Freedom Quotes

"Freedom, in any adequate sense, demands open-mindedness and the courage to think for oneself."

"A society in which the majority has the power to impose its own conception of the good life on minorities is not free."

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence of such a world is a form of rebellion."

"Nobody has the right to obey."

"The most important thing to remember is that our freedom is inextricably linked with the freedom of others."

"If we do not think, we are not free."

"The experience of spontaneous action is the rarest of all human experiences."

"We are defined not by our birth but by our capacity to act in the world."

"The death of the public realm means the death of human action in its truest sense."

"The greatest threat to freedom is not tyranny but apathy."

"Freedom is the burden of consciousness."

"Every man born is given one thing: to live his life as a genuine human being."

"Freedom is not independence but authentic relation."

"Real freedom is the freedom to respond authentically."

"Freedom is found in commitment, not in the absence of it."

"Obedience to necessity is the only true freedom."

"We are slaves to our habits, and freedom lies in the examination of them."

"The mind oppressed by material necessity cannot think freely."

"Freedom without responsibility is the destruction of freedom."

"Freedom is the condition necessary for all human flourishing and growth."

"Freedom is only meaningful when exercised in responsibility toward the Other."

"To be human is to stand in the tension between freedom and responsibility."

"Freedom is not the absence of restraint but the capacity to choose what is right and true."

"Freedom lies in accepting what cannot be overcome."

"Freedom is enslavement to what liberates."

"Natality, the human condition of beginning anew, is the true source of freedom."

"Freedom of thought requires solitude and distance from the crowd."

"The capacity to begin anew is the greatest gift of human freedom."

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to prevent one's children from being turned out of school, but anything beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny."

"One should respect public opinion only to the extent necessary to avoid being starved or having one's children turned out of school."