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Link Quote Stars Tags Author
09887f1 I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will. integrity self-determination independence women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment image realism gender flaws Charlotte Brontë
a49e5ca Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin. freedom sin John Green
539e1ce War is peace war freedom inspirational ignorance George Orwell
12b76c3 The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first. personality individuality freedom truth inspirational mask revolution Jim MORRISON
cc9d2d3 Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure. letting-go freedom friends friendship Stephen King
99d232c You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down. freedom empowerment unburdening flying weight Toni Morrison
ec83719 Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn't have the time to sit around and talk about you. What's important to me is not others' opinions of me, but what's important to me is my opinion of myself. defiant freedom inspirational-attitude inspirational-quotes life-and-living inspiring inspirational self-belief self-love society self-worth C. JoyBell C.
78f9e34 I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience. men equality women-s-rights self-determination independence women freedom reason empowerment superiority submission experience gender Charlotte Brontë
b3dadaf Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls. escape freedom reality intoxication Anaïs Nin
9463e1a Jane, be still; don't struggle so like a wild, frantic bird, that is rending its own plumage in its desperation. literature freedom inspirational Charlotte Brontë
3350b81 The unhappiest people in this world, are those who care the most about what other people think. unhappy-life unhappiness freedom inspirational-attitude inspirational-quotes life-and-living inspirational society C. JoyBell C.
53b95e2 A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window. freedom philosophy inspirational lateral-thinking anarchy rationalism Gilles Deleuze
01184ff Pain is a pesky part of being human, I've learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain is a sudden hurt that can't be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing. Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces. wisdom-in-life pain freedom learning beauty inspirational-life inspirational-quotes life-and-living living inspiring life-lessons life wisdom inspirational living-life heal growing flying healing painful flight wisdom-quotes growth hurt wind experience wings hurting C. JoyBell C.
5c65487 I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate. integrity men self-determination independence romance women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment love ideal-woman image realism gender flaws Charlotte Brontë
52efc88 But the Hebrew word, the word timshel--'Thou mayest'-- that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if 'Thou mayest'--it is also true that 'Thou mayest not. freedom timshel freedom-of-choice hebrew language John Steinbeck
8b6cac0 The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. people freedom sacrifice love caring discipline David Foster Wallace
60ff86c You see, freedom has a way of destroying things. freedom Scott Westerfeld
33bdd99 I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me. marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness love courtship husbands singles wooing William Shakespeare
d2fa2c4 Adventures are all very well in their place, but there's a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain. pain freedom comfort contrast meals Neil Gaiman
9c2dd38 Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. personal-freedom freedom inspirational Ronald Reagan
5f3d2bb And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be. freedom Dr. Seuss
43ccf31 When I was little and running on the race track at school, I always stopped and waited for all the other kids so we could run together even though I knew (and everybody else knew) that I could run much faster than all of them! I pretended to read slowly so I could "wait" for everyone else who couldn't read as fast as I could! When my friends were short I pretended that I was short too and if my friend was sad I pretended to be unhappy. I could go on and on about all the ways I have limited myself, my whole life, by "waiting" for people. And the only thing that I've ever received in return is people thinking that they are faster than me, people thinking that they can make me feel bad about myself just because I let them and people thinking that I have to do whatever they say I should do. My mother used to teach me "Cinderella is a perfect example to be" but I have learned that Cinderella can go fuck herself, I'm not waiting for anybody, anymore! I'm going to run as fast as I can, fly as high as I can, I am going to soar and if you want you can come with me! But I'm not waiting for you anymore. fulfilling-your-potential goodbye-cinderella personal-fulfillment personal-limits soaring your-full-potential freedom learning inspirational-quotes life-and-living living inspiring life inspirational achievement cinderella living-life fulfillment changing growing flying potential breaking-free self-growth self-discovery limits waiting running C. JoyBell C.
c0cd1f7 "I am not an angel," I asserted; "and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself." integrity self-determination independence women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment ideal-woman image realism gender flaws Charlotte Brontë
5c5aab5 A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. poetry freedom Maya Angelou
62aaf56 "If other people do not understand our behavior--so what? Their request that we must only do what they understand is an attempt to dictate to us. If this is being "asocial" or "irrational" in their eyes, so be it. Mostly they resent our freedom and our courage to be ourselves. We owe nobody an explanation or an accounting, as long as our acts do not hurt or infringe on them. How many lives have been ruined by this need to "explain," which usually implies that the explanation be "understood," i.e. approved. Let your deeds be judged, and from your deeds, your real intentions, but know that a free person owes an explanation only to himself--to his reason and his conscience--and to the few who may have a justified claim for explanation." understanding freedom life Erich Fromm
824af4b "We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. pain poetry freedom fear life love lonliness Maya Angelou
77ed837 Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last. freedom dreams inspirational Martin Luther King Jr.
7fc52fe The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them. independence freedom freedom-of-thought Joseph Heller
0d0f9f9 Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. responsibility freedom sartre Jean-Paul Sartre
4cc5086 I consider myself a stained-glass window. And this is how I live my life. Closing no doors and covering no windows; I am the multi-colored glass with light filtering through me, in many different shades. Allowing light to shed and fall into many many hues. My job is not to direct anything, but only to filter into many colors. My answer is destiny and my guide is joy. And there you have me. humanism freedom spirit inspirational-attitude inspirational-life inspirational-quotes life-and-living living destiny inspiring happiness life inspirational stained-glass-window C. JoyBell C.
