Top 100 Civil Liberty Quotes
#2. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally.
Patrick Pearse
#3. Civil liberty is the status of the man who is guaranteed by law and civil institutions the exclusive employment of all his own powers for his own welfare.
William Graham Sumner
#4. The Cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one, or even one hundred defeats.
Abraham Lincoln
#5. Superstition is an enemy to civil liberty.
David Hume
#6. Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the christian religion.
Noah Webster
#7. The Bill of Rights should contain the general principles of natural and civil liberty. It should be to a community what the eternal laws and obligations of morality are to the conscience. It should be unalterable by any human power ...
Thomas Paine
#8. Sex as you like it is an animal right -- no mere civil liberty. Defend it with your beak and claw.
Irving Rosenthal
#9. Here, also, has been evolved the form of government consistent with the largest possible civil liberty.
Josiah Strong
#10. It is an American weakness. The success becomes the sage. Scientists counsel on civil liberty; comedians and actresses lead political rallies; athletes tell us what brand of cigarette to smoke.
Robert Leckie
#11. When complaints are freely heard, deeply considered and speedily reformed, then is the utmost bound of civil liberty attained that wise men look for.
John Milton
#12. I believe, very strongly, that it is the responsible, adult, recreational, no apologies necessary, 'it just makes my music more fun,' recreational use of marijuana is a civil liberty.
Rick Steves
#13. And I hear from time to time people say, hey, wait a second, we have civil liberties we have to worry about. But don't forget the most important civil liberty I expect from my government is my right to be kept alive, and that's what we're going to have to do.
Mitt Romney
#14. The commitment to civil liberty is going to be reasserted strongly. But the concept of liberty is under attack, and our definition of insecurity, security and threats will change fundamentally. The depth of the attack on liberty will be felt painfully.
Ashraf Ghani
#15. The most important civil liberty ... is to stay alive and to be free from violence and death ...
John Howard
#16. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetites.
Edmund Burke
#17. [If you understood the natural rights of mankind,] [y]ou would be convinced that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race, and that civil liberty is founded in that, and cannot be wrested from any people without the most manifest violation of justice.
Alexander Hamilton
#18. The whole freedom of man consists either in spiritual or civil liberty.
John Milton
#19. And when the time is right, I hope that African Americans will again look to the party of emancipation, civil liberty, and individual freedom.
Rand Paul
#20. It is not necessary to argue to those for whom I write that the two great needs of mankind, that all men may be lifted up into the light of the highest Christian civilization, are, first, a pure, spiritual Christianity, and second, civil liberty.
Josiah Strong
#21. The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives an injury. One of the first duties of government is to afford that protection.
John Marshall
#22. Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society.
Alexander Hamilton
#23. Governor Ford is sworn to support the Constitution of the United States and also of this State Illinois, and these constitutions guarantee religious as well as civil liberty to all religious societies whatever.
Joseph Smith Jr.
#24. If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn.
Daniel Webster
#25. As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance and equality of all citizens before the law prevail.
Albert Einstein
#26. Civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which will not at the same time demonstrate the right of religious freedom.
John Quincy Adams
#27. 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
#28. The law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind.
William Blackstone
#29. 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 opinion.
William Godwin
#30. As God can protect his people under the greatest despotism, so the utmost civil liberty is no safety to them without the immediate protection of his Almighty arm. I fear that Christians in this country have too great a confidence in political institutions ... [rather] than of the government of God.
Alexander Carson
#31. I will not nullify, I will not secede, but I will under sovereign State authority fight in the Union another revolutionary conflict for civil liberty, and a Union which will defend it.
Henry A. Wise
#32. I am opposed to all attempts to license or restrict the arming of individuals ... I consider such laws a violation of civil liberty, subversive of democratic political institutions, and self-defeating in their purpose.
Robert A. Heinlein
#33. But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth. Within that, it is a noble institution, equally the friend of science and of civil liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
#34. After each perceived security crisis ended, the United States has remorsefully realized that the abrogation of civil liberties was unnecessary.
William J. Brennan
#35. I would define liberty to be a power to do as we would be done by. The definition of liberty to be the power of doing whatever the law permits, meaning the civil laws, does not seem satisfactory.
