I grew up like a neglected weed—ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.

Man can learn nothing unless he proceeds from the known to the unknown.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousand of miles and all the years you have lived.

He who has so little knowledge of human natures as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don't seem to matter very much, do they?

Much of the evil in the world is due to the fact that man in general is hopelessly unconscious.

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.

I rebel; therefore I exist.

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.

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.

Either you will control your government, or government will control you.

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

What I wanted was to be allowed to do the thing in the world that I did best, which I believed then and believe now, is the greatest privilege there is. When I did that, success found me.

Freedom is to be free from restraint and violence from others.

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

No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him, except by the legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

Conscientious objectors to vaccination should stand alone, if need be, against the whole world, in defense of their conviction.

The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.

The welfare of the people has always been the alibi of tyrants.

One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.

Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country.

No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge.

Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.

Never cross a man, not afraid to die.

The overwhelming importance of the atmosphere means that there are no longer any frontiers to defend against pollution, attack, or propaganda. It means, further, that only by a deep patriotic devotion to one’s country can there be a hope of the kind of protection of the whole planet, which is necessary for the survival of the people of other countries.

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.

I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.

I am not aware that any community has a right to force another to be civilized.

Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by producing.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.

Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defence.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are going to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening a mob with the news that grass is green.

Why look for conspiracy when stupidity can explain so much.

There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life. . . To seek a total unity is wrong. To give as much meaning to one’s life as possible is right to me.

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.

A problem well-put is half-solved.

One beautiful heart is better than a thousand beautiful faces.

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.