

We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people to emancipate themselves. Errico Malatesta

Everything can be taken from a man but… the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Victor Frankl

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. Thomas Jefferson

The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit. Ralph Waldo Emerson Click to tweet

All the Men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them. Leonard Cohen

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. William Faulkner

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. Jean-Paul Sartre

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. Albert Camus

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free. Thich Nhat Hanh

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and will never be. Thomas Jefferson

It’s beautiful to be alone. To be alone does not mean to be lonely. It means the mind is not influenced and contaminated by society. Jiddu Krishnamurti

If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary. Malcolm X

Who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves. Frederick Douglass

What is freedom?

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What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes. Marcus Tullius Cicero Click to tweet

Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men. Mortimer Adler

Freedom is always at the beginning and not at the end. Jiddu Krishnamurti

Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond. Jeffrey Borenstein

Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature. Benjamin Franklin

Freedom is not the right to live as we please, but the right to find how we ought to live in order to fulfill our potential. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom – to walk free and own no superior. Walt Whitman

See also: What Is Freedom? by Chris Guillebeau, The Art Of Non-Confirmity (chrisguillebeau.com)

Part 2. Freedom Quotes That Are…

The Most Famous Freedom Quotes (Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Obama, etc.)

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My liberty depends on you being free, too. Barack Obama Click to tweet

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free. Rosa Parks

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security. Benjamin Franklin

No man is good enough to govern another man without his consent. Abraham Lincoln

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. Mahatma Gandhi

When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. Nelson Mandela

A part of fate is the freedom of man. Forever wells up the impulse of choosing and acting in his soul. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A discriminating irreverence is the creator and protector of human liberty. Mark Twain

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. Alice Walker

As soon as we left the ground, I knew I had to fly. Amelia Earhart

No borders, just horizons – only freedom. Amelia Earhart Click to tweet

We have no right to believe that freedom can be won without struggle. Che Guevara

The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. John F. Kennedy

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. John F. Kennedy

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. John F. Kennedy

I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery. Thomas Jefferson Click to tweet

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! Patrick Henry

You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it. John Adams (Founding Fathers)

However weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties. Alexander Hamilton (Founding Fathers)

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Benjamin Franklin

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. Benjamin Franklin

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. Ronald Reagan

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. Martin Luther King Jr

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Martin Luther King Jr

Every subject’s duty is the Kings, but every subject’s soul is his own. William Shakespeare

It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Part 1. We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness. Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Part 2. It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big, still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn’t ever feel like talking loud, and it warn’t often that we laughed — only a little kind of a low chuckle. Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Part 3. We had mighty good weather as a general thing, and nothing ever happened to us at all — that night, nor the next, nor the next. Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

They may take away our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom! William Wallace (Braveheart)

Freedom of teaching and of opinion in book or press is the foundation for the sound and natural development of any people. Albert Einstein

I’m a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought. Jimmy Wales (co-founder of Wikipedia)

I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended. Nelson Mandela

That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. Henry David Thoreau

Science can flourish only in an atmosphere of free speech. Albert Einstein

Tame birds sing of freedom. Wild birds fly. John Lennon

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See also: 11 Freedom Fighters Who Have Inspired Me (buzzfeed.com)

Short Freedom Quotes

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One-liners, short freedom quotes, thoughts, sayings and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, backgrounds.

I exist as I am, that is enough. Walt Whitman Click to tweet

Freedom is the power to say no. James Clear

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. Coco Chanel

Freedom begins between the ears. Edward Abbey

Only the educated are free. Epictetus

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Without freedom there can be no morality. Carl Jung

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. Voltaire

Freedom is dearer than bread or joy. Jessie E. Sampter

You can do anything you decide to do. Amelia Earhart

The lure of flying is the lure of beauty. Amelia Earhart

After you get your freedom, your enemy will respect you. Malcolm X

Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you. Jean-Paul Sartre

Don’t quack like a duck… soar like an eagle. Kenneth Blanchard

Freedom means choosing your burden. Hephzibah Menuhin

Let freedom never perish in your hands. Joseph Addison

Power is duty; freedom is responsibility. Marie Dubsky

Freedom is the outside of the inside. Joyce Carey

This is slavery, not to speak one’s thought. Euripides

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit. Kahlil Gibran

When I discover who I am, I’ll be free. Ralph Ellison

On the other side of fear lies freedom. Unknown

Sometimes what you’re most afraid of doing is the one thing that will set you free. Unknown (Submitted by the Wisdom Quotes Community)