John Adams
#36. Republicans are horrible with civil liberties, and not so good with dollars and cents. Democrats are horrible with dollars and cents, and not so good with civil liberties.
Gary Johnson
#37. Any court which undertakes by its legal processes to enforce civil liberties needs the support of an enlightened and vigorous public opinion which will be intelligent and discriminating as to what cases really are civil liberties cases and what questions really are involved in those cases.
Robert H. Jackson
#38. It has been lately urged in a very respectable quarter that it is the mission of this country to spread civil and religious liberty all over the globe, and especially over this continent - even by force, if necessary. It is a sad delusion.
John C. Calhoun
#39. The American people, North and South, went into the [Civil] war as citizens of their respective states, they came out as subjects ... what they thus lost they have never got back.
H.L. Mencken
#40. It is idle to talk of civil liberties to adults who were systematically taught in adolescence that they had none; and it is sheer hypocrisy to call such people freedom loving.
Edgar Friedenberg
#41. Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.
Samuel Adams
#42. One of the most clearly marked trends for over twenty years has been the decline in civil liberties.
Charles A. Reich
#43. Religious liberty is about freedom of action in matters of religion generally, and the scope of that liberty is directly correlated to the civil restraints placed upon religious practice.
Clarence Thomas
#44. I shall support the law, for the law gentlemen, is the firm and solid basis of civil society, the guardian of liberty, the protection of the innocent, the terror of the guilty, and the scourge of the wicked.
Charles Lawrence
#45. Pastors can lead the way in motivating the faithful to wise stewardship of their citizenship responsibilities. Without a healthy culture and civil society, limited government and ordered liberty will be impossible.
Edwin Meese
#46. In the defense of civil liberties there can be no exceptions, or there will soon be many.
A.J. Muste
#47. Liberty may be of no more use Than stirring up the flame of civil wars; Then, by disorder fatal to the world, One wants no king, the other wants no equal.
Pierre Corneille
#48. Civil Wars happen when the victimized are armed. Genocide happens when they are not.
A.E. Samaan
#49. When I think of civil liberties I think of the founding principles of the country. The freedoms that are in the First Amendment. But also the fundamental right to privacy.
Tim Cook
#50. Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
#51. Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.
John Stuart Mill
#52. You have to remember, rights don't come in groups we shouldn't have 'gay rights'; rights come as individuals, and we wouldn't have this major debate going on. It would be behavior that would count, not what person belongs to what group.
Ron Paul
#53. The civil rights of none, shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.
James Madison
#54. In suits at common law, trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature.
James Madison
#55. I trust the federal government not to trample on civil liberties.
Tucker Carlson
#56. The greater the share the people have in government, the less liberty, civil or religious, does a nation enjoy.
John Wesley
#57. Demanding domestic security in times of war invites carelessness in preserving civil liberties and the right of privacy. Frequently the people are only too anxious for their freedoms to be sacrificed on the altar of authoritarianism thought to be necessary to remain safe and secure.
Ron Paul
#58. The birthright of man ... is such a degree of liberty, civil and religious, as is compatible with the liberty of every other individual with whom he is united in a social compact.
Mary Wollstonecraft
#59. He establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive that induced me to the field of battle.
George Washington
#60. Being an American is about having the right to be who you are. Sometimes that doesn't happen.
Herb Ritts
#61. The copyright industry has managed to kill civil liberties for their own children, ushering in a dystopian surveillance machine, merely to avoid taking responsibility for their own business failures. I lack words to quantify my contempt for these utter parasites.
Rick Falkvinge
#62. Political freedom is, or ought to be, the best guaranty for the safety and continuance of spiritual, mental, and civil freedom. It is the combination of numbers to secure the liberty to each one.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
#63. We must continue to be diligent in protecting Americans' civil liberties while preserving critical law enforcement tools we need to keep America safe.
Debbie Stabenow
#65. Liberty, whether natural, civil, or political, is the lawful power in the individual to exercise his corresponding rights. It is greatly favored in law.
Henry Campbell Black
#66. The government should always be the one defending civil liberties.
Tim Cook
#67. The United States should be an asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty.
Thomas Paine
#68. We may continue to expect the enjoyment of all the blessings of civil and religious liberty, guaranteed by the Constitution. The citizens of Illinois have done themselves honor, in throwing the mantle of the Constitution over a persecuted and afflicted people.
