In the United States of America, July 4 is the country’s National Day: Independence Day. Millions of Americans come together annually to celebrate the day the US secured independence from the British Empire after the Revolutionary War. July 4 is also referred to as Independence Day and it is considered to be the birth of the American nation, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
During the American Revolution, on July 2 1776 actually occurred the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence declaring the United States independent from Great Britain rule, that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to a statement explaining this decision, the Declaration of Independence, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it two days later on July 4.
Independence Day is the most beloved national holiday. The anniversary of the Independence day was celebrated as early as the next year in 1777. Celebrations continued in future years, but it wasn’t until nearly 100 years later in 1870 that the federal government gave employees the day off without pay. In 1938 Congress made the day a paid federal holiday. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, barbecues, barbecues, fairs, carnivals, concerts, picnics, baseball games, family reunions, and political speeches and ceremonies. Various public and private events celebrate the history, government, and traditions of the United States, as well as the concepts of Independence and Freedom.
Freedom is a very charged and important word for Americans. Freedom, generally, means to have an ability to act or change without constraint. In philosophy and religion, it is associated with having free will and being without undue or unjust constraints, or enslavement, and is an idea closely related to the concept of liberty. The following collection of quotes presents the notion of freedom in the words of famous philosophers, writers and artists in an effort to inspire you and free your mind.
Short Freedom Quotes for the 4th of July
- Freedom lies in being bold. Robert Frost
- Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing. Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
- When I discover who I am, I’ll be free. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
- The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage. Carrie Jones, Need
- He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. Aristotle
- We are even free to choose the wrong thing. Lauren Oliver, Requiem
- I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety
- Better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees. Jean-Paul Sartre
- A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself. Jim Morrison
- Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. Albert Camus
Inspirational Freedom Quotes for Independence Day
- Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. Henry David Thoreau
- True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline. Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book
- Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life. Bob Marley
- There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally. Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements
- 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
- You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down. Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
- The only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. Malcolm X
- Freedom cannot be bestowed — it must be achieved. Elbert Hubbard
- If you want to rebel, rebel from inside the system.That’s much more powerful than rebelling outside the system. Marie Lu, Legend
Insightful Freedom Quotes for Independence Day
- They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin
- Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln , Complete Works
- In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once. Robert A. Heinlein
- The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self. Albert Einstein
- Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another. Toni Morrison, Beloved
- Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. Martin Luther King Jr.
- If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. Noam Chomsky
- We feel free because we lack the very language to articulate our unfreedom. Slavoj Žižek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real
Unexpected Freedom Quotes for the 4th of July
- Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. Abraham Lincoln
- Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. Denis Diderot
- The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them. Joseph Heller, Catch-22
- To belong nowhere is a blessing and a curse, like any kind of freedom. Leah Stewart, The Myth of You and Me
- My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. Adlai Stevenson
Longer Freedom Quotes for the 4th of July
- Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. Ronald Reagan
- I believe that there will be ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don’t think it will be based on the color of the skin. Malcolm X
- All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. Albert Einstein
- Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C.S. Lewis
Freedom Poems for Independence Day
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
There is freedom waiting for you
There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask What if I fall?
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?
by Erin Hanson
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