Quotes About Freedom And Responsibility

“The real American ideal of cool which is building businesses, protecting freedom at home and abroad, taking responsibility for your actions, and leaving other people alone to live as they damn well please.”

— Greg Gutfeld

“Freedom is the privilege of exercising responsibility.”

— John Spencer Yantiss

“The modern West has been deeply split about freedom and responsibility. On the one hand, it has championed human freedom in many forms - human rights, sexual freedom, political liberty, freedom to choose in many spheres. On the other hand, many of its most intelligent members have not believed that people are free at all, and have devoted great efforts to show that really we are the product of our genes, our unconscious drives, our education, economic pressures, or other forms of conditioning.”

— David F. Ford

“We must affirm freedom and responsibility without denying that we are the product of circumstance, and must affirm that we are the product of circumstance without denying that we have the freedom to transcend that causality to become something which could not even have been provisioned from the circumstances which shaped us.”

— Allen Wheelis

“Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility.”

— Ernest Becker

“The greatest guilt of today is that of people who accept collectivism by moral default; the people who seek protection from the necessity of taking a stand, by refusing to admit to themselves the nature of that which they are accepting; the people who support plans specifically designed to achieve serfdom, but hide behind the empty assertion that they are lovers of freedom, with no concrete meaning attached to the word; the people who believe that the content of ideas need not be examined, that principles need not be defined, and that facts can be eliminated by keeping one's eyes shut. They expect, when they find themselves in a world of bloody ruins and concentration camps, to escape moral responsibility by wailing: But I didn't mean this!”

— Ayn Rand

“It is in this sense that responsibility is liberty; the more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.”

— Thornton Wilder

“It's now our responsibility to prove to ourselves, to other nations, and especially to our children and our grandchildren, that politics is full of fun; politics has some wisdom. Politics is freedom.”

— Joko Widodo

“Freedom comes with responsibility; it comes with privilege and a conscience. It comes with difficult choices. We cannot stand by and allow the Authority to do what it is doing any more. We cannot wait for them to come and take apart what we've made. I will not allow it. You know me. I will not allow it.”

— Sarah Hall

“Responsibility is the price of freedom.”

— Elbert Hubbard

“Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men.”

— Bede Griffiths

“Implicit in true freedom of spirit lies a proud and virile will. Such glorious power of free will to choose, envisages beneficent social responsibility as manifest and welcome.”

— Louis Sullivan

“I do think that the elections of 2010 and 2012 are going to determine the trajectory of the country. Either we're going to be aspiring and improving opportunities based on freedom and responsibility, or we're going to go down the path that dictates and mandates a dependency on government.”

— George Allen

“All Americans value the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, and I believe this is essential for our continued way of life. But with this freedom comes responsibility.”

— Steven Hatfill

“Yes, we have the freedom to do what we please, but it only works because we don't do everything we might please - we should exercise some degree of personal, and corporate, responsibility.”

— Tammy Bruce

“We are gifted with freedom, but with that freedom comes the reality of the unknown and the responsibility to be aware of our surroundings and on guard against those who would do us harm.”

— Mike Crapo

“Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.”

— Nelson Mandela

“Men must stop being jealous of their power and generously allow freedom and responsibility to others. The reward is harmonious families and society.”

— Delphine De Girardin

“To newspapers and publishing houses I urge the use of fact over fiction, freedom of the press, and responsibility at all times.”

— Joely Richardson

“I represent what I think is a traditional Republican ... a limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong national defense, individual freedom and liberty.”

— Olympia Snowe

“Jiu Jitsu gives each of us something that no other sport can. We have the opportunity to become truly great regardless of what circumstance fate has handed us. We have complete freedom and responsibility to achieve whatever level of mastery we wish.”

— Chris Matakas

“Freedom and responsibility aren't interconnected things. They are the same thing.”

— Harry Browne

“The idea of original sin
of guilt with no possibility of innocence, no freedom of choice, no alternatives
inherently militates against self-esteem. The very notion of guilt without volition or responsibility is an assault on reason as well as on morality. Sin is not original, it is originated
like virtue.”

— Nathaniel Branden

“The idea of Original Sin-of guilt where there is no possibility of innocence, no freedom of choice, no alternatives available-is anti-self-esteem by its very nature. The very notion of guilt without volition or responsibility is an assault on reason as well as on morality.”

— Nathaniel Branden

“Freedom comes with a lot of responsibility. When you are by yourself, you have to develop a third eye.”

— Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

“In the name of freedom, there has to be a correlation between rights and duties, by which every person is called to assume responsibility for his or her choices, made as a consequence of entering into relations with others.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

“Life's all about balance. And one of the most vital of all balance points is the one involving freedom and responsibility.”

