Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
Search Quotes Search Sages Search Chapters

Freedom

Will Durant talks about the conflict between freedom and equality and describes how throughout history when more freedom becomes possible, equality rapidly decreases as the the more intelligent, competent, and motivated become more rich, powerful, and famous subjugating the less intelligent and less skilled into physical slavery, wage slavery, powerlessness, and poverty. This kind of “freedom” though only enslaves both the rich and the poor. Real freedom recognizes the obligations of having more. As Muhammad Ali said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” And the more intelligence, fame, power, and wealth we possess; the higher the rent we owe.

Read More

Quotes (119)

“Since, O Mazda, from the beginning, Thou didst create soul and body […] you wished that everyone should choose his or her own faith and path freely .”

Zarathushtra زرتشت‎‎ 628 – 551 BCE via Dawson
(Zoroaster)

from Avesta

Themes: Freedom Pluralism

“Set people free as deep in their hearts they would like to be.”

Lao Tzu 老子 1 via Witter Bynner
(Lǎozǐ)
from Way of Life According to Lao Tzu

Themes: Freedom

“No man is free who cannot command himself.”

Pythagorus 570 – 495 BCE
(of Samos)
"The most influential philosopher of all time"
from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: Freedom

“Better die standing than live kneeling.”

Pericles 495 – 429 BCE via Thucydides
Disprover that all power corrupts

Themes: Freedom

“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”

Euripides 480 – 406 BCE
Ancient humanitarian influence continuing today

“The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction;… dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty.”

Plato Πλάτων 428 – 348 BCE via Will Durant
from Republic Πολιτεία

Themes: Freedom Democracy

77. Stringing a Bow

“In a democracy, liberty is taken for granted because no one is free in any other kind of government.”

Aristotle Ἀριστοτέλης 382 – 322 BCE via Hobbes
from Rhetoric

Themes: Freedom

“If we are content with whatever happens and follow the flow, joy and sorrow cannot affect us. This is what the ancients called freedom from bondage.”

Chuang Tzu 莊周 369 – 286 BCE
(Zhuangzi)

44. Fame and Fortune

“Law is the highest reason, implanted in Nature; intelligence whose natural function is to command right conduct and forbid wrongdoing; the foundation of liberty, the fountainhead of all justice. We are threfore all slaves of the laws that we may enjoy freedom.”

Cicero 106 – 43 BCE via Shan Dao
from De Legibus, 52 BCE

“Give me again my hollow Tree,
A crust of Bread and Liberty.”

Horace 65 – 8 BCE via Alexander Pope

Themes: Freedom

“Does the tyrant say he will throw me into prison? He cannot imprison my spirit. Does he say that he will put me to death? He can only cut off my head.”

Epictetus Ἐπίκτητος 55 – 135 CE via Edith Hamilton

“It is called, ‘consummation of incomparable enlightenment.’ attained by freedom from separate personal selfhood and by cultivating all kinds of goodness… though there is no goodness; such is merely a name.”

Nagarjuna नागर्जुन 1

54. Planting Well

“He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.”

Augustine ɔːɡəstiːn 354 – 430 CE
(Saint Augustine, Saint Austin, Augustine of Hippo)

69. No Enemy

“Freeing oneself from words is liberation.”

Bodhidharma 菩提達磨 1
(Daruma)

2. The Wordless Teachings

“For I am one who strives for freedom. I must not be caught by wealth and honors.”

Shantideva ཞི་བ་ལྷ།།། 685 – 763 CE
(Bhusuku, Śāntideva)
from Bodhisattva Way of Life, Bodhicaryavatara

Themes: Wealth Freedom Fame

44. Fame and Fortune

“If you want to reach the true beyond doubt, place yourself in the same freedom as sky. You name it neither good nor not good.”

Nansen, Nanquan Puyuan 南泉普願 749 – 835 CE

Themes: No Trace Freedom

“When you aren't either attached to or detached from, you enjoy perfect unobstructed freedom, the seat of enlightenment.”