Freedom is not for the weak. Tony Calderone

Slavery is the next thing to hell. Harriet Tubman

You’ll be free or die! Harriet Tubman

My vision of freedom is to be yourself. Osho

The function of freedom is to free someone else. Toni Morrison

The day you stop racing, is the day you win the race. Bob Marley Click to tweet

My feet is my only carriage. Bob Marley

It is your attachment that creates hell. Rajneesh

Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be? Unknown

If you cannot be free be as free as you can. Ralph Waldo Emerson

He moves fastest who moves alone. Milton Friedman

Resist much, obey little. Walt Whitman

Without virtue there can be no liberty. Benjamin Rush

To be free is to have achieved your life. Tennessee Williams

The best freedom is being yourself. Jim Morrison

Liberty is the first condition of growth. Swami Vivekananda

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Phil Plait

Merely to breathe freely does not mean to live. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Freedom exists only with power. Friedrich Schiller

Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave. Frederick Douglass (See also: education quotes)

Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils. General John Stark

Be – don’t try to become. Osho

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Inspirational Freedom Quotes

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Freedom is never free. It requires risk taking. Nassim Nicholas Taleb

When you come to the point where you have no need to impress anybody, your freedom will begin. Unknown Click to tweet

Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose and to commit ourselves to our goals and values. Paulo Coelho

There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought. Charles Kingsley

I value freedom above anything else. Freedom to do what I want, freedom from not doing what I don’t want to do, and freedom from my own reactions and emotions… things that may disturb my peace. Naval Ravikant

Each man has his own vocation; his talent is his call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Real wealth is not about money. Real wealth is: -not having to go to meetings -not having to spend time with jerks -not being locked into status games -not feeling like you have to say “yes” -not worrying about others claiming your time and energy. Real wealth is about freedom. James Clear

You always know the mark of a coward. A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others. Henry Rollins

The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought. Leon Blum

I believe in a vision of equality and justice and freedom and multi-racial democracy, built on the premise that all people are created equal, and they’re endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. Barack Obama

You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being. Malcolm X

You get your freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get it. Then you’ll get it. It’s the only way you’ll get it. Malcolm X

The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba – yes Cuba too. Malcolm X

Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. Rumi

Liberty is the possibility of doubting, of making a mistake, of searching and experimenting, of saying no to any authority — literary, artistic, philosophical, religious, social, and even political. Ignazio Silone

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth. Swami Vivekananda

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. Henry David Thoreau Click to tweet

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. Napoleon Bonaparte

In the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves. Bernard Baruch

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. Baruch Spinoza

Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries? Amelia Earhart

Strong. You can do anything. You can go anywhere. Christopher McCandless (Into The Wild movie)

Part 1. Don’t think in terms of comfort; think in terms of freedom. Don’t think in terms of safety, think in terms of being more alive. And the only way to be more alive is to live dangerously, is to risk, is to go on an adventure. Rajneesh

Part 2. And the greatest adventure is not going to the moon – the greatest adventure is going to your own innermost core. Rajneesh

We are a nation of politicians, concerned about the outmost defenses only of freedom. It is our children’s children who may perchance be really free. Henry David Thoreau

The man who takes the liberty to live is superior to all the laws, by virtue of his relation to the lawmaker. Henry David Thoreau

A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom. Bob Dylan

When one door is closed. Don’t you know what many more are open. Bob Marley

See also: strength quotes

Funny And Surprising Freedom Quotes

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Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. Henry David Thoreau

Freedom of press is limited to those who own one. H. L. Mencken Click to tweet

I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself. Oscar Wilde

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. Hubert H. Humphrey

What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and own no superior? Walt Whitman

Freedom is independence of the compulsory will of another. Immanuel Kant

Deep And Emotional Freedom Quotes

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Nothing matters and that’s a good thing as it sets you free. Naval Ravikant

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Frederick Douglass Click to tweet

Most people want security in this world, not liberty. H.L. Mencken

You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness. Robert Frost

Never trust the words of a man who is not free. Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself. Virginia Woolf

Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another. Toni Morrison

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. Thomas Paine

The law will never make a man free; it is men who have got to make the law free. Henry David Thoreau

Men talk of freedom! How many are free to think? Free from fear, from perturbation, from prejudice? Nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand are perfect slaves. Henry David Thoreau

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. Peter Marshall

The whole world seems to live under the banner: “Freedom is wonderful – but only for me.” Isaac Asimov

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. Edmund Burke

True freedom means that we are alone. We alone decide what we believe, how we act, and who we become. We are responsible for our lives – nobody else. True freedom is both liberating and terrifying. Eric Peng

The man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings. Henri-Frederic Amiel

If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Click to tweet

Whatever liberates our spirit, without also giving us mastery over ourselves, is destructive. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. Fannie Lou Hamer

Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires. Thomas Carlyle

Human history begins with man’s act of disobedience which is at the very same time the beginning of his freedom and development of his reason. Erich Fromm

If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going. Harriet Tubman

I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other. Harriet Tubman

Liberty doesn’t work as well in practice as it does in speeches. Will Rogers

Here is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don’t regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered expression. Gerard K. O’Neill

We are free, truly free, when we don’t need to rent our arms to anybody in order to be able to lift a piece of bread to our mouths. Ricardo Flores Magon

The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. James A. Garfield

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Wise Freedom Quotes (Words of wisdom)

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Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose. Simone Weil

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. Frederick Douglass

Most will give up an acre of freedom for a closet of security. Dr. Idel Dreimer

Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else. Epictetus

For a man to act himself, he must be perfectly free; otherwise he is in danger of losing all sense of responsibility or of self- respect. Henry David Thoreau

The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. Adlai Stevenson

A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both. Milton Friedman

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. Frederick Douglass

We are not rich by what we possess but by what we can do without. Immanuel Kant Click to tweet

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. Dick Cheney

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech. Soren Kierkegaard

He who is allowed to do as he likes will soon run his head into a brick wall out of sheer frustration. Robert Musil

Confidence is knowing who you are and not changing it a bit because of someone’s version of reality is not your reality. Shannon L. Alder

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Who speaks of liberty while the human mind is in chains? Francis Wright

Knowledge is an addiction, as drink; knowledge does not bring understanding. Knowledge can be taught, but not wisdom; there must be freedom from knowledge for the coming of wisdom. Jiddu Krishnamurti

To seek fulfillment is to invite frustration. Jiddu Krishnamurti

Freedom is not caprice but room to enlarge. C. A. Bartol

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See also: 10 Simple Tips to Live Happy, Wild, and Free (tinybuddha.com)

Part 3. Freedom Quotes About…

Freedom Quotes About Life, Personal Freedom, Being Independent

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You can only lose what you cling to. Buddha Click to tweet

Let go of your story so the universe can write a new one for you. Marianne Williamson

True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline. Mortimer J. Adler

Real freedom is having nothing. I was freer when I didn’t have a cent. Mike Tyson

Don’t measure your life in terms of money, measure it in terms of freedom. @wisdom_theory

One of the purposes of life is to let go of all that baggage you’re dragging around and be free again. Neil Strauss

Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. Virginia Woolf

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will. Charlotte Bronte

Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns. Tara Brach

The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage. Thucydides

Re-examine all that you have been told… dismiss that which insults your soul. Walt Whitman

Being free brings a lightness, a carefree surrender to all that is happening around you, and, above all, an acceptance of reality. Deepak Chopra

Your freedom is a supreme value. Nothing is higher than that. But your freedom is possible only if you are not encaged in your habits, unconscious patterns of living. Change your gestalt from unconsciousness to consciousness. Rajneesh

Desire is our imprisonment. The man who wants nothing, who is absolutely contented as he is, is free of all bondage. He has attained to ultimate freedom, nirvana – and that is the goal of life. Rajneesh

