“My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!” — Thomas Jefferson · Letter to James Monroe, June 17, 1785
“For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?” — Ralph Waldo Emerson · "Boston," poem, 1830s
“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt · Speech on the Seventy-Fourth Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1936
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” — William Faulkner · Essay "On Fear: Deep South in Labor," Harper's Magazine, June 1956
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” — Harry S. Truman · Special Message to the Congress on the State of the Union, January 8, 1947
“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 · Address to the Annual Meeting of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, March 30, 1961
“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” — James Madison · Letter to George Thompson, June 30, 1825