4e0f305 Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me. freedom Paulo Coelho
2dbced6 "[F]reedom isn't free. It shouldn't be a bragging point that "Oh, I don't get involved in politics," as if that makes you somehow cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable." -- responsibility freedom politics participation government Bill Maher
e5bf4cd A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones struggle freedom politics inspirational revolution Nelson Mandela
7cf92af Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me--to find out what you're good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tools. freedom necessity service Orson Scott Card
b76b8c3 Equality and freedom are not luxuries to lightly cast aside. Without them, order cannot long endure before approaching depths beyond imagining. freedom rights Alan Moore
85f3970 Secrecy begets tyranny. freedom patriot-act Robert A. Heinlein
0c2d79f How do you defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. courage freedom serenity terrorism stoicism Salman Rushdie
0ff42dd "Two separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)" relationships freedom love Simone de Beauvoir
f22e784 Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. human-rights righteousness america freedom inspirational stream peace justice water pride Martin Luther King Jr.
2430d1b For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all. solitude loneliness bravery freedom inspirational Isabelle Eberhardt
e4e6841 Freedom is...the right to write the wrong words. words freedom inspirational Patti Smith
355c9eb But the country's disintegrating. What's happened to America? What's happened to the American dream? It came true. You're lookin' at it. freedom inspirational watchmen Alan Moore
da39a3e nature quailty freedom goodness choice beauty inspiration science darkness motivational hope intelligence life inspirational marie-lu intimate american-dream dedication watchmen meaning-of-life order hardship pure harmony evil Terry Pratchett
70f5b46 The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honor the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart. global-oneness miracles-of-life nonduality-yoga oneness-with-life unity-consciousness unity freedom life love inspirational oneness yoga meditation Amit Ray
4dc834f The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women's rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex. There are tyrants, not Muslims. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that we should now define ourselves not only by what we are for but by what we are against. I would reverse that proposition, because in the present instance what we are against is a no brainer. Suicidist assassins ram wide-bodied aircraft into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and kill thousands of people: um, I'm against that. But what are we for? What will we risk our lives to defend? Can we unanimously concur that all the items in the preceding list -- yes, even the short skirts and the dancing -- are worth dying for? The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them. How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. Don't let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared. human-rights freedom terrorism fundamentalism fanaticism Salman Rushdie
8582483 "There is always a choice." "You mean I could choose certain death?" "A choice nevertheless, or perhaps an alternative. You see I believe in freedom. Not many people do, although they will of course protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based." freedom Terry Pratchett
dbca8d8 It is when we think we can act like God, that all respect is lost, and I think this is the downfall of peace. We lie if we say we do not see color and culture and difference. We fool ourselves and cheat ourselves when we say that all of us are the same. We should not want to be the same as others and we should not want others to be the same as us. Rather, we ought to glory and shine in all of our differences, flaunting them fabulously for all to see! It is never a conformity that we need! We need not to conform! What we need is to burst out into all these beautiful colors! color conformism humanism freedom human humanity inspiration inspirational-life inspirational-quotes living life inspirational differences conformity difference race respect C. JoyBell C.
da3c693 When you've understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can't understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom. freedom zen Jack Kerouac
1080a4c Everything has boundaries. The same holds true with thought. You shouldn't fear boundaries, but you should not be afraid of destroying them. That's what is most important if you want to be free: respect for and exasperation with boundaries. limitations freedom life Haruki Murakami
848472f If freedom is short of weapons, we must compensate with willpower. freedom inspirational willpower Adolf Hitler
da5e280 Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. freedom change holy hospitality other stranger space friend Henri J.M. Nouwen
305519e You say: I am not free. But I have raised and lowered my arm. Everyone understands that this illogical answer is an irrefutable proof of freedom. freedom Leo Tolstoy
c5f4510 "William: "I'm sure we can all pull together, sir." Vetinari: "Oh, I do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions." freedom cooperation revolution organization Terry Pratchett
a994753 "William: "I'm sure we can all pull together, sir." Vetinari: "Oh, I do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions." -- freedom cooperation revolution organization Terry Pratchett
00bcb1a All the animals, the plants, the minerals, even other kinds of men, are being broken and reassembled every day, to preserve an elite few, who are the loudest to theorize on freedom, but the least free of all. freedom destiny elite tyranny Thomas Pynchon
c7764f6 Liberal attitudes towards the other are characterized both by respect for otherness, openness to it, and an obsessive fear of harassment. In short, the other is welcomed insofar as its presence is not intrusive, insofar as it is not really the other. Tolerance thus coincides with its opposite. My duty to be tolerant towards the other effectively means that I should not get too close to him or her, not intrude into his space--in short, that I should respect his intolerance towards my over-proximity. This is increasingly emerging as the central human right of advanced capitalist society: the right not to be 'harassed', that is, to be kept at a safe distance from others. freedom the-other Slavoj Žižek
f5aaa35 I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will. freedom liberty will Jean-Jacques Rousseau
