Authors:
  1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. S
  4. Samuel Johnson
  5. Liberty

Samuel Johnson Quotes about Liberty

All Samuel Johnson Quotes Abstinence Abuse Accidents Achievement Adventure Advertising Affection Age Aging Alcohol Ambition Anxiety Appearance Appreciation Army Arrogance Art Atheism Attitude Authority Being Yourself Belief Benevolence Bitterness Blindness Bravery Business Change Character Charity Childhood Children Choices Church Civility Communication Community Compassion Confidence Consciousness Cooking Corruption Country Courage Crime Criticism Culture Curiosity Darkness Death Deception Defeat Design Desire Determination Devil Difficulty Dignity Disappointment Doubt Drinking Duty Dying Education Effort Elegance Energy English Language Envy Equality Evidence Evil Excellence Exercise Expectations Failing Failure Fame Fashion Fate Fear Feelings Flattery Flight Focus Food Freedom Friends Friendship Funny Future Genius Giving Glory Gold Goodness Grace Gratitude Greatness Grief Grieving Guilt Happiness Hate Hatred Health Heart Heaven History Home Honesty Honor Hope House Humanity Hunger Hurt Husband Hypocrisy Ignorance Imagination Imitation Imperfection Injury Innocence Inspirational Integrity Intelligence Journey Joy Judgement Judging Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Laughter Laziness Learning Liberty quotes Life Life And Death Life And Love Literature Losing Loss Love Lying Mankind Manners Marriage Meditation Memories Miscarriage Modesty Money Morality Morning Motivational Nature Office Opportunity Originality Overcoming Pain Passion Past Patience Peace Perfection Perseverance Philosophy Pleasure Poetry Politics Positive Positive Thinking Poverty Power Praise Prejudice Preparation Pride Privacy Progress Property Prosperity Prudence Purpose Quality Reading Reality Reflection Regret Rejection Religion Repentance Reputation Resentment Respect Retirement Revenge Revolution Sacrifice Safety Sailing School Science Security Self Esteem Self Love Shame Silence Sin Sleep Sloth Society Solitude Sorrow Soul Spring Struggle Study Stupidity Style Success Suffering Sunshine Talent Teaching Temptation Theatre Time Tragedy Travel Trust Truth Tyranny Uncertainty Understanding Values Violence Virtue Waiting Wall War Water Weakness Wealth Whiskey Wife Wine Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worry Writing Youth
Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving.

Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving.

Samuel Johnson
Choices, Liberty, Littles
'The Bravery of the English Common Soldier' in 'The British Magazine' January 1760 (Yale ed., vol. 10, p. 283)

No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous.

Samuel Johnson
People, Liberty, Virtue
"An Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain" (1756)

Slavery is now nowhere more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty.

Samuel Johnson
Country, Liberty, Slavery
Samuel Johnson (1804). “The beauties of Samuel Johnson: maxims and observations. To which are now added, biographical anecdotes of the doctor, his life [&c.].”, p.286

How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?

Samuel Johnson
History, Cynical, Liberty
Taxation No Tyranny (1775)

Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world.

Samuel Johnson
Mean, Liberty, Rising
In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 2, p. 369 (18 April 1775)

Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the parent of Liberty.

Samuel Johnson
Daughter, Parent, Liberty
Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.19

Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty, and of ease, and the beauteous sister of temperance, of cheerfulness and health.

Samuel Johnson
Integrity, Parent, Liberty
John Hawkesworth, Samuel Johnson, Richard Bathurst, Joseph Warton (1793). “The Adventurer”, p.164

The liberty of using harmless pleasure will not be disputed; but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless.

Samuel Johnson
Liberty, Pleasure, Stills
Samuel Johnson, Francis William Blagdon (1811). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia”, p.146

The liberty of the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants.

Samuel Johnson
Writing, Blessing, Liberty
Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1857). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.191

Political liberty is only good insofar as it produces private liberty.

Samuel Johnson
Government, Political, Liberty

They who most loudly clamour for liberty do not most liberally grant it.

Samuel Johnson
Liberty, Clamour, Grants
Samuel Johnson (1810). “The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: Cowley. Denham. Milton. Butler. Rochester. Roscommon. Otway. Waller. Pomfret. Dorset. Stepney. J. Phillips. Walsh. Dryden. Smith. Duke. King. Sprat. Halifax. Parnell. Garth. Rowe. Addison. Hughes. Sheffield, duke of Buckinghamshire”, p.102

They make a rout about universal liberty, without considering that all that is to be valued, or indeed can be enjoyed by individuals, is private liberty.

Samuel Johnson
Liberty, Individual, Considering
James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.55

You May Also Like: