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

Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude.

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

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.

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

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!

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

When even one American, who has done nothing wrong, is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth, then all Americans are in peril.

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

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most impressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be saturated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

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

The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance.

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

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.

I rebel; therefore I exist.

One man thinks himself the master of others but remains more of a slave than they are.

There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace, and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.

To change your mind and to follow him who sets you straight is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before.

Never cross a man, not afraid to die.

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

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

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.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.