8786bc0 At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But he broke their chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right of man, and there is no right on earth above this right. And he stood on the threshold of freedom for which the blood of the centuries behind him had been spilled. slavery freedom rights Ayn Rand
9a5c6a1 You are not controlling the storm, and you are not lost in it. You are the storm. self-determination freedom free-will Sam Harris
98242f1 I felt the taste of mortality in my mouth, and at that moment I understood that I was not going to live forever. It takes a long time to learn that, but when you finally do, everything changes inside you, you can never be the same again. I was seventeen years old, and all of a sudden, without the slightest flicker of a doubt, I understood that my life was my own, that it belonged to me and no one else. I'm talking about freedom, Fogg. A sense of despair that becomes so great, so crushing, so catastrophic, that you have no choice but to be liberated by it. That's the only choice, or else you crawl into a corner and die. self-determination freedom life philosophy Paul Auster
71a69b2 The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions. If this is agreed between us, then I feel at liberty to put forward a few ideas and suggestions because you will not allow them to fetter that independence which is the most important quality that a reader can possess. After all, what laws can be laid down about books? The battle of Waterloo was certainly fought on a certain day; but is Hamlet a better play than Lear? Nobody can say. Each must decide that question for himself. To admit authorities, however heavily furred and gowned, into our libraries and let them tell us how to read, what to read, what value to place upon what we read, is to destroy the spirit of freedom which is the breath of those sanctuaries. Everywhere else we may be bound by laws and conventions-there we have none. words library literature reading freedom Virginia Woolf
f861532 "A man worth being with is one... That never lies to you Is kind to people that have hurt him A person that respects another's life That has manners and shows people respect That goes out of his way to help people That feels every person, no matter how difficult, deserves compassion Who believes you are the most beautiful person he has ever met Who brags about your accomplishments with pride Who talks to you about anything and everything because no bad news will make him love you less That is a peacemaker That will see you through illness Who keeps his promises Who doesn't blame others, but finds the good in them That raises you up and motivates you to reach for the stars That doesn't need fame, money or anything materialistic to be happy That is gentle and patient with children Who won't let you lie to yourself; he tells you what you need to hear, in order to help you grow Who lives what he says he believes in Who doesn't hold a grudge or hold onto the past Who doesn't ask his family members to deliberately hurt people that have hurt him Who will run with your dreams That makes you laugh at the world and yourself Who forgives and is quick to apologize Who doesn't betray you by having inappropriate conversations with other women Who doesn't react when he is angry, decides when he is sad or keep promises he doesn't plan to keep Who takes his children's spiritual life very seriously and teaches by example Who never seeks revenge or would ever put another person down Who communicates to solve problems Who doesn't play games or passive aggressively ignores people to hurt them Who is real and doesn't pretend to be something he is not Who has the power to free you from yourself through his positive outlook Who has a deep respect for women and treats them like a daughter of God Who doesn't have an ego or believes he is better than anyone Who is labeled constantly by people as the nicest person they have ever met Who works hard to provide for the family Who doesn't feel the need to drink alcohol to have a good time, smoke or do drugs Who doesn't have to hang out a bar with his friends, but would rather spend his time with his family Who is morally free from sin Who sees your potential to be great Who doesn't think a woman's place has to be in the home; he supports your life mission, where ever that takes you Who is a gentleman Who is honest and lives with integrity Who never discusses your private business with anyone Who will protect his family marriage gratitude freedom joy friendship happiness blessed grateful christ-like best-choice best-friend god-s-plan honorable-man jealous-women jim-alder joyful king-of-the-kingdom life-partner life-partners lucky-girl lucky-me mate my-husband positive-outlook qualities revelations righteous-man spiritual-man staying-positive tests the-man winning partner the-best selection husband dating father Shannon L. Alder
f99c6d9 The important task of literature is to free man, not to censor him, and that is why Puritanism was the most destructive and evil force which ever oppressed people and their literature: it created hypocrisy, perversion, fears, sterility. literature freedom fear intellectual-freedom hypocrisy perversion puritanism sterility censorship evil Anaïs Nin
6617c5e Music, my rampart and my only one. freedom rampart music inspirational Edna St. Vincent Millay
b26057a The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever. Even if people employ actual violence, they are not to be violent in turn. That would be to fall to the same low level. After all, even in prison, a man can be quite free. His soul can be free. His personality can be untroubled. He can be at peace. And, above all things, they are not to interfere with other people or judge them in any way. Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad, without ever doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realize through that sin his true perfection. violence personality freedom soul-of-a-man wilde oscar prison soul Oscar Wilde
f2cf317 Socrates: Have you noticed on our journey how often the citizens of this new land remind each other it is a free country? Plato: I have, and think it odd they do this. Socrates: How so, Plato? Plato: It is like reminding a baker he is a baker, or a sculptor he is a sculptor. Socrates: You mean to say if someone is convinced of their trade, they have no need to be reminded. Plato: That is correct. Socrates: I agree. If these citizens were convinced of their freedom, they would not need reminders. words-of-wisdom philosophical freedom philosophy wisdom catholic-author citizens civil-liberty free-country gadfly philosophers plato socrates liberty christian freedom-of-thought thought-provoking E.A. Bucchianeri
