Anna C. Brackett Quotes

He was free, free in every way, free to behave like a fool or a machine, free to accept, free to refuse, free to equivocate; to marry, to give up the game, to drag this death weight about with him for years to come. He could do what he liked, no one had the right to advise him, there would be for him no Good or Evil unless he thought them into being.

Morality is only moral when it is voluntary.

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.

I think people have to take responsibility for their own actions.

As contemporary history reminds us we are human to the extent that we are able to chose between alternatives.

Man can acquire accomplishments or he can become an animal, whichever he wants. God makes the animals, man makes himself.

The more...we consider man to be free, the less we can say, that he can neglect to use reason, or choose evil in preference to good

There is only one basic human right: the right to do as you please, without causing others harm. With it comes our only basic human duty: the duty to accept the consequences of our actions.

All I want is' - and he uttered the final words through clenched teeth and with a sort of shame - 'to retain my freedom.' I should myself have thought,' said Jacques, 'that freedom consisted in frankly confronting situations into which one had deliberately entered, and accepting all one's responsibilities. But that, no doubt, is not your view.

Absolute freedom does not exist; what does exist is the freedom to choose anything you like and then commit yourself to that decision.

It is a most just punishment, that man should lose that freedom, which man could not use, yet had power to keep, if he would; and that he who had knowledge to do what was right, and did not should be deprived of the knowledge of what was right; and that he who would not do righteously, when he had the power, should lose the power to do it, when he had the will.

Man is certainly free, but he is responsible for this freedom before God as before men. This responsibility is inevitably moral. In order of this morality, to be free is to protect the freedom of others and their dignities.

I do believe in choice, the freedom of choice and carving out your own happiness.

There is always a choice." "You mean I could choose certain death?" "A choice nevertheless, or perhaps an alternative. You see I believe in freedom. Not many people do, although they will of course protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based.

Nothing harms or destroys us but the wrong use of that liberty of choice which God has entrusted to us.

Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom.

Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.

The essence of God's action in wrath is to give people what they choose, in all its implications.

The choices we make within the boundaries of the twists of fate determines who we are

True freedom is not the liberty to do anything we please, but the liberty to do what we ought; and it is genuine liberty because doing what we ought now pleases us

We have moral agency as a gift of God. Rather than the right to choose to be free of influence, it is the inalienable right to submit ourselves to whichever of those powers we choose.

Of course there’s destiny, but destiny doesn’t push you where you don’t want to go. You’re the ones who choose. Destiny is up to you.

It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?

Your God person puts an apple tree in the middle of a garden and says, do what you like, guys, oh, but don't eat the apple. Surprise surprise, they eat it and he leaps out from behind a bush shouting "Gotcha". It wouldn't have made any difference if they hadn't eaten it.' 'Why not?' 'Because if you're dealing with somebody who has the sort of mentality which likes leaving hats on the pavement with bricks under them you know perfectly well they won't give up. They'll get you in the end.