Huangbo Xiyun 黄檗希运 1
(Huangbo Xiyun, Huángbò Xīyùn, Obaku)

“To free your mind from desire, visualize your body as the heavens and your thoughts as stars in the sky.”

Aciṅta ཨ་ཙིངྟ་།། 862 – 912 CE
("The Avaricious Hermit")
Mahasiddha #38

“I have come to see these bones as the very nature of all things completely freeing all activity.”

Kapālapa ཀ་པཱ་ལ་པ། 1 via Keith Dowman, Shan Dao
(“The Skull Bearer”)
Mahasiddha #72
from Masters of Mahamudra

“Having personal freedom
Brings greater happiness than assuming a thousand golden thrones.”

Gesar of Ling གེ་སར་རྒྱལ་པོ། 1 via Robin Kornman
from Gesar of Ling Epic

Themes: Freedom

“A devil is anything that obstructs the realization of freedom and there is no greater devil than fixation on a ‘self’… exert yourself at a skillful method to sever the devil of ego-fixation.”

Machig Labdrön མ་གཅིག་ལབ་སྒྲོན། 1055 – 1149 CE

Themes: Freedom

“Free from duality, preconception, and discursive thought; the realization of pure awareness and knowledge assures freedom.”

Jayānanda ཛ་ཡཱ་ནནྡ།། 1
("Crow Master")
Mahasiddha #58

“I preferred love to wedlock, freedom to a bond.”

Heloise 1090 – 1164 CE

Themes: Marriage Freedom

“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”

Rumi مولانا جلال‌الدین محمد بلخی 1207 – 1283 CE
(Rumi Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī)
from Masnavi مثنوي معنوي‎‎) "Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning”

Themes: Travel Freedom

71. Sick of Sickness

“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?”

Rumi مولانا جلال‌الدین محمد بلخی 1207 – 1283 CE
(Rumi Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī)
from Masnavi مثنوي معنوي‎‎) "Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning”

18. The Sick Society

“This aloneness is worth more than a thousand lives.
This freedom is worth more than all the lands on earth.
To be alone with the truth for just a moment,
Is worth more than the world and life itself.”

Rumi مولانا جلال‌الدین محمد بلخی 1207 – 1283 CE
(Rumi Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī)

“Mankind is at its best when it is most free and the basic principle is freedom of choice—a saying many have on their lips but few in their mind.”

Dante 1265 – 1321 CE via Shan Dao
(Durante degli Alighieri)
from Monarchy, 1309

Themes: Freedom

“What is liberty but the unhampered translation of will into act?”

Dante 1265 – 1321 CE
(Durante degli Alighieri)
from Letters

Themes: Freedom

“All phenomena are timelessly free in awakened mind, and so there is no phenomenon that is not free... no need now for anyone to make an effort to free them anew... Do not strive or try to achieve!”

Longchenpa ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་པ། 1308 – 1364 CE via Richard Barron
(Longchen Rabjampa, Drimé Özer)
from The Basic Space of Phenomena

Themes: Freedom Ambition

“Liberty is one of the choicest gifts that heaven can bestowed upon man, and exceeds in value all the treasures for without it, life is insupportable.”

Miguel de Cervantes 1547 – 1616 CE via Jarvis, Shan Dao
One of the world's best novelists
from Don Quixote (1605-1615)

“I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778 CE

“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”

Diderot 1713 – 1784 CE
from Encyclopédie

“allowing every man to pursue his own interest in his own way, upon the liberal plan of equality liberty, and justice”

Adam Smith 1723 – 1790 CE
''The Father of Economic Capitalism"
from Wealth of Nations

Themes: Freedom

“A constitution of the greatest possible human freedom must place at its foundation and for all its laws, the liberty of every individual co-existing with the liberty of every other.”

Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804 CE via J. M. D. Meiklejohn, Shan Dao
from Critique Of Pure Reason

Themes: Freedom Democracy

“All men are created equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights… enjoyment of life and liberty with the means of acquiring and possessing property, pursuing happiness and safety.”