5774deb He meant the Kingdom was over, the Kingdom of Heaven, it was all finished. We shouldn't live as if it mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.... We have to be all those difficult things like cheerful and kind and curious and patient, and we've got to study and think and work hard, all of us, in all our different worlds, and then we'll build... The Republic of Heaven. heaven freedom Philip Pullman
d0252ac However small we are, we should always fight for what we believe to be right. And I don't mean fight with the power of our fists or the power of our swords...I mean the power of our brains and our thoughts and our dreams. And as small and quiet and unimportant as our fighting may look, perhaps we might all work together...and break out of the prisons of our own making. Perhaps we might be able to keep this fierce and beautiful world of ours as as it seemed to be on that blue afternoon of my childhood. freedom hope Cressida Cowell
941c044 In a society that worships love, freedom and beauty, dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and a joyful exclamation of thanks for the present. freedom sacred-p-220 Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
11f61e1 [Marriage] happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out. marriage relationships freedom captivity married-life single matrimony Michel de Montaigne
1267daa People are like animals. Some are happiest penned in, some need to roam free. You go to recognize what's in her nature and accept it. people freedom lifestyle Jeannette Walls
96ed5d5 Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger, regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue. Let go of the need for approval. Let go of old judgments and opinions. Die to all that, and fly free. Soar in the freedom of desirelessness. Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home -- at ease. approval buddhist-wisdom tibetan-buddhism freedom fear craving fatigue buddhism expectation regret desire frustration Lama Surya Das
d6b8f43 LEONATO Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. BEATRICE Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a pierce of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred. marriage men equality self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness matrimony husbands singles William Shakespeare
3ccfc09 "Who but the artist has the power to open man up, to set free the imagination? The others - priest, teacher, saint, statesman, warrior - hold us to the path of history. They keep us chained to the rock, that the vultures may eat out our hearts. It is the artist who has the courage to go against the crowd; he is the unrecognized "hero of our time" - and of all time." artists freedom imagination Henry Miller
c68bce6 But they can rule by fraud, and by fraud eventually acquire access to the tools they need to finish the job of killing off the Constitution.' 'What sort of tools?' 'More stringent security measures. Universal electronic surveillance. No-knock laws. Stop and frisk laws. Government inspection of first-class mail. Automatic fingerprinting, photographing, blood tests, and urinalysis of any person arrested before he is charged with a crime. A law making it unlawful to resist even unlawful arrest. Laws establishing detention camps for potential subversives. Gun control laws. Restrictions on travel. The assassinations, you see, establish the need for such laws in the public mind. Instead of realizing that there is a conspiracy, conducted by a handful of men, the people reason--or are manipulated into reasoning--that the entire population must have its freedom restricted in order to protect the leaders. The people agree that they themselves can't be trusted. freedom george-dorn hagbard-celine rights oppression Robert Anton Wilson
a8fac8b All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers. freedom Voltaire
4c9bf80 "There is no such thing as freedom on earth," he said. "Only different kinds of bondages. And comparative bondages. YOU think you are free now because you've escaped from a peculiarly unbreakable kind of bondage. But are you? You love me - THAT'S a bondage." escape freedom love L.M. Montgomery
dc5f420 Chaos is more freedom; in fact, total freedom. But no meaning. freedom meaning life truth Audrey Niffenegger
c383efa LEONATO Well, then, go you into hell? BEATRICE No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and say 'Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place for you maids:' so deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long. marriage heaven self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness matrimony husbands singles William Shakespeare
ab759fb You'd like Freedom, Truth, and Justice, wouldn't you, Comrade Sergeant?' said Reg encouragingly. 'I'd like a hard-boiled egg,' said Vimes, shaking the match out. There was some nervous laughter, but Reg looked offended. 'In the circumstances, Sergeant, I think we should set our sights a little higher--' 'Well, yes, we could,' said Vimes, coming down the steps. He glanced at the sheets of papers in front of Reg. The man cared. He really did. And he was serious. He really was. 'But...well, Reg, tomorrow the sun will come up again, and I'm pretty sure that whatever happens we won't have found Freedom, and there won't be a whole lot of Justice, and I'm damn sure we won't have found Truth. But it's just possible that I might get a hard-boiled egg. freedom truth hard-boiled-egg justice revolution realism Terry Pratchett
9568e05 Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people. freedom obstacle misery Elizabeth Gilbert
e346027 "An afternoon drive from Los Angeles will take you up into the high mountains, where eagles circle above the forests and the cold blue lakes, or out over the Mojave Desert, with its weird vegetation and immense vistas. Not very far away are Death Valley, and Yosemite, and Sequoia Forest with its giant trees which were growing long before the Parthenon was built; they are the oldest living things in the world. One should visit such places often, and be conscious, in the midst of the city, of their surrounding presence. For this is the real nature of California and the secret of its fascination; this untamed, undomesticated, aloof, prehistoric landscape which relentlessly reminds the traveller of his human condition and the circumstances of his tenure upon the earth. "You are perfectly welcome," it tells him, "during your short visit. Everything is at your disposal. Only, I must warn you, if things go wrong, don't blame me. I accept no responsibility. I am not part of your neurosis. Don't cry to me for safety. There is no home here. There is no security in your mansions or your fortresses, your family vaults or your banks or your double beds. Understand this fact, and you will be free. Accept it, and you will be happy." risk nature freedom empowerment happiness wildness liberation self-responsibility environment mountains risk-taking los-angeles desert Christopher Isherwood
