“Is true Freedom but to break
Fetters for our own dear sake,
And, with leathern hearts, forget
That we owe mankind a debt?”
St. 3
"Stanzas on Freedom" (1843)
Context: p>Is true Freedom but to break
Fetters for our own dear sake,
And, with leathern hearts, forget
That we owe mankind a debt? No! true freedom is to share
All the chains our brothers wear,
And, with heart and hand, to be
Earnest to make others free!<p
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James Russell Lowell 175
American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat 1819–1891Related quotes
“You have fettered yourself of your own free will, man—break the fetters!”
Jórunn of Veghús
Heimsljós (World Light) (1940), Book Three: The House of the Poet
Existentialism Is a Humanism, lecture http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exist/sartre.htm (1946)
Context: We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own. Obviously, freedom as the definition of a man does not depend upon others, but as soon as there is a commitment, I am obliged to will the liberty of others at the same time as my own. I cannot make liberty my aim unless I make that of others equally my aim.
“The more debt we owe, the wealthier we are.”
From the interview which he gave to Jan Helfeld . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjbPZAMked0&feature=player_embedded
(179).
Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952)
2000s, 2002, State of the Union address (January 2002)
Source: Existentialism Is a Humanism (1946), pp. 51-52