“The foundation of liberty is the idea of growth.”
Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse (1864–1929) British sociologist
Source: Liberalism (1911), Chapter VI, The Heart Of Liberalism, p. 66.
“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty.”
1847
Journals (1838-1859)
Variant: Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
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Henry David Thoreau385
1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitio… 1817–1862Related quotes
Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher
The Rights of the Colonists (1772)
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)
1910s, Address to Congress on War (1917)
Gustave de Molinari (1819–1912) Belgian political economist and classical liberal theorist
Source: The Production of Security (1849), p. 50
The quote is mistakenly attributed to the author
“It is true that liberty is precious — so precious that it must be rationed.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
As quoted in Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1936) by Sidney & Beatrice Webb
Attributions
Looking up the reference, the book that is cited is not even quoting him. The quote's origins are the book Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. However, the books states that "...Lenin is said to have once observed that..." so clearly the authors are not quoting directly. The quote really just sounds like the kind of thing an anti-communist dreams.
“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)
“If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn.”
Daniel Webster (1782–1852) Leading American senator and statesman. January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852. Served as the Secretary of Sta…
Address on Laying the Cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument (1825)
Context: If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it may be smothered for a time; the ocean may overwhelm it; mountains may press it down; but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the land, and at some time or other, in some place or other, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven.
Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian
Sermon VII : Outward and Inward Morality
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons (1909)
Context: All true morality, inward and outward, is comprehended in love, for love is the foundation of all the commandments.
All outward morality must be built upon this basis, not on self-interest. As long as man loves something else than God, or outside God, he is not free, because he has not love. Therefore there is no inner freedom which does not manifest itself in works of love. True freedom is the government of nature in and outside man through God; freedom is essential existence unaffected by creatures. But love often begins with fear; fear is the approach to love: fear is like the awl which draws the shoemaker's thread through the leather.
“The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman
Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (1777)