Gathering from greats such as Aristotle, Montesquieu, Friedrich A. Hayek, and others, we come to a list of quotes on the topic of citizen rights that should serve as a guide to any Web3 community seeking to establish its own constitution. The quotes in the list below are organized by the subject’s date of birth. Let’s get to it!
Aristotle
- “… the basis of a democratic state is liberty… a man should live as he likes.” – Aristotle
Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
Thomas Hobbes
- “In democracy, LIBERTY is to be supposed… no man is FREE in any other government.” – Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
- “In the races of mankind and families in the world, there remains not to one above another…” – John Locke
- “… freedom from absolute, arbitrary power, is so necessary to, and closely joined with a man’s preservation, that he cannot part with it, but by what forfeits his preservation and life together…” – John Locke
Montesquieu
- “Nothing makes the crime of high treason more arbitrary then when indiscreet speech becomes its material… Speech [is] only an idea… How, then, can one make speech a crime of high treason? Wherever this law is established, not only is there no longer liberty, there is not even its shadow… in order to enjoy [and preserve] liberty, each [citizen] must be able to say what he thinks…” – Montesquieu
- “… in a democracy real equality is the soul of the state… Every inequality in a democracy should be drawn from the nature of democracy and from the very principle of equality.” – Montesquieu
- “It often happens in popular states that accusations are made in public and any man is permitted to indict whomever he wants. This has brought about the establishment of laws proper to the defense of the innocence of the citizens. In Athens, the accuser who did not get a fifth of the votes for his side paid a fine of a thousand drachmas… In Rome, the unjust accuser was branded with infamy, and the letter “K” was stamped on his forehead.” – Montesquieu
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “Since no individual has natural authority over his fellow man, and since force creates no rights, agreements remain the basis of all legitimate authority among men.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “Peace, unity, and equality are the enemies of political subtleties.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “If we inquire into exactly what constitutes the greatest good of all, which should be the end of every system of legislation, we shall find that it comes down to these two principal objectives, liberty and equality.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Adam Smith
- “To prohibit a great people… from making all that they can of every part of their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry in the way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind.” – Adam Smith
Immanuel Kant
- “There is only one innate right. Freedom (independence from being constrained by another’s choice), insofar as it can coexist with the freedom of every other in accordance with a universal law, is the only original right belonging to every man by virtue of his humanity.” – Immanuel Kant
Alexis de Tocqueville
- “… men cannot become absolutely equal without being entirely free…” – Alexis de Tocqueville
- “The idea of rights is nothing more than the idea of virtue introduced into the political world…”- Alexis de Tocqueville
John Stuart Mill
- “…the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” – John Stuart Mill
- “The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.” – John Stuart Mill
- “… human liberty… comprises, first… demanding liberty of conscience, in the most comprehensive sense; liberty of thought and feelings; absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral, or theological. The liberty of expressing and publishing opinions may seem to fall under a different principle, since it belongs to that part of the conduct of an individual which concerns other people; but, being almost of as much important as the liberty of thought itself, and resting in great part on the same reasons, is practically inseparable from it.” – John Stuart Mill
Friedrich A. Hayek
- “… freedom is almost certain to be destroyed by piecemeal encroachments.” – Friedrich A. Hayek
- “Under a reign of freedom the free sphere of the individual includes all action not explicitly restricted by a general law… Freedom of action, even in humble things, is as important as freedom of thought.” – Friedrich A. Hayek
- “Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions and will receive praise or blame for them. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable.” – Friedrich A. Hayek
Bertrand de Jouvenel
- “The essential freedom, as I see it, is the freedom to create a gathering, to generate a group, and thereby introduce in society a new power, a source of movement and change.” – Bertrand de Jouvenel
- “He is a free man in so far as the formulator of his obligations is none other than himself. Herein resides his dignity… A man is free when and to the extent that he is his own judge of his obligations, when none but himself compels him to fulfill them. A man is free when act spontaneously, as the execution of a judgment passed, in the forum of his own conscience.” – Bertrand de Jouvenel
- “It is liberty of opinion which animates what is called the dialectic of democracy. Out of the free clash of opinions a majority view emerges and commands.” – Bertrand de Jouvenel
John Rawls
- “Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all… equal political liberty is not solely a means. These freedoms strengthen men’s sense of their own worth, enlarge their intellectual and moral sensibilities, and lay the basis for a sense of duty and obligation upon which the stability of just institutions depends…” – John Rawls
- “… the constitution establishes a secure common status of equal citizenship and realizes political justice… the liberties of equal citizenship must be incorporated into and protected by the constitution. These liberties include those of liberty of conscience and freedom of thought, liberty of the person, and equal political rights.” – John Rawls
Elinor Ostrom
- “Rights are subject to limits.” – Elinor Ostrom
Thanks for reading!