— Robin S. Sharma

“Nevertheless we are free individuals, and this freedom condemns us to make choices throughout our lives. There are no eternal values or norms we can adhere to, which makes our choices even more significant. Because we are totally responsible for everything we do. Sartre emphasized that man must never disclaim the responsibility for his actions. Nor can we avoid the responsibility of making our own choices on the grounds that we "must" go to work, or we "must" live up to certain middle-class expectations regarding how we should live. Those who thus slip into the anonymous masses will never be other than members of the impersonal flock, having fled from themselves into self-deception. On the other hand our freedom obliges us to make something of ourselves, to live "authentically" or "truly".”

— Jostein Gaarder

“Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do - the seduction of it - but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best ... Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab a-hold, be a citizen - not a subject.”

— Edward Abbey

“Our defense of universal human rights is one of America's greatest sources of strength. The image of Chen, blind and injured, seeking through that dangerous night for the one place he knew stood for freedom and opportunity-the embassy of the United States-reminds us of our responsibility to make sure our country remains the beacon for dissidents and dreamers all over the world.”

— Hillary Rodham Clinton

“1. Build a culture around the idea of freedom and responsibility, within a framework.”

— James C. Collins

“Every man is responsible for defending every woman and every child. When the male no longer takes this role, when he no longer has the courage or feels the moral responsibility, then that society will no longer be a society where honor and virtue are esteemed. Laws and government cannot replace this personal caring and commitment. In the absence of the Warrior protector, the only way that a government can protect a society is to remove the freedom of the people. And the sons and daughters of lions become sheep.”

— James Williams

“Giving someone the freedom to take responsibility releases resources that would otherwise remain concealed.”

— Jan Carlzon

“I realized that I had granted my illness lordship over me. In viewing my depression as a despot subjecting me to its savage fancies, I was able to escape responsibility, to indulge fully my selfish desire to let my ego flourish unfettered, not obliged to anyone. But this wasn't freedom. It was a prison-a cell separating me from those who cared for me and for whom I might have cared.”

— Eric G. Wilson

“Freedom is the very essence of our economy and society. Without freedom the human mind is prevented from unleashing its creative force. But what is also clear is that this freedom does not stand alone. It is freedom in responsibility and freedom to exercise responsibility.”

— Angela Merkel

“If religious freedom is to endure in America, the responsibility for teaching religion to public school children must be left to the homes and churches of our land, where this responsibility rightfully belongs. It must not be assumed by the government through the agency of the public school system.”

— Sam Ervin

“We happily give up our freedom and our income in exchange for having someone else take responsibility for telling us what to do next.”

— Seth

“Love can only exist where freedom and responsibility are operating.”

— Henry Cloud

“Why do children want to grow up? Because they experience their lives as constrained by immaturity and perceive adulthood as a condition of greater freedom and opportunity. But what is there today, in America, that very poor and very rich adolescents want to do but cannot do? Not much: they can do drugs, have sex, make babies, and get money (from their parents, crime, or the State). For such adolescents, adulthood becomes synonymous with responsibility rather than liberty. Is it any surprise that they remain adolescents?”

— Thomas Szasz

“Democracy is our most valuable possession. Upholding it is our duty and our responsibility. This means a continuous, decisive and self-confident argument; it means effort and endeavor to reach compromise and long-lasting consensus. These form the cornerstones of the only form of political system that can guarantee freedom.”

— Wolfgang Thierse

“Anxiety is the dizziness we experience when we recognize we hold the freedom and responsibility for our life choices. More than anyone, alcoholics have a very clear sense of this dizziness, especially when we were coming to realize our own powerlessness over alcohol and that we could act differently.”

— Peg O'Connor

“Courage is required not only in a person's occasional crucial decision for his own freedom, but in the little hour-to-hour decisions which place the bricks in the structure of his building of himself into a person who acts with freedom and responsibility.”

— Rollo May

“I think it's a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.”

— Ai Weiwei

“To experience emotional freedom, we must accept, surrender, and let go of our wounds. We must be willing to take responsibility for what we're holding on to, which is usually a hurt or pain from the past that leaves us feeling victimized.”

— Debbie Ford

“The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circumstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom, even temporarily. No great work has ever been based on hatred and contempt. On the contrary, there is not a single true work of art that has not in the end added to the inner freedom of each person who has known and loved it.”

— Albert Camus

“Genius of AND. Embrace both extremes on a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing a OR B, figure out how to have A AND B-purpose AND profit, continuity AND change, freedom AND responsibility, etc.”

— James C. Collins

“We cannot learn freedom and responsibility within the confines of our own species. We cannot understand life and death and what they are for in exclusively human terms. Without that which is wild, the world becomes a cell block.”

— Stephanie Mills

“Traditionalists like me believe the USA has become strong because of its core values, the freedom, individual responsibility and institutions like traditional marriage, which foster common goals.”

— Bill O'Reilly

“The denial of the right of ownership to a man is a denial of his basic freedom: freedom without property is always incomplete. To be "secured" - but with no accompanying responsibility - is to be the slave of whatever group provides the security.”

— Fulton J. Sheen

“But because we accept the sanctity of life, the responsibility that comes with freedom and the supreme sacrifice of Christ expressed so well in the hymn: 'When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died. My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.'”

— Margaret Thatcher