The love of liberty that is not a real principle of dutiful behavior to authority is as hypocritical as the religion that is not productive of a good life.
Interpretation
True love for freedom must be accompanied by a sense of duty towards authority; otherwise, it is hypocritical.
Joseph Butler's quote emphasizes the importance of balancing the love of freedom with respect for authority. He argues that a genuine love for liberty should naturally lead to a sense of responsibility, much like a true religion should inspire ethical living. Without this adherence to moral conduct, both liberty and religion become hollow and hypocritical expressions, losing their true meaning and significance in fostering a good life.
In practice
In a discussion about civil rights and responsibilities, this quote can highlight the importance of accountability in the pursuit of freedom.
The private interest of the individual would not be sufficiently provided for by reasonable and cool self-love alone; therefore the appetites and passions are placed within as a guard and further security, without which it would not be taken due care of.
Both our senses and our passions are a supply to the imperfection of our nature; thus they show that we are such sort of creatures as to stand in need of those helps which higher orders of creatures do not.
However, without considering this connection, there is no doubt but that more good than evil, more delight than sorrow, arises from compassion itself; there being so many things which balance the sorrow of it.
There is a much more exact correspondence between the natural and moral world than we are apt to take notice of.
God Almighty is, to be sure, unmoved by passion or appetite, unchanged by affection; but then it is to be added that He neither sees nor hears nor perceives things by any senses like ours; but in a manner infinitely more perfect.
That which is the foundation of all our hopes and of all our fears; all our hopes and fears which are of any consideration; I mean a Future Life.
When men abandon reason, physical force becomes their only means of dealing with one another and of settling disagreements.
For you all think God is one who rewards good and punishes evil, but I say to you that God is one who loves you and has compassion for everyone. You just have to pray to Him and believe in Him. He will always be your guiding light.
Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.
I perceive a necessary gap between seeing and being. I would not be able to have said certain things if I had been under the obligation to unify the word and the deed. As it is I can let my words reach out and net impossible things - things that are impossible for me to do. And this is a way to pay the price for saying or seeing things.
Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.
Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.
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