13f99d3 Limiting the freedom of news 'just a little bit' is in the same category with the classic example 'a little bit pregnant. freedom news Robert A. Heinlein
7c45132 The more I read, the more I felt connected across time to other lives and deeper sympathies. I felt less isolated. I wasn't floating on my little raft in the present; there were bridges that led over to solid ground. Yes, the past is another country, but one that we can visit, and once there we can bring back the things we need. Literature is common ground. It is ground not managed wholly by commercial interests, nor can it be strip-mined like popular culture--exploit the new thing then move on. There's a lot of talk about the tame world versus the wild world. It is not only a wild nature that we need as human beings; it is the untamed open space of our imaginations. Reading is where the wild things are. literature reading freedom imagination wildness connection human-nature Jeanette Winterson
508a4ca Men are free when they are obeying some deep, inward voice of religious belief. Obeying from within. Men are free when they belong to a living, organic, believing community, active in fulfilling some unfulfilled, perhaps unrealized purpose. Not when they are escaping to some wild west. The most unfree souls go west, and shout of freedom. escape freedom religion individual west purpose obedience D.H. Lawrence
fa86aa9 There is a yearning that is as spiritual as it is sensual. Even when it degenerates into addiction, there is something salvageable from the original impulse that can only be described as sacred. Something in the person (dare we call it a soul?) wants to be free, and it seeks its freedom any way it can. ... There is a drive for transcendence that is implicit in even the most sensual of desires. suffering freedom buddhism transcendence desire Mark Epstein
ec35109 Here beyond men's judgments all covenants were brittle. freedom social-contract state-of-nature the-west frontier libertarianism solidarity mercy liberty individualism liberalism justice Cormac McCarthy
efeb0da The freedom to swing your fist ends at my nose. freedom Mercedes Lackey
c172e6c "The mark of man is initiative, but the mark of woman is cooperation. Man talks about freedom; woman about sympathy, love, sacrifice. Man cooperates with nature; woman cooperates with God. Man was called to till the earth, to "rule over the earth"; woman to be the bearer of a life that comes from God." sympathy man woman nature freedom cooperation initiative Fulton J. Sheen
6623759 When the woman you live with is an artist, every day is a surprise. Clare has turned the second bedroom into a wonder cabinet, full of small sculptures and drawings pinned up on every inch of wall space. There are coils of wire and rolls of paper tucked into shelves and drawers. The sculptures remind me of kites, or model airplanes. I say this to Clare one evening, standing in the doorway of her studio in my suit and tie, home from work, about to begin making dinner, and she throws one at me; it flies surprisingly well, and soon we are standing at opposite ends of the hall, tossing tiny sculptures at each other, testing their aerodynamics. The next day I come home to find that Clare has created a flock of paper and wire birds, which are hanging from the ceiling in the living room. A week later our bedroom windows are full of abstract blue translucent shapes that the sun throws across the room onto the walls, making a sky for the bird shapes Clare has painted there. It's beautiful. The next evening I'm standing in the doorway of Clare's studio, watching her finish drawing a thicket of black lines around a little red bird. Suddenly I see Clare, in her small room, closed in by all her stuff, and I realize that she's trying to say something, and I know what I have to do. woman freedom love birds creativity Audrey Niffenegger
1dd1e98 For the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor. freedom life rights honor Ayn Rand
4d15d4a Each man lives for himself, uses his freedom to achieve his personal goals, and feels with his whole being that right now he can or cannot do such-and-such an action; but as soon as he does it, this action, committed at a certain moment in time, becomes irreversible, and makes itself the property of history, in which is has not a free but a predestined significance. freedom Leo Tolstoy
975d755 But you are not your bank account, or your ambition. You're not the cold clay lump you leave behind when you die. You're not your collection of walking personality disorders. You are Spirit, you are love, and even though it is hard to believe sometimes, you are free. You're here to love, and be loved, freely. If you find out next week that you are terminally ill - and we're all terminally ill on this bus - what will matter are memories of beauty, that people loved you, and that you loved them. freedom life love you Anne Lamott
e6622cd Ideology is strong exactly because it is no longer experienced as ideology... we feel free because we lack the very language to articulate our unfreedom. freedom language ideology Slavoj Žižek
ae69dcc You do not win by struggling to the top of a caste system, you win by refusing to be trapped within one at all. freedom empowerment critical-thinking social-order defiance dissent Naomi Wolf
30c0f22 If every time we choose a turd, society, at a great expense, simply allows us to redeem it for a pepperoni, then not only will we never learn to make smart choices, we will also surrender the freedom to choose, because a choice without consequences is no choice at all. responsibility freedom choice society redemption consequences Tom Robbins
d914a5e It's certainly not too late to change to the winning side. But you know, you also have the freedom to stay just where you are. That's what it means to be an American. That's the miracle of America. Freedom to believe means the freedom to believe the wrong thing, after all. Just as freedom of speech gives you the right to stay silent. freedom gaiman belief Neil Gaiman
fe57997 Life is tragic simply because the earth turns, and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death - ought to decide, indeed, to earn one's death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. freedom living-intentionally existentialism James Baldwin
