Jonathan Edwards Quotes

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought.

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.

The only freedom I care about is the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with on the cheapest terms to anyone who will take it of me.

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right.

Absolute liberty is absence of restraint; responsibility is restraint; therefore, the ideally free individual is responsible to himself.

Freedom is not the liberty do anything whatsoever. It is the freedom to do good

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.

But there is a corollary to freedom and that's personal responsibility, and the real challenge is how you generate that personal responsibility without imposing it.

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

Implicit in true freedom of spirit lies a proud and virile will. Such glorious power of free will to choose, envisages beneficent social responsibility as manifest and welcome.

I'm really only responsible for my own actions.

The rewards of freedom are always sweet, but its demands are stern, for at its heart is the paradox that the greatest enemy of freedom is freedom.

Anything which tends to bring a greater sense of responsibility to individuals should be encouraged.

True liberty, then, is a liberty to do everything that is right …

We have, all of us, our duties. Every action of our lives, and every word that we utter, will either conduce to or detract from the discharge of our duty.

Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility.

Freedom comes with responsibility.

We need to hold ourselves accountable for the work we do and the choices we make.

For a man to act himself, he must be perfectly free; otherwise he is in danger of losing all sense of responsibility or of self- respect.

People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it.

Let men decide firmly what they will not do, and they will be free to do vigorously what they ought to do.

We are accountable for our actions as we exercise our moral agency. If we understand this principle and make righteous choices, our lives will be blessed.

Only by taking responsibility for oneself, to the greatest extent possible, can one ever be free, and only a free person can make responsible choices - between right and wrong, saving and spending, giving or taking.