Liberal Quotes

The instinct of a Liberal is to distribute power as widely as possible, and to hold to account all those who exercise it. Alan Beith

“The faith of a liberal is a profound belief not only in the capacities of individual men and women, but also in the effectiveness of people helping each other.” F D Roosevelt

Our fight for civil liberties in Britain, our belief in a Bill of Rights ,our struggle for fair votes, our commitment to freedom of information, our demand for employee rights and shares, our determination to give people power in their own hands – all these are testimony of our faith. Paddy Ashdown

“If liberalism is to mean anything at all, it is duty bound to support without hesitation the dissenting individual over the group, the heretic over the orthodox, innovation over stagnation, and free speech over offense.” Maajid Nawaz

A quote about #PalestineAction

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens.” Harry S. Truman

"I’ve always fought for ... strong communities and for a more caring society. And they’re the values that make me so proud of our party. And when I meet people acting out those values every day across our United Kingdom, it also makes me so proud to be British." Ed Davey

“The state represents physical force together with moral authority. The state is most civilised where moral authority is most potent and physical force least required.” John Morley

love is wise, hatred is foolish. ... We have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. ..., we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet." Bertrand Russell

“When society requires to be rebuilt, there is no use in attempting to rebuild it on the old plan.” John Stuart Mill 1859 (Dissertations and discussions, political, philosophical and historical, vol 1)

“Liberalism stand for liberty; but it is an error to think that a policy of liberty must always be negative, that the state can help liberty only by abstaining from action … often more law may mean more liberty.” Liberal Party, Britain’s Industrial Future (the Yellow Book) 1928

“as liberals... our core values are: a passionate commitment to the rule of law, equally applied to all, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor; a passionate commitment to the rights of all human beings to freedom of expression, and a passionate commitment to social justice.” Simon Hughes

“Liberty remains a response to the fact that we live in a world of uncertainty.” Ralf Dahrendorf

“[T]he state should not impose a preferred way of life, but should leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends, consistent with a similar liberty for others.” Michael Sandel, Liberalism and Its Critics

“I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself ... but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that people cherish: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity.” Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty

New Liberal Manifesto | Redefining liberalism for modern-day Britain

Liberalism is not… An ideology based on power. Achieving power through the electoral process is a means to an end for the liberal rather than the end in itself. p10 newliberalmanifesto.org.uk

“The LibDems are needed now more than ever. Our mix of Liberalism and Social Democracy, of believing in the power of the individual and caring for the least, the last and the lost in society, is unique in British politics.” Matthew Hulbert

“The love of liberty is the love of others. The love of power is the love of ourselves.” William Hazlitt

“It’s all about power – how to make individuals more powerful in their own lives, and how to hold the already powerful to account... Liberalism [is] an anti-establishment, reformist, ... creed, aimed at improving people’s lives by challenging the status quo and appealing to people’s dreams” Ed Davey

When we speak of freedom, we do not mean merely freedom to do as we like, irrespective of what it is we like. We mean the greatest power on the part of the citizens as a body to make the most and best of themselves. T. H. Green

“Liberty is the end product of politics and not its starting point.” Bernard Greaves and Gordon Lishman

Don't forget to finish up your sprouts, as we wish you all a merry Christmas, and remind you of what Gladstone said: “Nonconformity supplies the backbone of English Liberalism.”

“Society is indeed a contract... it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are about to be born.” Edmund Burke

"Liberals will always have in mind more consciously as their aim, not material progress but spiritual liberty; they will emphasise the importance of the individual, and the need to let each person develop on their own line, so long as they do not harm others." William Beveridge

“Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance – these may be cured by reform or revolution. But people do not live only by fighting evils.They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.” Isaiah Berlin

A test the UK isn't doing very well at right now:

“The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is free is the amount of security enjoyed by its minorities.” Acton

“The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is free is the amount of security enjoyed by its minorities.” Acton

"My idea of being a liberal means never being afraid to be in a minority in order to stand up for what you believe." Paddy Ashdown

“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt” God

“The trunk of the tree of liberalism is rooted in the soil of ethics.” Herbert Samuel 1902

"Politicians at their peril dictate identity and culture. People can quite comfortably consider themselves both Scots and British and European, a combination of all. Indeed for the citizen it is empowering to have ownership of their identity." David Steel