1b71c93 Liberation, I guess, is everybody getting what they think they want, without knowing the whole truth. Or in other words, liberation finally amounts to being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by things we approve of. Here's to the eternal tandem. freedom liberation Robert Fulghum
295a5ea Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade... sex wealth slavery freedom reason life love philosophy causality individual-rights objective-law volition pursuit-of-happiness commerce jobs usa economy rock-and-roll crisis economics law regulation force liberty society political-philosophy constitution government atheism capitalism tyranny trade drugs Ayn Rand
53885c0 We're the ones who will fill in the blank places. Maybe we can make it different. freedom future Lois Lowry
d4037c8 "Free women," said Anna, wryly. She added, with an anger new to Molly, so that she earned another quick scrutinizing glance from her friend: "They still define us in terms of relationships with men, even the best of them." men women freedom Doris Lessing
3614972 If the meaning of life has become doubtful, if one's relations to others and to oneself do not offer security, then fame is one means to silence one's doubts. It has a function to be compared with that of the Egyptian pyramids or the Christian faith in immortality: it elevates one's individual life from its limitations and instability to the plane of indestructability; if one's name is known to one's contemporaries and if one can hope that it will last for centuries, then one's life has meaning and significance by this very reflection of it in the judgments of others. freedom philosophy modern-relationships western-culture society Erich Fromm
187c276 A dark hand had let go its lifelong hold upon her heart. But she did not feel joy, as she had in the mountains. She put her head down in her arms and cried, and her cheeks were salt and wet. She cried for the waste of her years in bondage to a useless evil. She wept in pain, because she was free. freedom tenar the-tombs-of-atuan Ursula K. Le Guin
9f4d392 Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress truth. equality freedom Wole Soyinka
bf76c20 New Rule: If you can force a woman to look at a sonogram--to see what will happen if she has an abortion--you also have to let her see a crying baby, a bratty five-year-old, and a surly teenager to see what will happen if she doesn't. And you have to tell her it costs $204,000 to raise it until it turns eighteen, in 2028, where it will be a slave to the Chinese, in a radioactive world with no animals, fish, or plants. freedom common-sense Bill Maher
548ee86 Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows 'what he wants,' while he actually wants what he is supposed to want. In order to accept this it is necessary to realize that to know what one really wants is not comparatively easy, as most people think, but one of the most difficult problems any human being has to solve. It is a task we frantically try to avoid by accepting ready-made goals as though they were our own. freedom wants will Erich Fromm
004f8da In this age of censorship, I mourn the loss of books that will never be written, I mourn the voices that will be silenced-writers' voices, teachers' voices, students' voices-and all because of fear. freedom books censorship Judy Blume
8fd61b2 The internet is where some people go to show their true intelligence; others, their hidden stupidity. freedom stupidity intelligence consequence closet cyberspace cyberspace-internet libel prejudices information social-networking online beliefs slander extrovert introvert propaganda media gossip internet technology Criss Jami
231da1b Kick is seeing things from a special angle. Kick is momentary freedom from the claims of the aging, cautious, nagging, fightened flesh. freedom junkie William S. Burroughs
5341ead "(about William Blake) As for Blake's happiness--a man who knew him said: "If asked whether I ever knew among the intellectual, a happy man, Blake would be the only one who would immediately occur to me." And yet this creative power in Blake did not come from ambition. ...He burned most of his own work. Because he said, "I should be sorry if I had any earthly fame, for whatever natural glory a man has is so much detracted from his spiritual glory. I wish to do nothing for profit. I wish to live for art. I want nothing whatever. I am quite happy." ...He did not mind death in the least. He said that to him it was just like going into another room. On the day of his death he composed songs to his Maker and sang them for his wife to hear. Just before he died his countenance became fair, his eyes brightened and he burst into singing of the things he saw in heaven. " freedom living happiness william-blake glory effort creativity Brenda Ueland
de2f1eb It is wrong to ask for more than you give freely. In this way, we come to resemble what we hate. freedom giving Stephen R. Donaldson
41f3477 Man is complete in himself. When they go into the world, the world will disagree with them. That is inevitable. The world hates Individualism. But that is not to trouble them. They are to be calm and self-centred. If a man takes their cloak, they are to give him their coat, just to show that material things are of no importance. If people abuse them, they are not to answer back. What does it signify? The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever. Even if people employ actual violence, they are not to be violent in turn. That would be to fall to the same low level. After all, even in prison, a man can be quite free. His soul can be free. His personality can be untroubled. He can be at peace. And, above all things, they are not to interfere with other people or judge them in any way. Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad, without ever doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realise through that sin his true perfection. violence personality freedom soul-of-a-man wilde oscar prison soul Oscar Wilde
c46d174 "In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. pain poetry freedom fear life love lonliness Maya Angelou
