I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.

Evil comes from the abuse of free will.

I could not understand how any man could be so brutalized as to claim the right to dispose of the lives of others, nor how any man could be so lacking in self-esteem as to grant to others the right to dispose of his life.

I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.

He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

No man on earth is truly free. All are slaves of money or necessity. Public opinion or fear of prosecution forces each one, against his conscience, to conform.

I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot. Men are no superior by reason of the accidents of race and color. The are superior who have the best heart—the best brain.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

Why has government been instituted? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason & justice without constraint.

You find out the necessity of Liberty as you find out the necessity of air—by not having enough of it.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

I had always hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable Asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. . . . I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.

The right of conquest has no foundation other than the right of the strongest.

They fear love because it creates a world they can't control.

Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt.

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.

You cannot possibly have a broader basis for any government than that which includes all the people, with all their rights in their hands, and with an equal power to maintain their rights.

Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man's mind.

It is a socialist idea making profits is a vice. I consider the real vice is making losses.

Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

No house should ever be on any hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!

Oh, I offended you with my opinion? You should hear the the ones I keep to myself.

The thought of only being a creature of the present and the past was troubling. I longed for a future, too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak.

Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.

When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, one hundred.

It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.

It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason.