
“It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.”
Source: Man's Search for Meaning
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)
Context: When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow — you are not understanding yourself.
“It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.”
Source: Man's Search for Meaning
“There is great freedom in simplicity of living.”
Source: Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words (1982), Ch. 2 : My Spiritual Growing Up : My Steps Toward Inner Peace
“To gain freedom is to gain simplicity.”
Joan Miró, Joan Miró Foundation
1940 - 1960
"Four Letters: Escapism" (1936)
Willa Cather on Writing (1949)
“Letting go gives us freedom and freedom is the only condition for happiness”
Source: Protection or Free Trade? (1886), Ch. 2
Context: When we consider that labor is the producer of all wealth, is it not evident that the impoverishment and, dependence of labor are abnormal conditions resulting from restrictions and usurpations, and that instead of accepting protection, what labor should demand is freedom. That those who advocate any extension of freedom choose to go no further than suits their own special purpose is no reason why freedom itself should be distrusted.
“Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.”
Aphorisms
Source: An Introduction To Probability Theory And Its Applications (Third Edition), Chapter V, Conditional Probability, Stochastic Independence, p. 114.
Source: Capitalism and Freedom (1962), Ch. 1 The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom, 2002 edition, page 10
Context: Because we live in a largely free society, we tend to forget how limited is the span of time and the part of the globe for which there has ever been anything like : the typical state of mankind is tyranny, servitude, and misery. The nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the Western world stand out as striking exceptions to the general trend of historical development. Political freedom in this instance clearly came along with the free market and the development of capitalist institutions. So also did political freedom in the golden age of Greece and in the early days of the Roman era.
History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.