Without our Founding Fathers and the sacrifice of so many others, we might not be here celebrating our independence this July 4.
But thanks to those early patriots and a little document called the "Declaration of Independence" (perhaps you've heard of it?), we commemorate the day in 1776 when the 13 original colonies separated from Great Britain.
In honor of America's big birthday, we've rounded up a collection of freedom quotes from George Washington, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Frost, Bob Marley and others to help inspire whatever Fourth of July activities you've got planned for the holiday this year.
Whether you're looking for a stirring passage to caption an Instagram post or are in search of a Fourth of July quote to text a loved one, we've got exactly what you need.
You know what that means, don't you? You've now got plenty of free time (pun totally intended) to get grilling, watch fireworks or make some Fourth of July crafts with the kids.
Just consider it our little red, white and blue gift to you.
- “In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.” — Barack Obama
- "Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life." ― Bob Marley
- “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” — Angela Davis
- "Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness." ― Frank Tyger
- "May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please but as the opportunity to do what is right." — Peter Marshall
- "Freedom is what we do with what is done to us." — Jean-Paul Sartre
- "The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage." — Carrie Jones
- "You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once." — Robert Heinlein
- "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." — George Washington
- "Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be." — James Baldwin
- "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." —John F. Kennedy
- "He who is brave is free." — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth." — Eleanor Roosevelt
- "Thought is free." — William Shakespeare, "The Tempest"
- "One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one Nation, evermore!" — Oliver Wendell Holmes
- "This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." — Abraham Lincoln
- "Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth." — George Washington
- "Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better." — Albert Camus
- "Freedom lies in being bold." ― Robert Frost
- "Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves." ― Abraham Lincoln
- "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." ― George Orwell
- "We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it." ― William Faulkner, “Essays, Speeches & Public Letters”
- "Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people." — Franklin D. Roosevelt
- "For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." ― Nelson Mandela
- "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will." ― Charlotte Brontë, "Jane Eyre"
- "And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: 'We will not go quietly into the night!'"— Bill Pullman as President Thomas Whitmore, "Independence Day"
- "Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." ― Mahatma Gandhi
- "I’ve found that there is always some beauty left — in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you. Look at these thing, then you find yourself again" ― Anne Frank, "The Diary of a Young Girl"
- "No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it." ― Paulo Coelho, “Eleven Minutes”
- "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own." ― Audre Lorde
- "Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." — Hans Christian Andersen, "The Complete Fairy Tales"
- "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." ― Benjamin Franklin
- "A free bird leaps / on the back of the wind / and floats downstream / till the current ends / and dips his wing / in the orange sun rays / and dares to claim the sky." ― Maya Angelou, “The Complete Collected Poems”
- "Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used." ― Hunter S. Thompson
- "I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted." — Harvey Milk
- "Nothing speaks so strongly of freedom as the fact that the descendants of those who went through great agony — which, thank Heaven, has passed away — have now full opportunities and can help celebrate my fifty years’ work for liberty." ― Susan B. Anthony
- "She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom!" ― Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Scarlet Letter"
- "If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours." — Noam Chomsky
- "Freely we serve, Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall." — John Milton, "Paradise Lost"
- "But laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man may present his views without penalty there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population." — Albert Einstein
- "You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights." — Marsha P. Johnson
- "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." ― Thomas Paine
- "All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." ― Winston Churchill
- "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." ― Martin Luther King Jr.
- "The function of freedom is to free someone else." ― Toni Morrison
- "Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties." ― John Milton, “Areopagitica”
- "Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself." — Gloria Steinem
- "Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." ― Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One’s Own"
- "While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others." — George Washington
