Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [421-440] of 1279 Liberty quotesLiberty QuotesLiberty Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.~ Benjamin Franklin Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.~ Benjamin Franklin Trusting too much to others' care is the ruin of many; for, as the almanac says, in the affairs of this world men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it; but a man's own care is profitable; for, saith Poor Dick, learning is to the studious, and riches to the careful, as well as power to the bold, and Heaven to the virtuous.~ Benjamin Franklin Where liberty dwells, there is my country.~ Benjamin Franklin Your creditor has authority at his pleasure to deprive you of your liberty, by confining you in gaol for life, or to sell you for a servant, if you should not be able to pay him! When you have got your bargain, you may, perhaps, think little of payment; but creditors, Poor Richard tells us, have better memories than debtors, and in another place says, creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and times. The day comes round before you are aware, and the demand is made before you are prepared to satisfy it. Or if you bear your debt in mind, the term which at first seemed so long, will, as it lessens, appear extreamly short. Time will seem to have added wings to his heels as well as shoulders. ~ Benjamin Franklin We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.~ Benjamin Franklin Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.~ Benjamin Franklin Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it.~ Benjamin Franklin Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you.~ Benjamin Franklin In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities; so many alms-houses for the aged of both sexes, together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful; and do they use their best endeavours to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this burthen? — On the contrary, I affirm that there is no country in the world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute, drunken, and insolent. The day you passed that act, you took away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependance on somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health, for support in age or sickness. In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of idleness, and you should not now wonder that it has had its effect in the increase of poverty.~ Benjamin Franklin Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.~ Benjamin Franklin Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. ... Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.~ Benjamin Franklin No man's life, liberty or fortune is safe while our legislature is in session.~ Benjamin Franklin A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district - all studied and appreciated as they merit - are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.~ Benjamin Franklin Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.~ Benjamin Franklin Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.~ Benjamin Franklin Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.~ Sigmund Freud The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations.~ David D. Friedman Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.~ Milton Friedman Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.~ Milton Friedman Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print