Most liberals think of civil liberties as their Achilles heel. It isn’t.

The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement, many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history.

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

While discipline and freedom seem like they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, they are actually very connected.

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

Political necessities sometime turn out to be political mistakes.

People do not make wars; governments do.

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

No man should be in politics unless he would honestly rather not be there.

History shows that, more often than not, loss of sovereignty leads to liberalisation imposed in the interests of the powerful.

Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

I’m a singer, not a politician, and I think you don’t want the two to get confused. It’s not OK to be on CNN talking about people starving and then tell the interviewer that your new album is coming out in six months.

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.

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.

The money in politics is a cash cow for the media.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

Freedom is a man’s natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.

Nothing has been purchased more dearly than the little bit of reason and sense of freedom which now constitutes our pride.

This young century will be liberty’s century.

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.

When Rumsfeld gets up on television and says we have definitive intelligence that al Qaeda is working with Iraq, how is an ordinary citizen supposed to react? They won’t tell you the evidence, and when anyone asks, they say, ‚Well, you know: It’s secret.‘

I consider myself a moderate Republican. I have very, very moderate social views, and I’m pretty strong on, on defense matters.

The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.

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

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

I’ve never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It’s probably because they have forgotten their own.

To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.

The men and women of Afghanistan are building a nation that is free, and proud, and fighting terror – and America is honored to be their friend.

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.

There is no gambling like politics.

Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules.

I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment.

Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.

A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.

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.

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

Freedom is not enough.

Politics is the art of controlling your environment.

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman – not me, not Bill, nobody – more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.

I am the freest author in the world.

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

Each time we cooperate with God, we take one more giant step forward. Because when God asks us to change, it means that He always has something better to give us – more freedom, greater joy, and greater blessings.

I have never really thought that the Left was much in ‚array‘ as far as political purposes were concerned.

A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

The artist part of me always wants to be appreciated. I read every review. But I never wanted to seek validation by awards or anything controlled by politics.

I have been very happy in the House of Representatives.

It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.

When you work as a humanitarian, you are conscious that politics have to be considered. Because if you really want to make an extreme change, then you have a responsibility.

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.

Obama’s not Jesus. He can’t walk on water.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.