George Mason 1725 – 1792 CE
First American abolitionist, founding father, and Constitutional savior
from Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

Themes: Freedom

“mankind is governed by names… and submit to slavery, provided they are respectfully assured that they still enjoy their ancient freedom.”

Edward Gibbon 1737 – 1794 CE
from Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

“Corruption: the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.”

Edward Gibbon 1737 – 1794 CE
from Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

“What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its mis-employment.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1742 – 1799 CE
One of history’s best aphorists

Themes: Freedom

“Every law is an infraction of liberty.”

Jeremy Bentham 1748 – 1832 CE
from Principles of Morals and Legislation

75. Greed

“If we do not die for liberty, we shall soon have nothing left to do but weep for her.”

Madame Roland 1754 – 1793 CE via Mémoires de Madame Roland (1795)
(Marie-Jeanne Phlippon)
Revolutionary heroine

Themes: Freedom

“Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of wisdom.”

William Godwin 1756 – 1836 CE via Shan Dao
Provocative and influential social, political, and literary critic
from Enquiry Concerning Political Justice

Themes: Wisdom Freedom

“If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled it will burn… the ocean may overwhelm it; mountains may press it down; but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the land, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven.”

Daniel Webster 1782 – 1852 CE
America's greatest orator
from Address, 1825

Themes: Progress 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 1788 – 1860 CE

42. Children of the Way

“A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.”

Arthur Schopenhauer 1788 – 1860 CE

Themes: Desire Freedom

10. The Power of Goodness

“Yet, Freedom! yet the banner, torn but flying,
Streams like the thunderstorm against the wind!”

Lord Byron 1788 – 1824 CE
(George Gordon Byron)
The first rock-star style celebrity
from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1808-1817)

Themes: Problems Freedom

“What art thou, Freedom? Oh! could Slaves
Answer from their living graves...
For the laborer thou art bread,
And a comely table spread...
For the rich thou art a check
Where his foot is on the neck.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 – 1822 CE
from Masque of Anarchy, 1819

Themes: Freedom

“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”

Alexis de Tocqueville 1805 – 1859 CE
Pioneering researcher into the conflicts between freedom and equality

Themes: Freedom

“highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln 1809 – 1865 CE
from Gettysburg Address

Themes: Freedom

“The liberty of humanity consists in obeying the laws of nature—not because they have been imposed by on external will, but because the individual has personally recognized them”

Mikhail Bakunin 1814 – 1876 CE via Shan Dao
Romantic rebel, revolutionary anarchist, founding father of modern socialism
from God and the State (1871)

Themes: Freedom

“The law will never make me free; it is men who have to to make the law free.”

Henry David Thoreau 1817 – 1862 CE
Father of environmentalism and America's first yogi
from Slavery in Massachusetts, 1854

Themes: Freedom

“It is a bad thing to perform menial duties even for the sake of freedom.”

Karl Marx 1818 – 1883 CE

Themes: Freedom

72. Helpful Fear

“Liberty relies upon itself, invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, and knows no discouragement.”

Walt Whitman 1819 – 1892 CE
Premier "poet of democracy" and model for Dracula
from Leaves of Grass

Themes: Freedom

“Freedom does not consist in any dreamt-of independence from natural laws, but in the knowledge of these laws, and in the possibility this gives of systematically making them work towards definite ends.”

Friedrich Engels 1820 – 1895 CE
Businessman-philosopher, political theorist

“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.”

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский 1821 – 1881 CE
from Brothers Karamatzov

Themes: Freedom

“People are more convinced than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet… now it is ended and over for good.”

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский 1821 – 1881 CE via Constance Garnett, The Grand Inquisitor
from Brothers Karamatzov

Themes: Freedom

“Liberty, next to religion, has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime... beset by its natural enemies: ignorance, superstition, lust of conquest, love of ease, craving for power”

Lord Acton 1834 – 1902 CE
(John Dalberg-Acton)
Prolific historian and politician
from History of Freedom, 1907

“The two forces, the two worst enemies of civil freedom are absolute monarchy and revolution.”

