Voluntary Consent Quotes

Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.

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.

…the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, […] cannot be compared with the means by which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude…

An agreement cannot be the result of an imposition.

Nothing is more to be wished than that the United States would themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa ... But for this the national mind is not yet prepared. It may perhaps be doubted whether many of these people would voluntarily consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be capable of self-government. This should not, however, discourage the experiment, nor the early trial of it; and the proposition should be made with all the prudent cautions and attentions requisite to reconcile it to the interests, the safety, and the prejudices of all parties

If there were really serious consequences if I did not accept, then of course I would do whatever was necessary. But in general I really prefer some freedom.

One doesn't want one's identity coerced.

Every man having been born free and master of himself, no one else may under any pretext whatever subject him without his consent. To assert that the son of a slave is born a slave is to assert that he is not born a man.

I was not born to be forced.

All attempts to coerce the living will of human beings into the service of something they do not want must fail