We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I do not know what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ~ Patrick Henry

We're entering our third century now, but it's wrong to judge our nation by its years. The calendar can't measure America because we were meant to be an endless experiment in freedom, with no limits to our reaches, no boundaries to what we can do, no end point to our hopes. ~ Ronald Reagan

Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech. ~ Benjamin Franklin

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations. ~ John Adams

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered ... deeply ... finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. ~ George Washington

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to
us by the laws of God and nature. ~ Benjamin Franklin

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. ~ Samuel Adams

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. ~ Abraham Lincoln

...We here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty. ~ Mark Twain

This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~ Elmer Holmes Davis

The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of governmental power. No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation. ~ Douglass MacArthur

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans-- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter place. ~ John F. Kennedy

Let every nation know...whether it wishes us well or ill... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. ~ John F. Kennedy

Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what can you do for your country. ~ John F. Kennedy

No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. ~ Ronald Reagan

Let it be said of us that we, too did not fail; that we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this chamber as we're meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty this last, best hope of man on Earth. ~ Ronald Reagan

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~ Dick Cheney

It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. ~ George W. Bush

In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America, because we are freedom's home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time. ~ George W. Bush