“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” — Benjamin Franklin · 1755
“It will be celebrated with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” — John Adams · Letter to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.” — Aristotle · Politics, Book VI, c. 350 BC
“I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau · The Social Contract, 1762
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” — George Bernard Shaw · Maxims for Revolutionists, 1903