Personal Freedom Quotes

“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.”
― Ronald Reagan

“The world will try to make you small. It will tell you to be modest, and meek. But the world is wrong. You should get to feel and love and live as boldly as you want.”
― V.E. Schwab, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

“Let no one ever intimidate you, you are standing on no one's ground. But again, some have claimed the earth as their own and usurped power from the rest of us. But they are usurpers; power belongs to every one of us. Seek it as much as possible. There is no shame in that. In fact it's a necessity. Either you have power or you are trampled to death in the stampede to get to the top”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, Pearls Of Eternity

“It's the duty of every man to free himself. Never accept to live an underdog's life in god’s world.”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, Pearls Of Eternity

“Every revolution starts with the aim to help the poor, but when the poor get it they forget who they were and become the new oppressors. The cycle goes on forever”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, Pearls Of Eternity

“Each person carries within their core the birthright of creative freedom, which, when organized and orchestrated, is the most awesome force on earth.”
― Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason

“That would make it easy for Amara. Not having a choice was always easy. It was always safer. However bad things were, you kept your head down and did as you were told in order to avoid worse.

The world always wanted people like her to believe those lies.

You were never safe as long as you were at someone else’s whim.

Amara’s eyes met Cilla’s, dark and beaten and haunted.

Not having a choice was the worst thing in the world.

Amara pushed the knife down. Nolan didn’t stop her. And in that moment, with her enemy’s knife in her own hand, a point pressing on Cilla’s arm, Cilla’s skin familiar against hers, relief sneaked up on her and refused to let go. Because what she’d told Cilla wasn’t true. It wasn’t that she couldn’t go back to her old life; she could. If she went back, she’d hate herself, but it meant survival. It might be worth it or it might not be, and she’d never have to find out because it would never happen. She wasn’t going back.

It wasn’t because of what Maart wanted, or because of what Cilla asked, or because of what Jorn said. She’d made the choice. It was hers alone. This or nothing.

Blood welled up from Cilla’s arm. Amara let the knife clatter to the ground. She reached for the cut. She was almost smiling now, a desperate smile that had her lips trembling, that came with tears burning her eyes.

This or nothing.”
― Corinne Duyvis, Otherbound

“You can live doing what you love
or die having done nothing at all.”
― Robin Caldwell

“A liberated person abdicates from society’s expectations and embraces living an authentic life undeterred by external determinates.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

“The man afflicted by hunger for power or money for its own sake is just that: afflicted. He is tormented by incessant desires for more without cause. He is the most likely to wear a social mask to succeed, and thus he is always unsure of himself and his life, the deep tear inside always causing him to obsess about how to get more, why he doesn't have it already, and whom he will have to please or become in order to get it.”
― Brendon Burchard, The Motivation Manifesto: 9 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power

“Suppression or Invalidation of any innate expression of who or what I am is a crime against myself.”
― Jean-Jacques Dalpe

“Human beings possess the gift of personal freedom and liberty of the mind. We each possess the sovereignty over the body and mind to define ourselves and embrace the values that we wish to exemplify. Personal autonomy enables humans to take independent action and use reason to establish moral values. We are part of nature. Consciousness, human cognition, and awareness of our own mortality allow us to script an independent survival reality and not merely react to environmental forces.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

“Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.

By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant. Therefore, we can predict his future only within the large framework of a statistical survey referring to a whole group; the individual personality, however, remains essentially unpredictable. The basis for any predictions would be represented by biological, psychological or sociological conditions. Yet one of the main features of human existence is the capacity to rise above such conditions, to grow beyond them.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

“Money won’t change you. Change will change you.”
― Richie Norton

“In ancient times, the greatest source of freedom was believed to be self-knowledge, in the Middle Ages - self-discipline, in the modern era - self-determination, while today it is believed to be self-satisfaction. The first liberates the mind, the second the spirit, the third the will, while the fourth - the desire to get rid of the other three.”
― Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski

“Psychotherapy and counselling should make people aware of themselves and of the difficulties which they face. This then gives them the freedom to choose for themselves. In this sense, unlike behaviour therapy, psychotherapy is value-free: no advice, suggestions or recriminations are given. Indeed the only value of psychotherapy is respect for the individual. Such respect, however, in a mechanistic and objectifying society ... becomes a political act.”
― Paul Kline, Psychology Exposed or the Emperor's New Clothes

“Do not let your dogma to become your spiritual eclipse.”
― Talismanist Giebra, Talismanist: Fragments of the Ancient Fire. Philosophy of Fragmentism Series.

