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If nations perish, it is not because of their devotion to liberty, but for their disregard of its requirements.
William Lloyd Garrison
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Nations fail not for valuing freedom, but for neglecting what it entails.

William Lloyd Garrison's quote emphasizes the idea that the downfall of nations does not stem from their commitment to liberty. Instead, it is their failure to uphold and adhere to the essential responsibilities and principles that true liberty demands. The quote serves as a reminder that freedom carries with it obligations that must be respected to maintain a healthy society.

Themes

LibertyNationsResponsibilityFreedomSociety

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about government policies and their impact on personal freedoms.

More from William Lloyd Garrison

Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity, only as we love all other lands. The interests, rights, and liberties of American citizens are no more dear to us than are those of the whole human race. Hence we can allow no appeal to patriotism, to revenge any national insult or injury.
William Lloyd GarrisonRead
Surely, nothing can be more dangerous than the doctrine that the moral obligations of men change with the latitude and longitude of a place.
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I do not believe that God has created us under this dire necessity to toil, like beasts, to sustain life. I believe it is his will that we should hold absolute mastery over time, so as to devote it mainly to intellectual and moral improvement, domestic enjoyment, and social intercourse.
William Lloyd GarrisonRead
If the State cannot survive the anti-slavery agitation, then let the State perish. If the Church must be cast down by the strugglings of Humanity to be free, then let the Church fall and its fragments be scattered to the four winds of Heaven, never more to curse the earth.
William Lloyd GarrisonRead
Has not the experience of two centuries shown that gradualism in theory is perpetuity in practice? Is there an instance, in the history of the world, where slaves have been educated for freedom by their task-masters?
William Lloyd GarrisonRead
The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead.
William Lloyd GarrisonRead

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Similarly, knowledge of the future was incompatible with free will. What made it possible for me to exercise freedom of choice also made it impossible for me to know the future. Conversely, now that I know the future, I would never act contrary to that future, including telling others what I know: those who know the future don't talk about it. Those who've read the Book of Ages never admit to it.
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