Freedom

Quotes About Freedom

I prefer liberty to chains of diamonds -- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) English writer

FREEDOM.

Who cometh over the hills,
Her garment with morning sweet,
The dance of a thousand rills
Making music before her feet?
Her presence freshens the air,
Sunshine steals light from her face.
The leaden footstep of Care
Leaps to the tune of her pace,
Fairness of all that is fair,
Grace at the heart of all grace!
Sweetener of hut and of hall,
Bringer of life put of naught,
Freedom, O, fairest of all
The daughters of Time and Thought!
_Ode to Freedom: Centennial Anniversary of the Battle of
Concord, April_ 19, 1875. J.R. LOWELL.

Of old sat Freedom on the heights,
The thunders breaking at her feet:
Above her shook the starry lights:
She heard the torrents meet.

* * * * *

Her open eyes desire the truth.
The wisdom of a thousand years
Is in them. May perpetual youth
Keep dry their light from tears.
_Of old sat Freedom on the heights_. A. TENNYSON.

No. Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.

* * * * *

Religion, virtue, truth, whate'er we call
A blessing--Freedom is the pledge of all.
_Table Talk_. W. COWPER.

A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.
_Cato, Act ii. Sc_. 1. J. ADDISON.

The love of liberty with life is given,
And life itself the inferior gift of Heaven.
_Polamon and Arcite, Bk. II_. J. DRYDEN.

'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower
Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume;
And we are weeds without it.
_The Task, Bk. V_. W. COWPER.

I must have liberty
Withal, as large a charter as the wind,
To blow on whom I please.
_As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 7_. SHAKESPEARE.

That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood,
And still revolt when truth would set them free.
License they mean, when they cry Liberty;
For who loves that must first be wise and good.
_On the Detraction which followed upon my writing
Certain Treatises, II_. MILTON.

The traitor to Humanity is the traitor most accursed;
Man is more than Constitutions; better rot beneath the sod,
Than be true to Church and State while we are doubly false to God.
_On the Capture of Certain Fugitive Slaves near Washington_. J.R.
LOWELL.

The sword may pierce the beaver,
Stone walls in time may sever;
'T is mind alone,
Worth steel and stone,
That keeps men free forever.
_O, the sight entrancing_. T. MOORE.

Here the free spirit of mankind, at length,
Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place
A limit to the giant's unchained strength,
Or curb his swiftness in the forward race?
_The Ages_. W.C. BRYANT.

Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunder-storm _against_ the wind.
_Childe Harold, Canto IV_. LORD BYRON.

Freedom needs all her poets; it is they
Who give her aspirations wings,
And to the wiser law of music sway
Her wild imaginings.
_To the Memory of Hood_. J.R. LOWELL.

Free soil, free men, free speech, free press,
Fremont and victory!
_Chorus: Republican Campaign Song_, 1856.
R.R. RAYMOND.