I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.

––Alexis de Tocqueville

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

––Martin Luther King, Jr

The right to freedom being the gift of God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.

––Samuel Adams

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

––Abraham Lincoln

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

––Thomas Jefferson

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.

––Thomas Paine

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.

––Thomas Macaulay

I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.

––Learned Hand

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

––George Orwell

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

––Soren Kierkegaard

A politician will do anything to keep his job even become a patriot.

––William Randolph Hearst

Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.

 ––Mark Twain

(Each week this column features quotations gleaned from the readings and experiences of our editors, reporters, readers, and friends. All are invited to submit quotations for inclusion here. They may be sent to Gleanings, c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470 or emailed to editor@thebee.com.)