Lord Acton 1834 – 1902 CE
(John Dalberg-Acton)
Prolific historian and politician
from Letters to Mary Gladstone, 1881

“The strongest natures retain the type, the weaker ones help to advance it.”

Friedrich Nietzsche 1844 – 1900 CE
from Human All Too Human - A Book for Free Spirits

Themes: Freedom

3. Weak Wishes, Strong Bones

“It is precisely the weaker nature, as the more delicate and free, that makes progress possible at all.”

Friedrich Nietzsche 1844 – 1900 CE
from Twilight of the Idols

Themes: Freedom

26. The Still Rule the Restless

“Neither of us tried to meddle with the other’s soul and in this way my good husband and I, both of us, felt ourselves free in spirit.”

Anna Grigoryevna Dostoyevskaya ригорьевна Достоевская 1846 – 1918 CE

“The coming change can only come through a revolution, because the possessing class will not allow a peaceful change to take place; still we are willing to work for peace at any price, except at the price of liberty.”

Lucy Parsons 1853 – 1942 CE
(Eldine Gonzalez)
Political activist “more dangerous than a thousand rioters”

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”

Sigmund Freud 1856 – 1939 CE

Themes: Fear Freedom

“The fear of death is the beginning of Slavery.”

Arthur Desmond 1859 – 1929 CE
from Might Is Right

“Popular lies have ever been the most potent enemies of personal liberty.”

Arthur Desmond 1859 – 1929 CE
from Might Is Right

Themes: Lies Freedom

“People are never so likely to be wrong as when they are organized. And they never have so little freedom. Perhaps that is why the people at large keep their freedom. People can be manipulated only when they are organized.”

Henry Ford 1863 – 1847 CE

Themes: Control Freedom

“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”

Edith Hamilton 1867 – 1963 CE

Themes: Freedom

“The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”

W. E. B. Du Bois 1868 – 1963 CE

Themes: Slavery Freedom

“Nothing to illuminate,
Nothing to eliminate,
Looking perfectly at perfection itself,
Seeing perfection, one is perfectly free.”

Shechen Gyaltsap 1871 – 1926 CE via Matthieu Ricard
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's main teacher

“Love can flourish only as long as it is free and spontaneous; it tends to be killed by the thought of duty. To say that it is your duty to love so-and-so is the surest way to cause you to hate him of her.”

Bertrand Russell 1872 – 1970 CE
“20th century Voltaire”

Themes: Love Freedom

“Freedom stretches only as far as the limits of our consciousness.”

Carl Jung 1875 – 1961 CE
Insightful shamanistic scientist

Themes: Freedom

“Pleasure is a freedom song but it is not freedom”

Kahlil Gibran 1883 – 1931 CE
from The Prophet

“You can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness”

Kahlil Gibran 1883 – 1931 CE
from The Prophet

Themes: Freedom

“The Greek air is truly holy, I thought to myself; surely freedom was born here... Norway's struggle had become this Greek shepherd's struggle, because liberty, for him, was like his own daughter.”

Nikos Kazantzakis 1883 – 1957 CE
from Report to Greco

Themes: Freedom

“You prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom, even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.”

Kahlil Gibran 1883 – 1931 CE
from The Prophet

Themes: Freedom

“The fear of capitalism has compelled socialism to widen freedom, and the fear of socialism has compelled capitalism to increase equality. East is West and West is East, and soon the twain will meet.”

Will (and Ariel) Durant 1885 – 1981 CE
from Lessons of History

“Have we given ourselves more freedom than our intelligence can digest?”

Will (and Ariel) Durant 1885 – 1981 CE
from Lessons of History

Themes: Wisdom Freedom

“People are intrinsically unequal and while enforced equality creates a rebellion of the more skilled and intelligent, too much freedom creates an extreme of inequality that creates a rebellion of the less intelligent and skilled.”

Will (and Ariel) Durant 1885 – 1981 CE

Themes: Freedom Equality

“Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias. For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies.”