a4cd3ee Obedient to no man, dependent only on weather and season, without a goal before them or a roof above them, owning nothing, open to every whim of fate, the homeless wanderers lead their childlike, brave, shabby existence. They are the sons of Adam, who was driven out of Paradise; the brothers of the animals, of innocence. Out of heaven's hand they accept what is given them from moment to moment: sun, rain, fog, snow, warmth, cold, comfort, and hardship; time does not exist for them and neither does history, or ambition, or that bizarre idol called progress and evolution, in which houseowners believe so desperately. A wayfarer may be delicate or crude, artful or awkward, brave or cowardly--he is always a child at heart, living in the first day of creation, before the beginning of the history of the world, his life always guided by a few simple instincts and needs. He may be intelligent or stupid; he may be deeply aware of the fleeting fragility of all living things, of how pettily and fearfully each living creature carries its bit of warm blood through the glaciers of cosmic space, or he may merely follow the commands of his poor stomach with childlike greed--he is always the opponent, the deadly enemy of the established proprietor, who hates him, despises him, or fears him, because he does not wish to be reminded that all existence is transitory, that life is constantly wilting, that merciless icy death fills the cosmos all around. freedom death wayfarer wanderer innocence Hermann Hesse
30ce0e8 True freedom comes from being unknown. freedom fame society Ruth Ozeki
d42c62a Feminist thinking teaches us all, especially, how to love justice and freedom in ways that foster and affirm life. freedom feminist life justice Bell Hooks
4dbd6dc If [God] send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening ... marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness blessings matrimony husbands singles William Shakespeare
bd8c583 "If personal space is vital to creativity, so is freedom from "peer pressure"." -- individuality freedom extroverts teamwork introversion introverts introvert Susan Cain
81b9cc8 She looked at her hand: Just some hand, holding a cheap pen. Some girls' hand. She had nothing to do with that hand. Let that hand do whatever it wanted to. rape freedom writing pen girl teen incest Cynthia Voigt
4036df0 Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound and seen in every thing. It was very present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm. freedom inspirational beauty-in-literature freedom-of-expression freedom-of-speech freedom-of-thought Frederick Douglass
fbe9fcf Sometimes she has imagined what it would be like to fly, to live in the river, to run like a horse. She has dreamed of that freedom, that power, and fears the wildness in herself that wants to live as beasts live, moved purely by need and desire. She has felt torn between the heat of her limbs and the thoughts in her mind telling her to be careful and good and always calm freedom dreams Francesca Lia Block
ed03b82 Leaving what is safe so you can be more, Derek said. The cage is what the bird knows; the sky is all the things he still wants to do even if it's a risk. escape freedom Ilona Andrews
bd69950 My airplane is quiet, and for a moment still an alien, still a stranger to the ground, I am home. freedom separation home plane Richard Bach
2423c55 She had not understood what it had been like for him to live his entire life underground, chained and beaten and crippled--until then. Until she heard that noise of undiluted, unyielding joy. Until she echoed it, tipping her head back to the clouds around them. They sailed over a sea of clouds, and Abraxos dipped his claws in them before tilting to race up a wind-carved column of cloud. Higher and higher, until they reached its peak and he flung out his wings in the freezing, thin sky, stopping the world entirely for a heartbeat. And Manon, because no one was watching, because she did not care, flung out her arms as well and savored the freefall, the wind now a song in her ears, in her shriveled heart. freedom pg268 manon-blackbeak Sarah J. Maas
df30662 "The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is not an "extra" that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. It is not simply a way to "enhance" your walk with the Lord. Until your heart has hit upon this pursuit, your "faith" cannot please God. It is not saving faith. Saving faith is the confidence that if you sell all you have and forsake all sinful pleasures, the hidden treasure of holy joy will satisfy your deepest desires. Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable, but also that He is desirable. It is the confidence that He will come through with His promises and that what He promises is more to be desired than all the world." freedom joy treasure life precious prize purity peace wholeness everything John Piper
02e1fa5 "But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word "I," could give it up and not know what they lost. But such has been the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them." individuality freedom ayn-rand Ayn Rand
1daff4e "(about William Blake) [Blake] said most of us mix up God and Satan. He said that what most people think is God is merely prudence, and the restrainer and inhibitor of energy, which results in fear and passivity and "imaginative death." And what we so often call "reason" and think is so fine, is not intelligence or understanding at all, but just this: it is arguing from our *memory* and the sensations of our body and from the warnings of other people, that if we do such and such a thing we will be uncomfortable. "It won't pay." "People will think it is silly." "No one else does it." "It is immoral." But the only way you can grow in understanding and discover whether a thing is good or bad, Blake says, is to do it. "Sooner strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires." For this "Reason" as Blake calls it (which is really just caution) continually nips and punctures and shrivels the imagination and the ardor and the freedom and the passionate enthusiasm welling up in us. It is Satan, Blake said. It is the only enemy of God. "For nothing is pleasing to God except the invention of beautiful and exalted things." And when a prominent citizen of his time, a logical, opining, erudite, measured, rationalistic, Know-it-all, warned people against "mere enthusiasm," Blake wrote furiously (he was a tender-hearted, violent and fierce red-haired man): "Mere enthusiasm is the All in All!" freedom faith creativity Brenda Ueland
e1d2bc0 Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire. freedom Epictetus
de9b74c I feel life trembling within me, in my tongue, on the soles of my feet, in my desire or my suffering, I want my soul to be a wandering thing, able to move back into a hundred forms, I want to dream myself into priests and wanderers, female cooks and murderers, children and animals, and, more than anything else, birds and trees; that is necessary, I want it, I need it so I can go on living, and if sometime I were to lose these possibilities and be caught in so-called reality, then I would rather die. freedom living life possibility Hermann Hesse
