The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Seeking freedom only as a means to other ends undermines the very value of liberty.
- In plain terms
- If you want freedom for reasons other than freedom itself, you will become enslaved.
- What can you take from it?
- Value liberty for its own sake.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do you value freedom?
- Can freedom be conditional?
Another view
Practical tradeoffs between freedom and security are inevitable.
More from Alexis de Tocqueville
The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality.
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