Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live
by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative
power vested in it; a liberty to follow my own will in all things,
when the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject to the inconstant,
uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man.
--JOHN LOCKE
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.
--DAVID HUME
The common people of England ... so jealous of their liberty, but like
the common people of most other countries never rightly understanding
wherein it consists....
--ADAM SMITH
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
--EDMUND BURKE
The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals
composing it.... A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they
may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial
purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really
be accomplished; and that the perfection of machinery to which it
has sacrificed everything will in the end avail it nothing, for want
of the vital power which, in order that the machine might work more
smoothly, it has preferred to banish.
--JOHN STUART MILL