Category Archives: Freedom Quote

Boyd K. Packer: Freedom Through Obedience

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"Obedience to God can be the very highest expression of independence.  Just think of giving to Him the one thing, the one gift, that He would never take.  Obedience — that which God will never take by force — He will accept when freely given.  He will then return to you freedom that you can hardly dream of — the freedom to feel and to know, the freedom to do, and the freedom to be, at least a thousand fold more than we offer him.  Strangely enough, the key to freedom is obedience."

Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU Speeches of the Year, Provo, 7 Dec. 1971, p. 4, Quoted by Janet G. Lee, “Look Both Ways”, New Era, February 1994.

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Harold B. Lee: Do Not Preach Pessimism

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“Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. … This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all.  I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through.” (Ye Are the Light of the World, p. 350-351)

Harold B. Lee, 11th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Brigham Young: The U.S. Constitution

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“I want to say to every man, the Constitution of the United States, as formed by our fathers, was dictated, was revealed, was put into their hearts by the Almighty, who sits enthroned in the midst of the heavens; although unknown to them, it was dictated by the revelations of Jesus Christ, and I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as good as I could ask for.”

Brigham Young, Second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and colonizer of the western United States.

Martin Luther King: Let Freedom Ring

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Martin Luther King“Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

“Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

“Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

“And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'”

Martin Luther King, from “I Have a Dream” speech at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Jefferson: Liberty is a Gift of God

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Thomas Jefferson“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States, Principal Author of the Declaration of Independence

Woodrow Wilson: Source of Liberty

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Woodrow Wilson“Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of government power, not the increase of it.”

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, from a speech in New York City, September 9, 1912

John Adams: Celebrating the Declaration

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John AdamsThe Declaration of Independence “will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.”

John Adams, 2nd President of the United States.