49985db Then she added in a sort of childish delight: 'We'll be poor, won't we? Like people in books. And I'll be an orphan and utterly free. Free and poor! What fun!' She stopped and raised her lips to him in a delighted kiss. 'It's impossible to be both together,' said John grimly. 'People have found that out. And I should choose to be free as preferable of the two... freedom the-diamond-as-big-as-the-ritz rich poor F. Scott Fitzgerald
a8d2c51 To admit authorities, however heavily furred and gowned, into our libraries and let them tell us how to read, what to read, what value to place upon what we read, is to destroy the spirit of freedom which is the breath of those sanctuaries. Everywhere else we may be bound by laws and conventions--there we have none. words literature reading freedom Virginia Woolf
bf2d206 We have to show these men and women freedom by enslaving them, and show them courage by frightening them. freedom enslavement frighten Chuck Palahniuk
efc4198 If Adam and Eve were not hunter-gatherers, then they were certainly gatherers. But, then, consumer desire, or self-embitterment, or the 'itch,' as Schopenhauer called it, appeared in the shape of the serpent. This capitalistic monster awakens in Adam and Eve the possibility that things could be better. Instantly, they are cast out of the garden and condemned to a life of toil, drudgery, and pain. Wants supplanted needs, and things have been going downhill ever since. freedom anarchism capitalism Tom Hodgkinson
be45060 alone, condemned, deserted, as those who are about to die are alone, there was a luxury in it, an isolation full of sublimity; a freedom which the attached can never know freedom joy condemned deserted isolation die Virginia Woolf
db7a666 Indeed, freedom and the capacity for disobedience are inseparable; hence any social, political, and religious system which proclaims freedom, yet stamps out disobedience, cannot speak the truth. freedom Erich Fromm
c08b8a8 Don't be afraid anymore. Not of anyone. Not of anything. Nothing. Ever again. Listen to me: not ever again. freedom fear life wisdom afraid marguerite-duras Marguerite Duras
0660beb But nobody wanted to speak on the true disposition of the world. And no one wanted to hear it... The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the Freeman had fled theirs. But the ideals they held up for themselves, they denied others. Cora had heard Michael recite the Declaration of Independence back on the Randall plantation many times, his voice drifting through the village like an angry phantom. She didn't understand the words, most of them at any rate, but created equal was not lost on her. The white men who wrote it didn't understand it either, if all men did not truly mean all men. Not if they snatched away what belonged to other people, whether it was something you could hold in your hand, like dirt, or something you could not, like freedom. slavery freedom native-american Colson Whitehead
54cc0cf Durante toda mi vida he entendido el amor como una especie de esclavitud consentida. Pero esto no es asi: la libertad solo existe cuando existe el amor. Quien se entrega totalmente, quien se siente libre, ama al maximo. Y quien ama al maximo, se siente libre. Pero en el amor, cada uno de nosotros es responsable por lo que siente, y no puede culpar al otro por eso. Nadie pierde a nadie porque nadie posee a nadie. Y esta es la verdadera experiencia de la libertad: Tener lo mas importante del mundo sin poseerlo. freedom love once-minutos libertad Paulo Coelho
67a11fd Tonight he would do anything in the world for her. Tomorrow he would begin to set her free. freedom love temporary duty Mary Balogh
199e211 The only way to make a library safe is to lock people out of it. As long as they are allowed to read the books 'any old time they have a mind to,' libraries will remain the nurseries of heresy and independence of thought. They will, in fact, preserve that freedom which is a far more important part of our lives than any ideology or orthodoxy, the freedom that dissolves orthodoxies and inspires solutions to the ever-changing challenges of the future. I hope that your library and mine will continue in this way to be dangerous for many years to come. libraries freedom ideas thought Edmund S. Morgan
d998938 You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and M a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are freedoms swift winged angels, that fly around the world; I am confined in the bands of iron! O that I were free! O, that if I were on one of your gallant decks, under your protecting wing! Alas! Betwixt me and you, the turbid waters roll. Go on, go on. O, that I could also go! Could I but swim! If I could fly! O, why was I born a man, of whom to make a brute! The glad ship is gone; she hides in the dim distance. I am left in the hottest hell of unending slavery. O God, save me! God, deliver me! Let me be free! Is there any God! Why am I a slave? I will run away. I will not stand. Get caught, or clear, I'll try it. I had as well die with ague as the fever. I have only one life to lose. I had as well be killed running as die standing. Only think of it; 100 miles straight north, and I am free! Try it? Yes! God is helping me, I will. It cannot be that I shall live and die a slave. I will take to the water. This is very bay shall yet bear me into freedom. The steamboats steered in the Northeast course from Northpoint. I will do the same; and when I get to the head of the bay, I will turn my canoe adrift, and walked straight through Delaware into Pennsylvania. When I get there, I shall not be required to have a pass; I can travel without being disturbed. Let but the first opportunity offer, and, come what will, I am off. Meanwhile, I will try to bear up under the yoke. I am not the only slave in the world. Why should I be free? I can bear as much as any of them. Besides I am but a boy, and all boys are bound to some one. It may be that my misery and slavery will only increase the happiness when I get free there is a better day coming. [62 - 63] escape freedom Frederick Douglass
504a3f6 She had all day every day to figure out some decent and satisfying way to live, and yet all she ever seemed to get for all her choices and all her freedom was more miserable. The autobiographer is almost forced to the conclusion that she pitied herself for being so free. freedom franzen self-pity miserable Jonathan Franzen
1b18960 There is nothing you can do that profit does not enter into, and fear of loss, and wish for power. You cannot say good morning without knowing which of you is 'superior' to the other, or trying to prove it. You cannot act like a brother to other people, you must manipulate them, or command them, or obey them, or trick them. You cannot touch another person, yet they will not leave you alone. There is no freedom. freedom Ursula K. Le Guin
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