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One is not born, but rather becomes, free.

André Comte-Sponville - Présentations de la philosophie /

freedom

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere.

Nelson Mandela /

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

Hans Christian Andersen /

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

Background photo by Yuichi Kageyama on Unsplash

Article IV – Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights. These borders can be determined only by the law.

- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 /

Article I – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common good.

- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 /

Article I – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common good.

Background photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

Soren Kierkegaard /

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Hannah Arendt /

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Faust: A Tragedy /

Freedom is not constituted primarily of privilege but of responsibilities.

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.

Albert Einstein /

Obedience to the law one has prescribed for oneself is freedom.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Of the Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right /

No man has received from nature the right to command others. Liberty is a gift from heaven.

Denis Diderot - Encyclopédie /

There is no higher rule than that over oneself, over one's impulses: there is the triumph of free will.

Baltasar Gracian - The Art of Worldly Wisdom /

To will oneself free is also to will others free.

Simone de Beauvoir /

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Of the Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right /

The greatest liberty is born of the greatest rigor.

freedom

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Arthur Schopenhauer /

What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.

Robert Green Ingersoll /

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin /

freedom

My spirit yearns for action, my breath for freedom.

Friedrich Schiller - The Robbers /

Article II – The goal of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, safety and resistance against oppression.

- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 /

To act freely is to retake possession of oneself; it is to place oneself back in pure duration.

Henri Bergson - Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness /

Art is the daughter of freedom.

Friedrich Schiller - On the Aesthetic Education of Man /

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe /

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

George Bernard Shaw - Man and Superman /

The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal; but it depends upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to lead them to servitude or freedom, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or to wretchedness.

Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America /

freedom

It is through fraternity that liberty is saved.

Victor Hugo - Speech - Return to Paris 1870 /

I can take my freedom as a goal only if I take the freedom of others as a goal as well.

Jean-Paul Sartre - Existentialism and Humanism /

The necessity of pursuing true Happiness is the foundation of liberty.

John Locke - An Essay Concerning Human Understanding /

The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave.

Augustine of Hippo /

freedom

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