Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

Increase of freedom in the State may sometimes promote mediocrity, and give vitality to prejudice; it may even retard useful legislation, diminish the capacity for war, and restrict the boundaries of Empire... A generous spirit prefers that his country should be poor, and weak, and of no account, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous and enslaved.

Let us not be unmindful that liberty is power, that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its number be the most powerful nation upon earth.

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

Property, the right to enjoy the fruit of one’s labor, the right to work, to develop, to exercise one’s faculties, according to one’s own understanding, without the state intervening otherwise than by its protective action - this is what is meant by liberty.

[I]t is under...the influence of liberty, safety, stability and responsibility - that every person will attain his real worth and the true dignity of his being.

[I]s not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so? Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism?

While many of my friends in the media railed against the invisible hand of the market, I feared the visible boot of government. It stamps on individual liberties and puts its toe into the private lives of adults - from their employment contracts to their choice of television viewing, and latterly that most private of relationships - what is agreed in the bedroom.

Freedom has a thousand charms to show,

That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.

One's liberty should end when it becomes the curse of his neighbor.

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.

Self-interest is not myopic selfishness. It is whatever it is that interests the participants, whatever they value, whatever goals they pursue. The scientist seeking to advance the frontiers of his discipline, the missionary seeking to convert infidels to the true faith, the philanthropist seeking to bring comfort to the needy—all are pursuing their interests, as they see them, as they judge them by their own values.

Probably nothing has done so much harm to the liberal cause as the wooden insistence of some liberals on certain rough rules of thumb, above all the principle of laissez faire.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

The only condition on earth to be compared with ours, in my opinion, is that of the Indian, where they have still less law than we.

[I]nsomuch that were it made a question, whether no law, as among the savage Americans, or too much law, as among the civilized Europeans, submits man to the greatest evil, one who has seen both conditions of existence would pronounce it to the last; and that the sheep are happier themselves, than under the care of wolves.

I have no fear, but that the result of our experiment will be, that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

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

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

All we have of freedom -- all we use or know -- This our fathers bought for us, long and long ago.

There is an immense difference between admiring liberty as a philosophical speculation, loving her like an imaginary beauty by sonnet and madrigal, and uniting with her in real wedlock for better or worse.

LIEBER, FRANCIS, On Civil Liberty and Self-Government (1853), Chapter XIV

One of John-boy Edwards’ pet themes during his early bid for the demonocratic Presidential numbanation was that there are “two Americas”. Danged if I don't agree with him! One of those two Americas, the one he likes, would be happier if it were part of the European Union. That one is an America that wants socialism as its governing philosophy, and that thinks the whole idea of sovereign nations is antiquated. It is an America that thinks making more things illegal will make bad people behave, an America that thinks bad people behave badly because society has failed them, and that thinks the foundation of security both personal and national lies in the lyrics of “Love is All You Need”. That one is an America that glorifies government above all other forms of human endeavor and that regards self-interest, personal responsibility and individual initiative as vices rather than virtues. The other America, the one I like, believes that a nation owns its sovereignty. It believes that a free republic of sovereign states, united under a constitution that clearly and specifically delimits the scope and reach of its federal government is the greatest idea yet to be advanced for governing a people. This America believes that ownership of property and economic freedom are the essential manifestations of liberty and that ones choice of labor as well as the disposition of the fruits of that labor are the sole provinces of each individual. My America finds virtue in rugged individualism and self-reliance. For us, the greatest failing would be that we should become a burden upon our neighbor, and our greatest joy would be in the opportunity to show him charity. We are the remnants of the original United States of America, the nation that was born in a rage against tyranny and forged in the fire and blood of war. We don’t fear war nor do we fear our enemies and we give them no quarter. We are not fools who court death, but neither do we lack the courage in whatever amounts required to remain free. My America turns away from the hairy teat of the nanny state and our palates will not suffer the loathsome government cheese made from its soured milk. Live free or die! We say. Don’t tread on us! Give us liberty or give us death! Those are the words that inspire us. Our America is nothing like that other America. Ours is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Theirs is the land of perpetual childhood with the lordly state as parent and guardian. There are two Americas, John-boy, and the differences seem frankly irreconcilable.

NEELY, MIKE, The Sudden Curve, October 9, 2004

There are just two rules of governance in a free society: Mind your own business. Keep your hands to yourself.

Civilization is nothing more than the effort to reduce the use of force to the last resort.

When the government fears the People, that is Liberty. When the People fear the Government, that is tyranny.

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

The protection of our rights is tested, however, not when what we do or say is popular but when it is unpopular. Stated most starkly, a free society is tested by the way it protects the rights of its least popular members.

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

But what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers.

Since the only proper function of a government is to protect man's rights, it cannot claim title to his life in exchange for that protection.

...the great conflict which is eternally waged between Liberty and Power.

[I]n liberty, being politically incorrect is the right thing to do.

SHADE, GARY, E-mail Systems, published by Online Communications Inc., Bangor Maine, 1994

Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life.... There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities; but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation.

I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it.

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.