Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh.

The wisest use of American strength is to advance freedom.

Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship.

What’s real freedom? Real freedom is being able to not have my way and still be just as happy as if I did.

The distinguishing sign of slavery is to have a price, and to be bought for it.

Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law.

Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.

I just know that I’m a fan of all different kinds of genres. You’re supposed to be free doing music, and that’s how I feel.

Freedom is a right ultimately defended by the sacrifice of America’s servicemen and women.

There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood – rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky – they all turn out in one day.

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I never will.

Well the protester I think is a very powerful thing. It’s basically a mechanism of democracy that, along with capitalism, scientific innovation, those things have built the modern world. And it’s wonderful that the new tools have empowered that protestor so that state secrets, bad developments are not hidden anymore.

Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up.

For me, genres are a way for people to easily categorize music. But it doesn’t have to define you. It doesn’t have to limit you.

I think it’s important to vote.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

There is no such thing as part freedom.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

I can relax with bums because I am a bum. I don’t like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don’t like to be shaped by society.

I don’t vote. I don’t do no voting.

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.

I could have spent eight years doing anything, and at some level, it would have been fine. I could have focused on flowers. I could have focused on decor. I could have focused on entertainment. Because any First Lady, rightfully, gets to define her role. There’s no legislative authority; you’re not elected. And that’s a wonderful gift of freedom.

Every country must be absolutely free to adopt the type of economic, political and social system that it considers convenient.

If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

I’m a free spirit.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

The Bill of Rights is not an a la carte menu.

I have the space and liberty to create.

Capitalism has worked very well. Anyone who wants to move to North Korea is welcome.

Fear is present when we forget that we are a part of God’s divine design. Learning to experience authentic love means abandoning ego’s insistence that you have much to fear and that you are in an unfriendly world. You can make the decision to be free from fear and doubt and return to the brilliant light of love that is always with you.

America is a Nation with a mission – and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace – a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.

Absolute liberty is absence of restraint; responsibility is restraint; therefore, the ideally free individual is responsible to himself.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.

Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

People have more freedom to bring more of their personal qualities into the role they play once they have established themselves and their competence is no longer in question. But this is always within limits.

Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

In a democracy, allegations will never improve situations. So, I’m against allegations, but I always welcome criticism.

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

White people just don’t want their slaves to be free. That’s the whole thing.

I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.

There’s something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now.

I prefer directing to acting. There is huge freedom that comes from being behind the camera. It brings a lot of responsibilities as well but is intensely rewarding.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

Freedom conceives that the mind and spirit of man can be free only if he be free to pattern his own life, to develop his own talents, free to earn, to spend, to save, to acquire property as the security of his old age and his family.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.