Will (and Ariel) Durant 1885 – 1981 CE

72. Helpful Fear

“Men who are not free... always idealize their bondage.”

Boris Pasternak Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к 1890 – 1960 CE
Russia's greatest poet

Themes: Paradox Freedom

“The greatest blow for freedom that was ever struck in the world's history, perhaps, was when Abraham Lincoln decided that the slaves of the South were to be free and he freed them... He was very wise in the ways of men. He knew that deeper than anything else in the hearts of men everywhere is the wish for simple freedom- freedom without any promises even of protection, of food, of security- just freedom.”

Pearl Buck 1892 – 1973 CE
from What America Means to Me (1943)

Themes: Freedom

“It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison and yet not free—to be under no physical constraint and yet to be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national State, or of some private interest within the nation, want him to think, feel and act.”

Aldous Huxley 1894 – 1963 CE
from Brave New World

Themes: Freedom

“Freedom is pure observation without direction, without fear of punishment and reward.”

Krishnamurti 1895 – 1986 CE
(Jiddu Krishnamurti)
from Core of the Teaching

13. Honor and Disgrace

“Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence.”

Krishnamurti 1895 – 1986 CE
(Jiddu Krishnamurti)
from Core of the Teaching

Themes: Freedom

“Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves - not of the government.”

Margaret Chase Smith 1897 – 1995 CE

“Political freedom cannot last without provision for the free unlimited acquisition of knowledge. A political order is tyrannical if it is not rational.”

Robert Hutchins 1899 – 1977 CE
(Robert Maynard Hutchins)
from The Great Conversation

Themes: Freedom
“We do not choose political freedom because it promises us this or that. We choose it because it makes possible the only dignified form of human coexistence, the only form in which we can be fully responsible for ourselves.”

Karl Popper 1902 – 1994 CE via Patrick Camiller
Major Philosopher of Science
from On Freedom (1958)

Themes: Freedom Integrity

“freedom is more important than equality; the attempt to realize equality endangers freedom; and, if freedom is lost, there will not even be equality among the unfree.”

Karl Popper 1902 – 1994 CE
Major Philosopher of Science
from Unended Quest

Themes: Freedom Equality

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

George Orwell 1903 – 1950 CE
English, poet, humanist, apostle of doubt, and powerful political influence

Themes: Freedom

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Viktor Frankl 1905 – 1997 CE
Brave and insightful concentration camp survivor

from Man's Search for Meaning

Themes: Freedom

“If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It's always easier to apologize for something you've already done than to get approval for it in advance.”

Grace Hopper 1906 – 1992 CE
(Grace Brewster Murray Hopper )

Themes: Strategy Freedom

“People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others.”

Saul Alinsky 1909 – 1972 CE

Themes: Freedom

“All phenomena are completely new and fresh, absolutely unique and entirely free from all concepts of past, present, and future.”

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche དིལ་མགོ་མཁྱེན་བརྩེ། 1910 – 1991 CE
"Mind" incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
from Maha Ati

40. Returning

“Morality is the basis of freedom.”

Freda Bedi, Sister Palmo 1911 – 1977 CE

Themes: Freedom Virtue

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

Albert Camus 1913 – 1960 CE

13. Honor and Disgrace

“Therapy gives relief; sitting gives freedom. If you practice long and hard enough, and uncover your core belief, you won't need therapy. Instead of being self-centered, you will become life-centered.”

Charlotte Joko Beck 1917 – 2011 CE
Authentic, pioneering Western Zen master

from Ordinary Wonder

Themes: Freedom

“So many people have said to me, ‘If we didn't make children do things, they wouldn't do anything.’ Even worse, they say, ‘If I weren't made to do things, I wouldn't do anything.’ It is the creed of a slave.”

John Holt 1923 – 1985 CE
from How Children Fail

Themes: Slavery Freedom

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice... there's only one way to be free.”

Malcolm X الحاجّ مالك الشباز‎‎ 1925 – 1965 CE

Themes: Freedom

“Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice...”

Thích Nhất Hạnh tʰǐk ɲɜ̌t hɐ̂ʔɲ 1926 CE –

Themes: Freedom

“the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline”

César Chavez César Estrada Chávez 1927 – 1993 CE
(César Estrada Chávez)

“Seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, challenge them, and unless a justification… dismantle to increase the scope of human freedom.”

Noam Chomsky 1928 CE –
from Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media

Themes: Freedom Teachers

38. Fruit Over Flowers

“You only are free when you realize you belong no place - you belong every place - no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”

Maya Angelou 1928 – 2014 CE

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Martin Luther King Jr. 1929 – 1968 CE
Leading world influence for equality, peace, non-violence, and poverty alleviation

Themes: Freedom

“America could lose its precious freedoms if it is not paying attention.”

Gesshin Myoko Roshi 1931 – 1999 CE
Moon heart miraculous light

Themes: Freedom

“The concept of freedom did not emerge in a vacuum. Nothing highlighted freedom—if it did not fact create it—like slavery.”

Toni Morrison 1931 – 2019 CE
(Chloe Ardelia Wofford)
Story-telling voice of American wisdom
from Beloved (1987)

Themes: Freedom Slavery

“these twelve experiences that Naropa went through were a continuous unlearning process. To begin with, he had to unlearn, to undo the cultural façade. Then he had to undo the philosophical and emotional façade. Then he had to step out and become free altogether.”

Chögyam Trungpa 1939 – 1987 CE
from Illusion's Game

Themes: Education Freedom

48. Unlearning

“If there isn’t any format; there’s no freedom. Freedom has to come from structure… freedom itself exists in structure.”

Chögyam Trungpa 1939 – 1987 CE

“Mandalas multiply so many times that they finally become nonexistent. The boundaries begin to dissolve. This is such an invasion of privacy! That is why it's called freedom.”

Chögyam Trungpa 1939 – 1987 CE
from Mandala Principle

“For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.”

Bob Dylan 1941 CE –

72. Helpful Fear

“Please use your liberty to promote ours.”

Aung San Suu Kyi အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည် 1945 CE –

Themes: Freedom

38. Fruit Over Flowers

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”

Bob Marley 1945 – 1981 CE

Themes: Freedom Slavery
“Freedom is not a universal value. Power is the universal value.”

J. Rufus Fears 1945 – 2012 CE

Themes: Power Freedom

“The best thing you can buy with money is freedom, time. I don't know how much I earn a year. I have no idea.”

Haruki Murakami 1949 CE –

Themes: Money Time Freedom

“The command to be free is a double bind”

Kim Stanley Robinson 1952 CE –
from 2312

“Freedom and liberty… how precious they are, as precious as the air we breathe, the water we drink.”

Benazir Bhutto بينظير ڀُٽو‎; 1953 – 2007 CE
from Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography

Themes: Freedom

“One thing I can tell you is you got to be free”

Beatles 1960 – 1970 CE
from Abbey Road

Themes: Freedom

“One of our greatest Presidents in the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, understood this truth... He called upon the world to embrace four fundamental freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.”

Barack Obama 1961 CE –

Themes: Fear Freedom

“Labels... They save you the bother of thinking. They become a habit. You start thinking reality is the labels... The trouble is, reality's the opposite... the Queen of Freedoms is this: to be free of labels.”

David Mitchell 1969 CE –
from Utopia Avenue

Themes: Freedom

“Freedom rarely arrives in the form we think it should… For most of us, freedom feels not only unfamiliar but distinctly unpleasant. That’s because we’re used to our chains. They might chafe, they might make us bleed, but at least they’re familiar.”

Mingyur Rinpoche 1975 CE –
Modern-day Mahasiddha

Themes: Freedom

“In all his writing, he ranged himself on the side of freedom—political, social, personal. But the surest sign of his genius was the paradoxical way in which he imagined a metaphysical freedom... for Tagore, it was life that meant confinement in subjectivity, while death was liberation into the free play of being.”

Adam Kirsch 1976 CE –
from The New Yorker

Themes: Freedom

Comments (0)