“... For Weber ... autonomy resides not in the formulation of universal laws but in the value-creating activity unconstrained by any criteria - except in Weber's case, by the criterion of self-consistency.”
― Rogers Brubaker

“Freedom comes from diving deeply within and knowing who you truly are.”
― Amy Leigh Mercree

“They prove that there is no direct relationship between the personal freedom of the artist and the aesthetic quality of his works. For it is a fact that every intention of an artist has to make its way through the meshes of a closely entwined net; every work of art is produced by the tension between a series of aims and a series of resistances to their achievement— resistances represented by inadmissible motifs, social prejudices and faulty powers of judgment of the public, and aims which have either already assimilated these resistances or stand openly and irreconcilably opposed to them. If the resistances in one direction are impossible to overcome, then the artist’s invention and powers of expression turn to a goal the way to which is not obstructed, and it is very unusual for him even to be aware of the fact that his achievement is a substitute for the real thing. Even in the most liberal democracy the artist does not move with perfect freedom and unrestraint; even there he is restricted by innumerable considerations foreign to his art. The different measure of freedom may be of the greatest importance for him personally but in principle there is no difference between the dictates of a despot and the conventions of even the most liberal social order. If force in itself were contrary to the spirit of art, perfect works of art could arise only in a state of complete anarchy. But in reality the pre-suppositions on which the aesthetic quality of a work depends lie beyond the alternative presented by political freedom and compulsion. Therefore the other extreme, namely, the assumption that the ties which restrict the artist’s freedom of movement are profitable and fruitful in themselves, that the freedom of the modern artist is consequently responsible for the inadequacies of modern art and that compulsion and restrictions could and should be produced artificially as the supposed guarantees of true ‘style’, —such an assumption is just as wrong as the anarchist point of view.”
― Arnold Hauser, The Social History of Art, Volume 1: From Prehistoric Times to the Middle Ages

“They forget, these protesters, that both cities and the Sabbath were made for man. If the social arrangements do not fit in with the time-old desires of ordinary decent human nature, it is the social arrangements that should be changed.”
― J.B. Priestley, English Journey

“Work from the dream, not toward it. Build the castle, then the moat. Every job should enhance freedom for personal, not push it away.”
― Richie Norton, Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping

“In the relentless march of technological progress, online privacy emerges as the last bastion of personal freedom. It's a commitment to protecting our right to navigate the internet without the constant gaze of prying eyes. Online privacy isn't a privilege; it's an essential thread in the tapestry of digital citizenship, reminding us that our online interactions should be shaped by our agency, not subject to external scrutiny.”
― James William Steven Parker

“We’ve all lived too damn long lugging around this puritanical notion that pleasure must be villainized to protect us from ourselves.⁠

Fuck that.⁠

Seriously.⁠

The only question you need to ask is this:⁠

Is everyone involved in full personal safety and enthusiastic consent?⁠

Ask it loudly and repeatedly if you need to.⁠

Yes?⁠

Then you go with your bad, brilliant, beautiful, pleasure-filled self.⁠

Our bodies are here to feel good.⁠

And what makes that happen isn’t for anyone else to decide.⁠

It doesn’t matter whether you’re outside the gender binary, into collars and restraints, love someone with the same parts, desire more than one human, or have a kinky turn on others think is weird.⁠

Monogamous, polyamorous, relationship anarchist, vanilla, kinky—whatever your flavor, it’s valid.⁠

We’ve all wasted way too much damn time in the closet.⁠

End of story.”
― Jeanette LeBlanc

“This life? It is yours. Anyone who suggests that it is not or that it should not be is not here for you. You get to decide how you want to live it, what you want to call it, how and when and why you want to change it. No matter how many times you shift, no matter how often you adjust, no matter the experimentation or the wild exploration, no matter how many times you've been lost or how many times you've been found or any of the missteps you took along the way. Be willing to reinvent yourself fiercely, relentlessly, endlessly in the face of their anger, in response to their fear, in righteous rebellion. A holy(r)evolution. Take to the streets if you wish. Paint the protest sign with your own name. You are not required to stay who you were, or who you are, or even who you will be. You were made for metamorphosis. Designed for course correction. Built for shifting trajectories and smashing paradigms. You are here to become. And nobody can write the terms of your contract but you.”
― Jeanette LeBlanc

“Leadership is often described as the art of “inspiring,” “motivating,” or “empowering” others. Leaders are labelled “visionaries,” “catalysts,” and “change agents.” Although these words carry a positive connotation, the fundamental purpose remains the same—to influence the actions and mindset of others.
“When we try to influence someone, we attempt to affect or change their behaviour, thoughts, or development. Thus, one could argue that leadership is about controlling people but without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.”
― Christian Monö, Why We Follow: Natural Followership in a World Obsessed with Leadership

“The gods we worship are only mirrors of our fears and desires. If you would be free, stop kneeling and start creating.”
― David Maze, If Nietzsche Wrote Meditations: Think Fight Club Vibes for The Self-Improvement Fanatic.

“The chains you wear are the ones you forged yourself; only you hold the key to your freedom.”
― David Maze, If Nietzsche Wrote Meditations: Think Fight Club Vibes for The Self-Improvement Fanatic.

“The people telling you to follow the rules are the same people who profit when you don’t question them.”
― Joseph C. Kunz Jr., Money's Dirty Little Secrets: How to Break the Rules, Get Filthy Rich, and Laugh All the Way to the Bank

“I'm not obliged to give you any accounting, and you can't understand my ideas. I want to take my life because that's my idea, because I don't want to be afraid of death, because... because it's none of your business...”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons