“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.”

— Samuel Adams

Essay, written under the pseudonym "Candidus," in The Boston Gazette (14 October 1771) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2092, later published in The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams (1865) by William Vincent Wells, p. 425

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought." by Samuel Adams?

Samuel Adams 57

American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political p… 1722–1803

Related quotes

“It seems to me that the free man, i.e., the man freed in Christ, ought to take parts in all movements that aim at human freedom.”

Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist

Source: The Ethics of Freedom (1973 - 1974), p. 398
Context: It seems to me that the free man, i. e., the man freed in Christ, ought to take parts in all movements that aim at human freedom. He obviously ought to oppose all dictatorship and oppression and all the fatalities which crush man. The Christian cannot bear it that others should be slaves. His great passion in the world ought to be a passion for the liberation of men.

“If we believe that there are some irreducibly normative truths, we might be believing what we ought to believe. If there are such truths, one of these truths would be that we ought to believe that there are such truths. If instead we believe that there are no such truths, we could not be believing what we ought to believe. If there were no such truths, there would be nothing that we ought to believe.”

Derek Parfit book Reasons and Persons

Source: Reasons and Persons (1984), p. 619

“A pre-emptive war in 'defense' of freedom would surely destroy freedom, because one simply cannot engage in barbarous action without becoming a barbarian, because one cannot defend human values by calculated and unprovoked violence without doing mortal damage to the values one is trying to defend.”

J. William Fulbright (1905–1995) American politician

Source: The Arrogance of Power (1966), p. 154

“When truth is no longer free, freedom is no longer real: the truths of the police are the truths of today.”

Jacques Prevért (1900–1977) French poet, screenwriter

Attributed

“Every word that a president utters projects American values around the world. The values of free expression and a reverence for the free press have been our global hallmark, for it is our ability to freely air the truth that keeps our government honest and keeps a people free. Between the mighty and the modest, truth is the great leveler. And so, respect for freedom of the press has always been one of our most important exports.”

Jeff Flake (1962) American politician

Farewell speech to the U.S. Senate (2018)

“Valuing freedom of thought above all things as the only way of reaching at some future time that Wisdom, of which every Theosophist ought to be enamored, we recognize the right to the same freedom in our foes as in our friends.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky book The Key to Theosophy

Source: The Key to Theosophy (1889)

“With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People…ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.”

Dick Cheney (1941) American politician and businessman

Remarks on same same-sex marriage Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29862-2004Aug24.html (25 August 2004)
2000s, 2004

“Successive governments have refused to accept the threat posed to our society by Islamic fundamentalism and extremism and to take the necessary measures to meet it head-on. We should esteem our own values of freedom, free speech and liberal secular democracy and start defending them.”

Gerard Batten (1954) British politician

Islamic fundamentalism is incompatible with freedom and Western liberal democracy https://web.archive.org/web/20070927174923/http://www.tfa.net/pdfs/60610.pdf (2006)
2006

“For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.”

Isabelle Eberhardt (1877–1904) Swiss explorer and author

Source: The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt

“It seems to me that the free man, i.e., the man freed in Christ, ought to take part in all movements that aim at human freedom. He obviously ought to oppose all dictatorship and oppression and all the fatalities which crush man. The Christian cannot bear it that others should be slaves. His great passion in the world ought to be a passion for the liberation of men.”

Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist

Source: The Ethics of Freedom (1973 - 1974), p. 398

“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Samuel Adams 57

Related quotes

Related topics