I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom. It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes, deep inside yourself, you’ll feel good no matter what. Jiddu Krishnamurti

If you are lucky and work very hard, you may someday get to experience freedom from the known. Jiddu Krishnamurti Click to tweet

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. Friedrich Nietzsche

Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. Lord Byron

Words like “freedom,” “options,” and “choice” evoke a power of possibility far beyond the reality of the benefits they entail. Robert Greene

Freedom from things is dependent on the outside. Freedom to do something is also dependent on the outside. Freedom to be ultimately pure has not to be dependent on anything outside you. Osho

In the end, they wanted security more than they wanted freedom. Edward Gibbon

I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Harriet Tubman

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. Buddha

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds. Bob Marley

See also: gratitude quotes

Quotes About Freedom Of Speech, Censorship

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The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship. George Bernard Shaw Click to tweet

Every burned book enlightens the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Free people can speak freely. If you fear to speak, you aren’t free. The Stoic Emperor

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

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell

Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance. Lyndon B. Johnson

If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. Noam Chomsky

I did not wish to live in a country where the individual does not enjoy equality before the law and freedom to say and teach what he likes. Albert Einstein

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. Soren Kierkegaard

Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. Adlai Stevenson

We have to uphold a free press and freedom of speech – because, in the end, lies and misinformation are no match for the truth. Barack Obama

I accept that people are going to call me awful things every day, and I will always defend their right to do so. Barack Obama

Some people only speak of freedom of speech while they’re out of power. Once they’re in power, they’re ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. Barack Obama

The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book. Walt Whitman

It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree. Leo McKern

Freedom of speech is unnecessary if the people to whom it is granted do not think for themselves. Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Government has no right to hurt a hair on the head of an atheist for his opinions. Let him have a care of his practices. John Adams

To view the opposition as dangerous is to misunderstand the basic concepts of democracy. To oppress the opposition is to assault the very foundation of democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi

Because if you don’t stand up for the stuff you don’t like, when they come for the stuff you do like, you’ve already lost. Neil Gaiman

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. John Milton

Those who make conversations impossible, make escalation inevitable. Stefan Molyneux

It is not so much freedom of speech but the right to truth that great men protect. Criss Jami

Sometimes a people lose their right to remain silent when pressured to remain silent. Criss Jami

You can cage the singer but not the song. Harry Belafonte Click to tweet

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. Voltaire

The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. Tom Smothers

Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. Potter Stewart

I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech. Nancie J. Carmody

A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. Albert Camus

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame. Oscar Wilde

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship. George Bernard Shaw

The test of democracy is freedom of criticism. David Ben-Gurion

To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list. John Aikin

Imagine a world in which we are all enlightened by objective truths rather than offended by them. Neil deGrasse Tyson

There is a fine line between censorship and good taste and moral responsibility. Steven Spielberg

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

See also: Freedom Of Speech By Country (wikipedia.org)

Quotes About Responsibility, Discipline, Price Of Freedom

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Through discipline comes freedom. Aristotle Click to tweet

Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet. Alice Walker

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it. Malcolm X

The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Robert Greene

Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free. Paul Tillich

Blame neither man, nor God, nor anyone in the world. When you find yourselves suffering, blame yourselves, and try to do better. Swami Vivekananda

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect. Eleanor Roosevelt

The war for freedom will never really be won because the price of freedom is constant vigilance over ourselves and over our Government. Eleanor Roosevelt

He that cannot obey, cannot command. Benjamin Franklin Click to tweet

The price of freedom is loneliness. To be happy is to be tied. C.S. Lewis

We must be willing to pay a price for freedom. H. L. Mencken

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Wendell Phillips

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. Frank Herbert

Discipline is wisdom and vice versa. M. Scott Peck

We gain freedom when we have paid the full price. Rabindranath Tagore

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. Leonardo da Vinci

He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. Aristotle

Man must be disciplined, for he is by nature raw and wild. Immanuel Kant

Rule your mind or it will rule you. Horace

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See also: Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual, By Jocko Willink, Ex Navy-Seal (2 minutes YouTube video)

