God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it.

What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.

We think that others should view the world as we do and have the same value determinations as we do--and this leads to much frustration and even destruction. In fact, the theory of communism is based on this very idea, the idea that material things have intrinsic, objective values that should be determined by one group of people and imposed on everyone else.

In our normal everyday relationships, imposing our value determinations on other people is a form of subtle tyranny; when it becomes a full-blown economic theory, supported by force of government, it literally becomes a machine for oppression, destruction and death.

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

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

Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.