Richard Carlile Quotes

Democracy, in any rational form, also imposes conditions on majority rule. That's what the Bill of Rights is about, for example.

If you want to be free, or you want to preserve freedom for people, you both need to have laws that make it so people have freedom of speech and all the freedoms that they need. You also need to have an open governance system where people can vote and people have representation.

The Constitution is the bedrock of all our freedoms; guard and cherish it; keep honor and order in your own house; and the republic will endure.

Being democratic is not enough, a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right. In order to be considered truly free, countries must also have a deep love of liberty and an abiding respect for the rule of law.

Obviously, I'll keep fighting to uphold the Constitution.

Democracies have been, and governments called, free; but the spirit of independence and the consciousness of unalienable rights, were never before transfused into the minds of a whole people....The feeling of equality which they proudly cherish does not proceed from an ignorance of their station, but from the knowledge of their rights; and it is this knowledge which will render it so exceedingly difficult for any tyrant ever to triumph over the liberties of our country.

Freedom of speech, freedom to criticize pillars of government, freedom to form parties and freedom of the press within the framework of the constitution are among the absolute rights of the public.

The Supreme Court has always been the last bastion of the protection of our freedoms.

My loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law.

Liberty is about our rights to question everything.

Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination. On the contrary, laws, under no form of government, are better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness more effectually dispensed to mankind.

If we are a free country, we have the right to be free.

I look on that paper (the Constitution) as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people.

In a free state there should be freedom of speech and thought.

[Louis Brandeis] believes in natural rights of speech and liberty and the right to pursue happiness.

Thus, dear friends, I have said it clearly enough, and I believe you ought to understand it and not make liberty a law.

You have a right to say what you believe, and I have a right.

According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I [the Lord] have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.

I insist that people - wherever they live - have their rights and they must be able to fight for them.

Without authority there is no liberty. Freedom is doomed to destruction at every turn, unless there is a recognized right to freedom. And if there are rights, there is an authority to which we appeal for them.

The First Amendment...begins with the five loveliest words in the English language: 'Congress shall make no law'.

He who would save liberty must put his trust in democracy.

The price of liberty is, in addition to eternal vigilance, eternal patience with the vacuous blather occasionally expressed from behind the shield of free speech.

Our Bill of Rights, the most precious part of our legal heritage, is under subtle and pervasive attacks... In the struggle between our world and Communism, the temptation to imitate totalitarian security methods must be resisted day by day... When the rights of any individual or group are chipped away, the freedom of all erodes.

So long as we govern our nation by the letter and spirit of the Bill of Rights, we can be sure that our nation will grow in strength and wisdom and freedom.