Joseph Smith Jr.
#69. Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of the one be sapped, the other will fall of course.
Alexander Hamilton
#70. It is still in the lap of the gods whether a society can succeed which is based on "civil liberties and human rights" conceived as I have tried to describe them; but of one thing at least we may be sure: the alternatives that have so far appeared have been immeasurably worse.
Learned Hand
#71. Now that Bin Laden dead, can we get our civil liberties back?
That George Bush stole with the Patriot Act?
Ras Kass
#73. While politicians contend, and men are swerved this way and that by conflicting tides of interest and passion, the great cause of human liberty is in the hands of one ... who shall not fail nor be discouraged ...
Harriet Beecher Stowe
#74. Our basic civil liberties are in jeopardy, but we're going to be spending our time as a society arguing about whether or not schoolchildren should be forced to pay tribute to imaginary invisible beings who live in magical kingdoms in outer space some
Tom Tomorrow
#75. Since Humanism as a functioning credo is so closely bound up with the methods of reason and science, plainly free speech and democracy are its very lifeblood. For reason and scientific method can flourish only in an atmosphere of civil liberties.
Corliss Lamont
#76. We cannot simply suspend or restrict civil liberties until the War on Terror is over, because the War on Terror is unlikely ever to be truly over.
Gerald Bard Tjoflat
#77. Christians should be among those who speak loudest in defense of civil liberties and the protection of the weak.
Max Anders
#78. People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Soren Kierkegaard
#79. A freedom given up is not so easily regained.
Rivera Sun
#80. Be wary of those propagating too much about liberty, ideology, and civility; they just might be oppressors in the making.
Aniruddha Sastikar
#81. It is easy to make light of insistence on scrupulous regard for the safeguards of civil liberties when invoked on behalf of the unworthy. History bears testimony that by such disregard are the rights of liberty extinguished, heedlessly at first, then stealthily, and brazenly in the end.
Felix Frankfurter
#82. Presidents who restrict civil liberties, even in wartime, are usually judged harshly for it.
David Greenberg
#83. The object of civil society is justice, not truth, virtue, wealth, knowledge, glory or power. Justice is followed by equality and liberty.
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
#84. It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments.
Ludwig Von Mises
#85. Civil liberties victories never stay won, but must be fought for over and over again.
Ira Glasser
#86. I look forward to exercising my American civil liberties and getting fully, completely and legally married this year to my true love of over three years, Linda Wallem,
Melissa Etheridge
#87. There is no relationship here between Church and State. Religious liberty has its unalterable place, along with civil and human liberty, in the very foundation of the Republic. I hold it [religious intolerance] to be a menace to the very liberties which we boast and cherish.
Warren G. Harding
#88. The American Civil Liberties Union, has helped neutralize the Judeo-Christian underpinnings of our legal system by seeking new legal precedents.
Bill Bright
#89. You can either have individual liberty, or dependence on the government. One is designed to undo the other.
A.E. Samaan
#90. We must educate ourselves and others about our precious civil liberties to ensure that we never accept demands that we give up our Constitution so that the government can pretend to protect us.
Ron Paul
#91. We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.
Abraham Lincoln
#92. People truly reaching across boundaries - be they religious or race, political or geographic. A state that is sincerely civil and respectful of each individual's pathway toward life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be our goal.
Jon Huntsman Jr.
#93. Our mandate is to be a nation of laws. And the Supreme Court is the place where we look to safeguard our civil rights and our individual liberties.
Frank Lautenberg
#94. If the events of September 11, 2001, have proven anything, it's that the terrorists can attack us, but they can't take away what makes us American
our freedom, our liberty, our civil rights. No, only Attorney General John Ashcroft can do that.
Jon Stewart
#95. The liberty of the Press is the Palladium of all the civil, political and religious rights of an Englishman.
Junius
#96. The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.
Thomas Jefferson
#97. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us.
Abraham Lincoln
#98. Labor in the white skin can never free itself as long as labor in the black skin is branded.
Karl Marx
#99. Those who would give up their civil liberties for security deserve neither.
Larry Flynt
#100. We shall find that every effort to realize equality necessitates a sacrifice of liberty.
William Graham Sumner
