“Liberty the essence of life. Whatever is done without it is imperfect.”
José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader
Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)
To a Foiled European Revolutionaire
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Liberty the essence of life. Whatever is done without it is imperfect.”
José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader
Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) Father of republic India, champion of human rights, father of India's Constitution, polymath, revolutionary…
Speech delivered to the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference (31 May 1936)
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
1890s, Address to the Bethel Literary and Historical Association in Washington
Context: I have no doubt whatever of the future. I know there are times in the history of all reforms, when the future looks dark... I, for one, have gone through all this. I have had fifty years of it, and yet I have not lost either heart or hope... I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing, and the light gradually increasing. One by one, I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that make up the sum of general welfare. And I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that, whatever delays, disappointments, and discouragements may come, truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will ultimately prevail.
John Rawls book A Theory of Justice
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), Chapter I, Section 6, pg. 31
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly (1802–1874) English Whig politician and judge
Swinfen v. Swinfen (1857), 24 Beav. 559.
Dalton Trumbo book Johnny Got His Gun
Johnny Got His Gun (1938)
Context: There's nothing noble about dying. Not even if you die for honor. Not even if you die the greatest hero the world ever saw. Not even if you're so great your name will never be forgotten and who's that great? The most important thing is your life, little guys. You're worth nothing dead except for speeches. Don't let them kid you any more. Pay no attention when they tap you on the shoulder and say come along we've got to fight for liberty, or whatever their word is. There's always a word.
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
1984: Spring (1984)
1980s
Danny Kruger (1974) British politician and Conservative MP
"Fraternity". p. 52
On Fraternity : Politics Beyond Liberty & Equality (2007)
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
Letter to James Boswell, December 7, 1782, p. 494
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
Andrew Bacevich (1947) United States Army officer
The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008).