Source: A for Anything (1959), Chapter 10 (p. 120)
“The suppression of liberty is always likely to be irrational.”
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), Chapter IV, Section 33, p. 210
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John Rawls 63
American political philosopher 1921–2002Related quotes

“The truth doesn't die. The desire for liberty cannot be fully suppressed.”
1963, Address at the Free University of Berlin

Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 376 (1927).
Judicial opinions

“It's all very irrational, like all ideology.”
Playboy interview (2003)
Context: I think it's a very confused culture. On the one hand, no one is better than anyone else; no one is prettier. On the other hand, everyone is completely obsessed by their looks and by how they strike the world. On the one hand, we're all equal; on the other hand, everyone's a superstar. It's all very irrational, like all ideology.

“Liberty without Learning is always in peril and Learning without Liberty is always in vain.”
1963, Address at Vanderbilt University
Context: The essence of Vanderbilt is still learning, the essence of its outlook is still liberty, and liberty and learning will be and must be the touchstones of Vanderbilt University and of any free university in this country or the world. I say two touchstones, yet they are almost inseparable, inseparable if not indistinguishable, for liberty without learning is always in peril, and learning without liberty is always in vain.

[TUNISIA: No Time for Democracy, TIME, Monday, Sept. 29, 1958, 1, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821168,00.html, September 6, 2011]
“The suppressed hunger to think was like an epidemic.”
Source: They'd Rather Be Right (1954), p. 17.

Speech to Conservative Party Conference (12 October 1990) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108217
Third term as Prime Minister
Context: The toppling of the Berlin Wall. The overthrow of Ceausescu by the people he had so brutally oppressed. The first free elections in Eastern Europe for a generation. The spread of the ideas of market freedom and independence to the very heart of the Soviet Leviathan... Our friends from Eastern Europe reminded us that no force of arms, no walls, no barbed wire can for ever suppress the longing of the human heart for liberty and independence. Their courage found allies. Their victory came about because for forty long, cold years the West stood firm against the military threat from the East. Free enterprise overwhelmed Socialism. This Government stood firm against all those voices raised at home in favour of appeasement. We were criticised for intransigence. Tempted repeatedly with soft options. And reviled for standing firm against Soviet military threats. When will they learn? When will they ever learn?