Restriction of Rights Quotes

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.

Today, my freedom as a poet is taken by a censor; tomorrow, my freedom as a citizen will be taken by a policeman. Today I am banished from the theater; tomorrow, I shall be banished from the land. Today, I am gagged; tomorrow, I shall be deported. Today a state of siege exists in literature; tomorrow, it will exist in the city.

Government is essentially the negation of liberty.

Civilized men do nothing but boast incessantly of the peace and repose they enjoy in their chains....

It seems to me that we are living in an increasingly unfree society.

The tendency of all strong governments has always been to suppress liberty, partly in order to ease the processes of rule, partly from sheer disbelief in innovation.

We have seen enough criminality on the part of government. It is hypocritical to make this allegation against me. They have narrowed the public sphere of influence.

The Thought Police: To censor and protect.

[G]overnment can, instead of extending freedom, restrict freedom. And note ... that the 'can' quickly becomes 'will' the moment the holders of government power are left to their own devices. This is because of the corrupting influence of power, the natural tendency of men who possess some power to take unto themselves more power. The tendency leads eventually to the acquisition of all power - whether in the hands of one or many makes little difference to the freedom of those left on the outside.

In captivity, one loses every way of acting over little details which satisfy the essentials of life. Everything has to be asked for: permission to go to the toilet, permission to ask a guard something, permission to talk to another hostage - to brush your teeth, use toilet paper, everything is a negotiation.

Any attempt at demonstrating (rallies) will immediately result in adequate and strict reaction by the armed forces.

When you get locked up, you get locked out.

What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long.

There are men who strike at liberty under the term licentiousness.

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.

'Socialize' means we turn more of our personal powers over to Big Brother, not free enterprise.

In Victorian England, people were told they should discourage their wives from reading because it would lead them into all sorts of devilish wickedness.

... the worst plague of all, namely, unrestrained liberty of opinion and freedom of speech.

No, the czar did not want us in the schools.

The longing for freedom … is only too frequently suggested by the deep-felt consciousness of its absence.

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon a supposition that he may abuse it.

'The End of America' details the 10 steps that would-be dictators always take in seeking to close an open society; it argued that the Bush administration had been advancing each one.

I meant that the Chinese people are not aware of their own entrapment. They believe they live in a free society, but don't realize how much they are being monitored and controlled, how much the information they receive is restricted and warped, until they step out of line, that is, and feel the heavy hand of the state fall on them.