The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants.
When the essential connection between freedom and truth is severed, then democracy itself is in jeopardy. Freedom no longer anchored to the truth quickly becomes the freedom of the strong against the weak.
Speech:
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
You cannot discover new oceans until you have the courage to leave the shore.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
Wealth still failed to impress him; the purpose of money was to purchase one’s freedom to pursue that which was useful and interesting.
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
And then, something happened. I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.
Movie: Fight Club
Its not until you lose everything that you are free to do anything
Movie: Fight Club
Sometimes I suspect that we build our traps ourselves, then we back into them, pretending amazement the while, that this is the way of life, from the All-Highest down to the meanest creature in creation…but whether this is the case or no, it is still a worthy thing to open cages.
Comic: “Sandman #74” by Neil Gaiman
This is a free country. Folks have the right to send me letters, and I have the right not to open them.
I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
Movie: The Shawshank Redemption
Nothing is impossible, not as long as you have enough time and infinite material resources.
I am leaving this legacy to all of you … to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die — the dream of freedom and peace.
If all your problems or perceived causes of suffering or unhappiness were miraculously removed for you today, but you had not become more present, more conscious, you would soon find yourself with a similar set of problems or causes of suffering, like a shadow that follows you wherever you go. Ultimately, there is only one problem: the time-bound mind itself. There is no salvation in time. You cannot be free in the future. Presence is the key to freedom, so you can only be free now.
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
Safety is all well and good. I prefer freedom.
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.
But it was my integrity that was important. Is that so selfish? It sells for so little, but it’s all we have left in this place. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch we are free.
Comic: V for Vendetta
There are none so enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
I just think that in a free country you ought to be free, and part of being free means that you give as much room to other people so they can be free; and whether somebody’s got short hair, medium hair, this hair,long hair, black hair, blonde hair, blue hair—whatever it is—spiky hair, or unspiky hair — I mean people ought to be free to have some fun and try out being different people until you settle in on somebody that you’re comfortable being.
TV: Penn & Teller: Bullshit, 3x08 - Hair
It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
Speech
Information wants to be free but is everywhere in chains.
Book: “A Hacker Manifesto” by McKenzie Wark, [126]
The Internet views censorship as a network failure, and routes around it.
Freedom is that instant between which someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond.
The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
In a free country, it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty. Only under a dictatorship is literature expected to exhibit an harmonious design or an inspirational tone.
This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: The freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: Any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.
People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.
Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility.
A country free enough to examine its own conscience is a land worth living in, a nation to be envied.
The greatest of all freedoms is that of nonparticipation. When you stop applauding on cue, you are reborn—free.
The love of liberty is the love of others;
the love of power is the love of ourselves.
the love of power is the love of ourselves.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
If you want total security, go to prison. There you are fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking is freedom.
Consider Australia. On a previous visit, I saw a copy of the Magna Carta enshrined in Canberra. I’m sure it is still there, a symbol of freedom, even though the rights it established have been largely abolished. The Australian government can now detain you just because of who you have met, and imprison you just for not answering questions. The Attorney General, with the consent of a few other officials, could declare ZDnet a “terrorist organization” tomorrow, without a trial, and you would have no recourse. They can ban a club, a union, even a political party. If you are connected with the banned organisation, you are a criminal, guilty by association. It is unnecessary to prove you actually tried to hurt anyone.
Be very glad that your PC is insecure—it means that after you buy it, you can break into it and install whatever software you want. What YOU want, not what Sony or Warner or AOL wants.