99 Freedom Quotes That Can Turn Out to Be Liberating

Freedom is the power to think, speak, act and live as we want without undue or unjust constraints and although it represents one of our most fundamental needs, it is so elusive to define because each one’s notion of freedom is unique. To help you determine freely the direction of your own life, we have compiled a list of the most inspirational freedom quotes that can turn out to be liberating. Muse upon them to reframe your perspective of freedom, but also share them with friends and loved ones to inspire purpose and meaning in life!

Freedom is a core pillar of our existence, without which we cannot be happy. Although most of us would think of freedom as self-evident, it only takes a good look around the world to witness events where free expression is squashed and human rights get violated. The struggle for freedom is still going on, however it is not limited to the physical dimension only, but can be also moral, or both.

Today, many of the freedoms we strive for are viewed as an end destination. We seek to free ourselves from something in order to be free to do something else and in essence, we are trying to satisfy our desires and passions without realizing that we are enslaved by them. Many times, the shackles are invisible and oppression is adeptly masqueraded behind a convincing logo of freedom.

Freedom should be founded on self-mastery and discipline, on our ability to act rationally, without any external coercion or internal compulsion by our passions which, most of the time, arise out of our desire to conform to societal standards and expectations. Free yourself from the bondage of external constraints and the tyranny of your passions. Do not expect society or government to create happiness for you. You alone create your own happiness. Define your own version of freedom and live it!

Table of Contents

1. Powerful Short Freedom Quotes
2. Inspirational Quotes About Freedom to Learn and Think About
3. Personal Freedom Quotes to Help You Fly Toward and Open Future
4. Freedom Quotes to Understand What It Is and Why We Need it
5. Eloquent Quotes About Freedom From Literature

Powerful Short Freedom Quotes

A collection of powerful short freedom quotes that pack a punch and can make dynamic and influential captions for your Instagram and social media posts!

• Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
• Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln
• What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes. Marcus Tullius Cicero
• Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. George Washington
• Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling for it. Albert Einstein
• True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right. Brigham Young
• Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. Søren Kierkegaard
• To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves. Virginia Woolf
• The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Desmond Tutu
• If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. Noam Chomsky
• A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom. Bob Dylan
• Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it. Pericles
• The function of freedom is to free someone else. Toni Morrison
• A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire, or preserve his freedom. Malcolm X
• Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. Mahatma Gandhi
• When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. Nelson Mandela
• If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell
• There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere. Nelson Mandela
• Only the educated are free. Epictetus
• The best road to progress is freedom’s road. John F. Kennedy
• I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. Audre Lorde
• Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be. James Baldwin
• Freedom is never given; it is won. A. Philip Randolph
• Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Benjamin Franklin
• Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves. Friedrich Nietzsche
• Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. Albert Camus
• You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. Clarence Darrow
• No borders, just horizons – only freedom. Amelia Earhart
• Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life. Bob Marley
• Freedom is the power to say no. James Clear
• Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. John F. Kennedy
• Science can flourish only in an atmosphere of free speech. Albert Einstein
• We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. William Faulkner
• No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. Mark Twain
• If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary. Malcolm X
• In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. Henry David Thoreau
• The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. John F. Kennedy
• True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline. Mortimer J. Adler
• Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free. Rosa Parks
• I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery. Thomas Jefferson
• Man is free at the instant he wants to be. Voltaire
• If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. George Washington
• This is my doctrine: Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. Robert G. Ingersoll

Inspirational Quotes About Freedom to Learn and Think About

If you are looking for some heartening and motivation, the following inspirational freedom quotes will help you learn and think about the deeper meaning of freedom.

• Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path. Carl Sagan
• The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. Coco Chanel
• Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used. Hunter S. Thompson
• The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. Albert Camus
• Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility. Sigmund Freud
• Liberty is slow fruit. It is never cheap; it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. Søren Kierkegaard
• Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing. Ayn Rand
• The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. William Hazlitt
• Without freedom there can be no morality. Carl Jung
• May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. Peter Marshall
• If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom. Dwight D. Eisenhower
• 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. Ronald Reagan
• It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Samuel Adams
• It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. Voltaire
• Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give [life] a meaning. Jean-Paul Sartre
• No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit. Ansel Adams
• Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect. Eleanor Roosevelt
• The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities. Lord Acton
• Those who do not move, do not notice their chains. Rosa Luxemburg
• I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom. Noam Chomsky

Best 95 Carl Jung Quotes (to Help You Understand Yourself)

Personal Freedom Quotes to Help You Fly Toward and Open Future

The following list of personal freedom quotes from some of the world’s greatest thinkers will spark your passion to express yourself freely without limits and create your own life and well-being.

• He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. Aristotle
• You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down. Toni Morrison
• No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. Alice Walker
• I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• To be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future. Simone de Beauvoir
• Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free. Thich Nhat Hanh
• Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom. You don’t have to be swept away by your feeling. You can respond with wisdom and kindness rather than habit and reactivity. Henepola Gunaratana
• Here is my secret: I don’t mind what happens. Jiddu Krishnamurti
• It’s beautiful to be alone. To be alone does not mean to be lonely. It means the mind is not influenced and contaminated by society. Jiddu Krishnamurti
• The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first. Jim Morrison
• True freedom is always spiritual. It has something to do with your innermost being, which cannot be chained, handcuffed, or put into a jail. Rajneesh
• You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind. Mahatma Gandhi
• He who is brave is free. Seneca
• A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. Arthur Schopenhauer

Freedom Quotes to Understand What It Is and Why We Need it

Freedom gives you the opportunity to follow your own desires and implement your own decisions. Freedom is not just a word but a practice, so we have collected the following freedom quotes to help you understand what it is and why we need it.

• Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires. Bertrand Russell
• For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela
• Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. Albert Einstein
• Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control. Epictetus
• My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. Adlai E. Stevenson
• May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. Peter Marshall
• He only earns his freedom and his life who takes them every day by storm. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from. Vernon Howard
• Freedom lies in being bold. Robert Frost
• Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose – and commit myself to – what is best for me. Paulo Coelho

Eloquent Quotes About Freedom From Literature

A handpicked mélange of eloquent freedom quotes from literature’s greatest works that will provide a fresh perspective and spark deep thinking upon the theme of freedom.

• I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
• Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
• Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another. Toni Morrison, Beloved
• Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Andersen
• She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
• Freely we serve
  Because we freely love, as in our will
  To love or not; in this we stand or fall.
  John Milton, Paradise Lost
• Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. John Milton, Areopagitica
• I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us. Kahlil Gibran, The Madman
• Because freedom, I am told, is nothing but the distance between the hunter and its prey. Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Freedom is much more than just voting rights or driving freely around the streets at night. Freedom leads to enhanced expressions of creativity, thought and quality of life. It is a mental state and an attitude that gives life meaning and depth. Moreover, it challenges you to become master of yourself, beyond limitations, toxic stereotypes, dogmas and meaningless passions and desires. It is up to you to use your freedom to create something meaningful, to pursue a vision and live a purposeful life!

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