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Quotes about freedom

44 verified quotes from 25 writers, c. 475 BC to 1923.

Quotes 1 to 22 of 44, page 1 of 2.

Freedom in these pages is rarely abstract. Jane Eyre tells Rochester that she is no bird and no net ensnares her; Frederick Douglass describes the moment he understood that learning to read was the pathway from slavery to freedom; Whitman takes to the open road, healthy and free, with the world before him.

Epictetus places freedom on the line between what is in our power and what is not, and Tagore imagines a country where the mind is without fear and knowledge is free. Others come from pamphlets, speeches and essays written while the argument was still being fought. Every quote below was found word for word in the full text of the public-domain edition we link.

What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.

  1. The commander of the forces of a large state may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him

    Confucius, The Analects, c. 475 BCTranslated by James Legge (1861)

    Our note: A saying on the one thing that force cannot seize.

    Verified in the full text of The Analects on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3330

  2. Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy

    Socrates, in Apology by Plato, c. 399 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871)

    Our note: Socrates says he will keep questioning people even if the court forbids it.

    Verified in the full text of Apology on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1656

  3. …we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many

    Cephalus, in The Republic by Plato, c. 375 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871)

    Our note: An old man in the opening of the Republic describes what he found in old age, quoting Sophocles.

    Verified in the full text of The Republic on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1497

  4. Of things some are in our power, and others are not.

    Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877)

    Our note: The first line of the handbook.

    Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

  5. Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will

    Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877)

    Our note: Epictetus on how hardship can limit the body but not the choices we make.

    Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

  7. Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has bestowed upon men

    Don Quixote, in Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, 1615Translated by John Ormsby (1885)

    Our note: Don Quixote to Sancho, in the second part, on why freedom is worth more than any treasure.

    Verified in the full text of Don Quixote on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #996

    Painted the same decade: Samson Captured by the Philistines, Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1619

  9. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

    Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, 1776

    Our note: Jefferson drafted the Declaration, which Congress amended and adopted on 4 July 1776.

    Verified in the full text of The Declaration of Independence on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1

    Painted the same decade: Virgil's Tomb by Moonlight, with Silius Italicus Declaiming, Joseph Wright (Wright of Derby), 1779

  15. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political

    Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801

    Our note: From Jefferson's list of the principles of government in his 1801 inaugural.

    Verified in the full text of First Inaugural Address on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #56313 · Collected in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 8 (of 9)

    Painted the same decade: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (1754–1838), Prince de Bénévent, baron François Gérard, 1808

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