All quotes

The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history.

Liberty, as the inestimable birthright of every man, converted every object into an asserter of this right.

From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.

It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free.

Let us render the tyrant no aid; let us not hold the light by which he can trace the footprints of our flying brother.

To make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man

The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.

The Constitution expresses more than the conviction of the people that democratic processes must be preserved at all costs.

I would ten thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be the most pampered among the slaves of America

My master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will.

If citizens do not like a law, their duty as honest men and women is to discourage its violation; their right is openly to work for its repeal.

There can be no permanent disfranchised peasantry in the United States.

One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights.

the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.

The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation's greatest strength.

No body can give more power than he has himself; and he that cannot take away his own life, cannot give another power over it.

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule.

Surely the State has no right to cleanse public debate to the point where it is grammatically palatable to the most squeamish among us.

The constitutional right of free expression is powerful medicine in a society as diverse and populous as ours.

Between subjection to the will of others and the virtues of self-help and self-government there is a natural incompatibility.

One of the benefits of freedom is that under it the ruler can not pass by the people's minds, and amend their affairs for them without amending them.

To me, a man has no master but God. Man in his authority is a sovereign lord.

As members of the minority party, we do not have the primary authority to formulate the policy of our government. But we do have the responsibility of rendering constructive criticism, of clarifying issues, of allaying fears by acting as responsible citizens.

Seeking no favors because of our color, nor patronage because of our needs, we knock at the bar of justice, asking an equal chance.