Freedom Quotes About Love, Marriage, Happiness

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Him that I love, I wish to be free – even from me. Anne Morrow Linbergh Click to tweet

I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom. Simone de Beauvoir

If you’re always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be. Maya Angelou

Love does not claim possession but gives freedom. Rabindranath Tagore

That side of our existence whose direction is towards the infinite seeks not wealth, but freedom and joy. Rabindranath Tagore

The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart. Thich Nhat Hanh

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. Arthur Schopenhauer

Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom. Jiddu Krishnamurti

Think before you desire a thing. There is every possibility that it will be fulfilled, and then you will suffer. Osho

Meditation is nothing but enjoying your beautiful aloneness. Celebrating yourself; that’s what meditation is all about. Osho

When sex becomes conscious it is love, it is no longer lust. Love brings freedom, and lust simply creates prisons for you. Rajneesh

Love and freedom are such hideous words. So many cruelties have been done in their name. Joseph O’Connor

This isn’t going to be pretty. Rules will be broken. Friendships will be tested. And huge risks will be taken. But they’re small prices to pay for true love and freedom, right? Lisi Harrison

Deep inside all of us a huge potential beckons, waiting to open us to the joy, genius, freedom and love within. Brandon Bays

If your purpose is to liberate yourself and others into love and freedom, then you should do whatever magnifies the love and freedom in your life and in the lives of whom your actions affect. David Deida

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold. Bob Marley

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. Bob Marley

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. Jimi Hendrix

That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is. Jim Morrison

Real love is considerate but has no concern. Osho

Quotes About Artistic Freedom

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The greatest enemy of art is the absence of limitations. Orson Welles Click to tweet

Art is not a democracy. People don’t get to vote on how it ends. George R. R. Martin (Game Of Thrones)

You shouldn’t be a prisoner of your own ideas. Sol LeWitt

Start with a style and you are in chains, start with an idea and you are free. Richard Avedon

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

If I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking. In the meantime, let me be that I am, and seek not toalter me. William Shakespeare

Like a hustler, you must find your freedom through the fluidity of your thoughts and your constant inventiveness. Robert Greene

You must not be afraid of your uniqueness and you must care less and less what people think of you. Robert Greene

Painting what I experience, translating what I feel, is like a great liberation. But it is also work, self-examination, consciousness, criticism, struggle. Balthus

Why is it that so few people are truly free? Because they try to conform to ideas, concepts, and beliefs in their heads. Adyashanti

Complete freedom debilitates art but reveals much about character. Darby Bannard

You feel like a prisoner if you don’t create. You’re jailed up inside of yourself. Edie Brickell

Transfer from external validation to internal self-validation. Freedom means knowing who you are. Miles Patrick Yohnke

Free time is a necessity if you are to exist as an artist. Eleanor Blair

So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. Virginia Woolf

I love to create, and to me, the ultimate freedom of expression is a blank canvas or a block of clay to capture whatever emotions your imagination gives it. Daniel Boulud

Freedon is a scary thing. Most people don’t want it. Laurie Anderson

Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics. Victor Pinchuk

Liberty, n. One of imagination’s most precious possessions. Ambrose Bierce

The work of art is a scream of freedom. Christo

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Quotes About Spiritual Freedom, Non-Attachment, Religion

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A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him. Ezra Pound Click to tweet

Freedom is to be free of attachments, and the main attachment is to the ‘I’-self. Mooji

It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything. Chuck Palahniuk

One is not wise because he talks a good deal. They are wise who are patient, and free from hate and fear. Buddha

There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind. Buddha

No one and nothing can free you but your own understanding. Ajahn Chah

Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. It is liberty to be affected by nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached. Swami Vivekananda

If you can get rid of your attachment to a single thing, you are on the way to liberation. Swami Vivekananda

Only by practice and non-attachment can we conquer mind. Swami Vivekananda

Nonresistance, nonjudgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living. Eckhart Tolle

Once your mind becomes absolutely still, your intelligence transcends human limitations. Jaggi Vasudev

Once there is a distance between you and your thought process, a new freedom is born. With this freedom, a new perception arises. Sadhguru

