Liberty is no negation. It is a substantive, tangible reality.
Interpretation
Liberty is a positive concept that represents a real and meaningful state of being free.
In this quote, James A. Garfield emphasizes that liberty should not be viewed merely as the absence of constraint, but rather as a vital and concrete quality that enriches human existence. He suggests that true freedom encompasses not only the removal of oppression but also the presence of opportunities and the ability to pursue one's own goals and aspirations.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, one could invoke this quote to stress the importance of true liberty in society.
Statistical science is indispensable to modern statesmanship. In legislation as in physical science it is beginning to be understood that we can control terrestrial forces only by obeying their laws. The legislator must formulate in his statutes not only the national will, but also those great laws of social life revealed by statistics.
I am trying to do two things: dare to be a radical and not a fool, which is a matter of no small difficulty.
Justice and goodwill will outlast passion.
Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.
If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it's the best possible substitute for it.
Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
Stories are the secret reservoir of values: change the stories individuals and nations live by and tell themselves, and you change the individuals and nations.
There is perhaps nothing so admirable in Christianity and Buddhism as their art of teaching even the lowest to elevate themselves by piety to a seemingly higher order of things, and thereby to retain their satisfaction with the actual world in which they find it difficult enough to live - this very difficulty being necessary.
He that would be angry and sin not, must not be angry with anything but sin.
I love the broad margin to my life.
The words I AM are your sacred identification as God- your highest self. Take care how you use this terms because saying anything after I AM that's incongruent with God is really taking the Lord's name in vain!
There is no greater evil for men than the constraint of fortune.
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