Freedom cannot be defined, except through an analysis of the restrictions on human action.
a common fallacy regarding freedom is to automatically assume that it is a byproduct of modern democracy. In fact, the “only” freedom that a democracy bestows practically on its members is that they have the right, every few years or so, to vote for one of a set group of representatives (government) who will run the country on their behalf. Whilst modern democracy is an indispensable foundation for free societies, it does not necessarily guarantee freedom. That job falls to the legal system, which is not so readily influenced by our periodic voting.
Here, then, is the summation of the matter. We had thought, the decent people in all countries, that government by the people under democracy, and with it equal liberty for all, were things definitely achieved. We were forgetting the long struggle and the heroic sacrifice that gave them to the world. Bygone tyrannies and cruelties were forgotton in the nearer perspective of lesser things. Hence came a kind of inertia - a little slumber, a little sleep, a little folding of the hands to sleep - and thereby a creeping paralysis that made us almost let freedom slip from our hands. — Stephen Leacock
The subjection of men to government will always continue as long as patriotism exists, for every ruling power rests on patriotism — on the readiness of men to submit to power. — Leo Tolstoy
Economic policy in many western countries is effectively determined by a process of trade off between big unions, big business and the government. What passes for consensus are deals which accommodate the special interests of union bosses, big economic conglomerates, pressure groups and the ideological goals of the government. The public is led to believe that decisions are made by public consensus whereas the truth is that they only reflect the interests of the powerful and the influential.
By liberty I mean assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes to be his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion. — Lord Acton
The root of all well-ordered social action is a sentiment of justice, which at once insists on personal freedom and is solicitous for the like freedom of others; and there at present exists but a very inadequate amount of this sentiment. — Herbert Spencer
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. — John Stuart Mill
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre. - Frank Zappa
Freedom is the right to say two plus two make four. If granted, all else follows. - George Orwell
Liberal democracy is moving towards a form of corporate dictatorship. This is an historic shift and the media must not be allowed to be its facade. But itself made into a popular burning issue and subjected to direct action. That great whistle-blower Tom Pane warned that if the majority of the people were denied the truth and the ideas of truth then it was time to storm what he called the ‘Bastille of Words’. That time is now. — John Pilger
Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of the two everlasting empires, necessity and free will. — Thomas Carlyle
