Gerald Emmett Carter Quotes

I believe in trying to get a balance between individual freedom on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.

If, in the name of liberty, we allow individuals to act in a way that damages the wellbeing of the whole, it will inevitably mean the breakdown of mutuality, thereby changing the very nature of our society.

The love of individual freedom has stood in the way of the appreciation of social obligations.

Free people make the only milieu possible in society for the full gift of one's self to church, state, and family. Free people enjoy and sustain and feel with one another because they live for one another. The paths of life are intermingled lives.

There has to be a social commitment, a social consciousness that joins men together. On the basis of their coming together, they do not transgress against themselves and they do not transgress against others.

I dare not exercise personal liberty if it infringes on the liberty of others.

To be frank, it sometimes seems that the American idea of freedom has more to do with my freedom to do what I want than your freedom to do what you want. I think that, in Europe, we're probably better at understanding how to balance those competing claims, though not a lot.

Americans want individual freedom and yet they want strong communities. There is some contradiction there.

There is no true liberty for the individual except as he finds it in the liberty of all. There is no true security for the individual except as he finds it in the security of all.

Each wants to be free, but none can succeed in obtaining freedom unless all are permitted to enjoy it

Modern society places an emphasis on individual responsibility, whereas Islam places an emphasis on collective responsibility and the family.

If individuality has no play, society does not advance; if individuality breaks out of all bounds, society perishes.

We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own. Obviously, freedom as the definition of a man does not depend upon others, but as soon as there is a commitment, I am obliged to will the liberty of others at the same time as my own. I cannot make liberty my aim unless I make that of others equally my aim.

All who think cannot but see there is a sanction like that of religion which binds us in partnership in the serious work of the world.

Freedoms, like privileges, prevail or are imperiled together You cannot harm or strive to achieve one without harming or furthering all.

Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for individual and social harmony.

One thing that makes France different from other countries is the tradition of social solidarity. People from all backgrounds and political positions are willing to contribute for services and protection of society as a whole - but on the condition that money is being spent effectively and that everyone is paying their part.

The exercise of natural rights has no limits but such as will ensure their enjoyment to other members of society.

For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.

The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.

Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.

The constitution is for us all to live together, a common life, we need each other.

We too often prefer the individual thrill to collective responsibility.

It is ... difficult to induce a number of free beings to co-operate for their mutual benefit.

The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.