At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.
Interpretation
The essence of freedom lies in the ability to create and understand our own interpretations of life and existence.
This quote emphasizes the fundamental right each individual has to shape their own understanding of existence and the meaning of life. It highlights the importance of personal liberty in exploring the profound questions of the universe and human nature, suggesting that defining these concepts is essential to true freedom.
In practice
A speech about the importance of personal freedom in a democratic society.
First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.
We must never lose sight of the fact that the law has a moral foundation, and we must never fail to ask ourselves not only what the law is, but what the law should be.
The lessons of the First Amendment are as urgent in the modern world as the 18th Century when it was written. One timeless lesson is that if citizens are subjected to state-sponsored religious exercises, the State disavows its own duty to guard and respect that sphere of inviolable conscience and belief which is the mark of a free people.
The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity.
Sometimes you don't know if you're Caesar about to cross the Rubicon or Captain Queeg cutting your own tow line.
When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
Generalized intelligence and mental alertness are the most powerful enemies of dictatorship and at the same time the basic conditions of effective democracy.
I sometimes think that I enjoy suffering. But the truth is I would prefer something else.
Miracles are instantaneous, they cannot be summoned, but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them.
Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there is nothing left undone.
The present moment is the only aperture through which the soul can pass out of time into eternity, through which grace can pass out of eternity into the soul, and through which love can pass from one soul in time to another soul in time.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.