It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
Interpretation
Sacrificing others' freedom undermines your own autonomy.
James Otis suggests that individuals who willingly trade away the freedom of others may eventually become indifferent to their own liberation. This reflects a deeper philosophical idea that the respect for personal liberty should be universal, as violating the rights of others can lead to a collective deterioration of freedom.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting freedoms for all.
I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow... for bitter bread, earned under the frowns of some who have no natural or divine right to be above me, and entirely owe their grandeur and honor to grinding the faces of the poor.
There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the Law of Nature and the grant of God Almighty, who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they please.
I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is.
If we are not represented, we are slaves.
Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.
Perception is a mirror not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.
Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.
No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.
The man who kills a man kills a man. The man who kills himself kills all men. As far as he is concerned, he wipes out the world.
We have been so successful in the past century at the art of living longer and staying alive that we have forgotten how to die. Too often we learn the hard way. As soon as the baby boomers pass pensionable age, their lesson will be harsher still.
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