Let us remind ourselves that it is ordinary people – men and women, boys and girls – that make the world a special place.

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

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.

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

Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.

Wherever there is injustice, war, discrimination against women, gays and the disadvantaged, I did my best to show up and exert moral persuasion.

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.

If there is anything in the world a person should fight for, it is freedom to pursue his ideal, because in that is his great opportunity for self-expression, for the unfoldment of the greatest thing possible to him.

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.

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

The mutual confidence on which all else depends can be maintained only by an open mind and a brave reliance upon free discussion.

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.

You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.

Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.

Next to the assumption of power is the responsibility of relinquishing it.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived.

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.

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

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

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

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act. . . . Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon the definition of liberty.

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

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly two be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.