All meditations are nothing but efforts to bring you to the present. When you live in the present moment, with no past hanging around you, with no future projection, you are free from life and death, you are free from body and mind. You are free – simply free – you are freedom. Rajneesh

The most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha is not God, is not soul… it is freedom: freedom absolute, total, unconditional. He does not want to give you an ideology, because every ideology creates its own slavery. Rajneesh

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 1 Peter 2:16

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Corinthians 3:17

If you think that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage. If you know that you are free, you are free this moment. This is knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Swami Vivekananda

Since most of us are secretly oppressed by our lack of freedom, we are drawn to those who are more fluid and flaunt their difference. Robert Greene

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. Benjamin Franklin

Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger, regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue. Let go of the need for approval. Let go of old judgments and opinions. Die to all that, and fly free. Soar in the freedom of desirelessness. Lama Surya Das

Let go. Let be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home — at ease. Lama Surya Das

You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. Malcolm X Click to tweet

To remember non-attachment is to remember what freedom is all about. If we get attached, even to a beautiful state of being, we are caught, and ultimately we will suffer. We work to observe anything that comes our way, experience it while it is here, and be able to let go of it. Sharon Salzberg

Buddhism teaches that joy and happiness arise from letting go. Please sit down and take an inventory of your life. There are things you’ve been hanging on to that really are not useful and deprive you of your freedom. Find the courage to let them go. Thich Nhat Hanh

You are born as freedom. It is just that you have been conditioned to forget it. Layers upon layers of conditionings have made you a puppet. The strings are in somebody else’s hands. Osho

Part 1. Freedom is the ultimate experience of life. There is nothing higher than that. And out of freedom many flowers blossom in you. Osho

Part 2. Love is the flowering of your freedom. Compassion, another flowering of your freedom. All that is valuable in life flowers in the innocent, natural state of your being. Osho

That is the Zen Manifesto: freedom from oneself. Osho

A feeling of aversion or attachment toward something is your clue that there’s work to be done. Ram Dass

That non-attachment gives us the freedom to be exactly who we are. Tara Brach

See also: silence quotes

Quotes About Freedom, America, United States Of America (USA)

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The best road to progress is freedom’s road. John F. Kennedy Click to tweet

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree. Thomas Campbell

We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. Barack Obama

That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American. Barack Obama

We have proved that the true strength of our nation comes not from the scale of our wealth but from the power of our ideals – opportunity, democracy, liberty and hope. Barack Obama

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. Woodrow Wilson

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Theodore Roosevelt

America’s greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought. Benazir Bhutto

I believe that freedom of speech and freedom of religion go hand-in-hand in America. Kirk Cameron

The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom. John Locke

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Abraham Lincoln

America is said to be the arena on which the battle of freedom is to be fought; but surely it cannot be freedom in a merely political sense that is meant. Even if we grant that the American has freed himself from a political tyrant, he is still the slave of an economical and moral tyrant. Henry David Thoreau

The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. Samuel Adams

Slaves, though held by the laws of men, are free by the laws of God. John Jay (Founding Fathers)

No power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent. John Jay (Founding Fathers)

If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. George Washington (Founding Fathers)

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power. James Madison (Founding Fathers)

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. James Madison (Founding Fathers)

A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them. James Madison (Founding Fathers)

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people. James Madison (Founding Fathers) Click to tweet

It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Samuel Adams (Founding Fathers)

We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Part 4. The Shawshank Redemption Freedom Quotes

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Salvation lies within. Warden Samuel Norton Click to tweet

I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Ellis Boy “Red” Redding

I tell you those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. Ellis Boy “Red” Redding

Part 1. I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. Ellis Boy “Red” Redding

Part 2. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope. Ellis Boy “Red” Redding

We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy – he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer. Ellis Boy “Red” Redding

Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, or maybe I just don’t want to. Five hundred yards… that’s the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile. Ellis Boy “Red” Redding

Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. Andy Dufresne

Part 5. Conclusion

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Liberty is slow fruit. It is never cheap; it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man. Ralph Waldo Emerson Click to tweet

Call to action: Read 30 Ways to Free Your Mind Immediately