Reflecting on the Meaning of Freedom
It’s remarkably easy to take freedom for granted when you have it. I expect it’s that way with most things in life.
As we prepare to celebrate America’s Independence Day holiday, I think it’s a good time to consider what freedom really means to us personally, beyond the politics and daily dramas of the world we live in at the moment.
Independence and freedom have always been important to me and both are among my core values. In fact, embracing the freedom and power we each have to create the quality and course of our life journey is the underlying message behind everything I write and teach.
Freedom is many things, but those issues that are often in the forefront of conversations these days include the freedom to choose, to be who you truly are, to express yourself and to live your life as you desire so long as you do not hurt or restrict the personal freedom of others.
I’ve compiled a collection of powerful quotations on the meaning of freedom to share with you, and if there is a single unifying theme it is that we must remember at all times that, regardless of where you live, freedom is not carved in stone, nor does it come without a price.
Reflecting on the Meaning of Freedom
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
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
Freedom of speech is not simply a freedom to think and say what you wish but to speak for yourself, to speak from the heart, and to be accountable for your words. ~Ian McCallum
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~Abraham Lincoln
No matter how bad my circumstances, I have the freedom to choose my attitude toward life, even to find joy. Evil is not new. It is up to us how we deal with both good and bad. No one can take this power away from us. ~Alice Herz-Sommer
In a world tearing at you to be the same as everyone else, freedom becomes courage to be oneself, a commitment to creative expression and pursuit of one’s own dreams. ~Brendon Burchard
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine
Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. ~George Orwell
I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free so other people would be also free. ~Rosa Parks
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. ~Charles Evans Hughes
If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise, we do not believe in it at all. ~Noam Chomsky
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. ~Albert Einstein
When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society. ~Pope John Paul II
Chaos is more freedom; in fact, total freedom. But there is no meaning. I want to be free to act, but I also want my actions to mean something. ~Audrey Niffenegger
Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves. ~Henry Grady Weaver
A freedom that only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense. ~Barak Obama
Today I choose life. Every morning I wake up and I choose joy, happiness, and some days, negativity and pain. To feel the freedom that comes from being able to choose is glorious. ~Kevyn Aucoin
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ~Viktor E. Frankl
Freedom is not a life spent without care or want or grief, but rather the ability to experience and learn from these things as we rise above them stronger than ever.
Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We have the freedom to choose whether to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble. ~Yehuda Berg
‘Freedom from fear’ could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights. ~Dag Hammarskjold
And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the entire world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. ~John Steinbeck
What do you believe about freedom and how do you describe or define it for yourself?
This article was originally published at Emotionally Resilient Living.
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