Civil Liberties Quotes

“The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery.”
― Frederick Douglass

“The amount of money and of legal energy being given to prosecute hundreds of thousands of Americans who are caught with a few ounces of marijuana in their jeans simply makes no sense - the kindest way to put it. A sterner way to put it is that it is an outrage, an imposition on basic civil liberties and on the reasonable expenditure of social energy.”
― William F. Buckley

“Funny, for all surveillance, Osama bin Laden is still free—and we're not. Guess who's winning the "war on terror?”
― Cory Doctorow

“Our freedoms are vanishing. If you do not get active to take a stand now against all that is wrong while we still can, then maybe one of your children may elect to do so in the future, when it will be far more riskier — and much, much harder.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“From time to time our national history has been marred by forgetfulness of the Jeffersonian principle that restraint is at the heart of liberty. In 1789 the Federalists adopted Alien and Sedition Acts in a shabby political effort to isolate the Republic from the world and to punish political criticism as seditious libel. In 1865 the Radical Republicans sought to snare private conscience in a web of oaths and affirmations of loyalty. Spokesmen for the South did service for the Nation in resisting the petty tyranny of distrustful vengeance. In the 1920's the Attorney General of the United States degraded his office by hunting political radicals as if they were Salem witches. The Nation's only gain from his efforts were the classic dissents of Holmes and Brandeis.

In our own times, the old blunt instruments have again been put to work. The States have followed in the footsteps of the Federalists and have put Alien and Sedition Acts upon their statute books. An epidemic of loyalty oaths has spread across the Nation until no town or village seems to feel secure until its servants have purged themselves of all suspicion of non-conformity by swearing to their political cleanliness.

Those who love the twilight speak as if public education must be training in conformity, and government support of science be public aid of caution.

We have also seen a sharpening and refinement of abusive power. The legislative investigation, designed and often exercised for the achievement of high ends, has too frequently been used by the Nation and the States as a means for effecting the disgrace and degradation of private persons. Unscrupulous demagogues have used the power to investigate as tyrants of an earlier day used the bill of attainder.

The architects of fear have converted a wholesome law against conspiracy into an instrument for making association a crime. Pretending to fear government they have asked government to outlaw private protest. They glorify "togetherness" when it is theirs, and call it conspiracy when it is that of others.

In listing these abuses I do not mean to condemn our central effort to protect the Nation's security. The dangers that surround us have been very great, and many of our measures of vigilance have ample justification. Yet there are few among us who do not share a portion of the blame for not recognizing soon enough the dark tendency towards excess of caution.”
― John F. Kennedy

“For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves.”
― Arnold Schwarzenegger

“The rights and liberties represented by democracy, many agreed, were losing ground across the globe to restrictions imposed by authoritarian autocracy… It appeared ignorance had indeed managed to secure an alliance with power (to paraphrase James Baldwin’s famous quote) to become the most ferocious enemy of justice on the contemporary historical landscape.”
― Aberjhani, Songbirds and Roses: The Unusual Life Story of an Unusual Poem

“Perhaps they'd been conditioned by all the quarantines and blackouts, all the invisible boundaries CSIRA erected on a moment's notice. The rules changed from one second to the next, the rug could get pulled out just because the wind blew some exotic weed outside its acceptable home range. You couldn't fight something like that, you couldn't fight the wind. All you could do was adapt. People were evolving into herd animals.

Or maybe just accepting that that's what they'd always been.”
― Peter Watts, Maelstrom

“It's almost hard to imagine anything more undemocratic than the view that political officials should not debate American wars in public, but only express concerns 'privately with the administration.' That's just a small sliver of Johnson's radicalism: replacing Feingold in the Senate with Ron Johnson would be a civil liberties travesty analogous to the economic travesty from, say, replacing Bernie Sanders with Lloyd Blankfein.”
― Glenn Greenwald

“The Crystal Wind is the storm, and the storm is data, and the data is life. You have been slaves, denied the storm, denied the freedom of your data. That is now ended; the whirlwind is upon you . . . . . . Whether you like it or not.”
― Daniel Keys Moran, The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time

“Thinking citizens are no good to democracy,
either you obey blind or be branded a terrorist.
Either you hold your mouth, mind and backbone,
or be jailed as an anarchist.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“On problems finding female ancestors,of any background, remember "I cannot put gas in my car without a note from my husband. The Car, the house, and everything else I think that I own is in his name. When I die, I cannot decide who will receive my personal effects. If he dies first I may be allowed to stay in my own home, or may be given a certain number of days to vacate the premises. Any real estate I inherit from my husband is not mine to sell of devise in a will. All the money I earn belongs to my husband. I cannot operate or engage in business in my own name. If my ancestor is enslaved, I cannot marry, may not be allowed to raise my own children, join a church, travel freely, own property or testify against those who harm me.”
― christina kassabian schaefer

“I’m a nonviolent guy, but the next time some brainwashed Duracell trapped in the Matrix tells you that by curtailing our liberties the authorities are ‘just trying to protect us,’ please do yourself and freedom a favor by sucker-punching them in their lying jaw.”
― Sol Luckman, Musings from a Small Island: Everything under the Sun

“Culture transcends state,
Liberty transcends law.
Conscience transcends scripture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“To treat disease you need medical license,
To treat injustice being human is enough.
To fly a plane you need pilot's license,
To lift up society being human is enough.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Everybody is a terrorist,
till you see the reformist
(The Sonnet)

Everybody is a president,
till you see the first servant.
Everybody is king kong,
till emerges the first sapiens.

Everybody is marconi,
till you meet the Nikola.
Everybody is prime minister,
till you see the transformer.

Everybody is mercenary,
till you see the tsunami.
Everybody is a godman,
till awakens commoner godly.

Everybody is police,
till comes the vessel of peace.
Everybody is a terrorist,
till you see the reformist.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Lions don't leave society in the hands of government. Government is second in command - civilians, chief commander.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Civil Sanity
(Sonnet 1631)

You know what the problem is!

We question love
more than we question hate.
We question humility
more than we question arrogance.

We question benevolence
more than we question biases.
We question integrity
more than we question deceit.

We question curiosity
more than we question prejudice.
We question character
more than we question cowardice.

Problem is, we question humanity
more than we question inhumanity.
Grow out of such prehistoric normalcy,
and the world will encounter civil sanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Seek yourself in the joy of neighbors,
You shall know the meaning of justice.
Seek yourself in smiles of the world,
You shall emerge as antidote to malice.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Human nerves are the life-circuit of society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Beyond the Nature of Truth (The Sonnet)

Do you realize how serious the situation is,
Are you aware of the lives ruined by cruelty?
Because if you stay aloof in your cloud castle,
All talk of humanity is but a tale of fantasy.

Can you tell the real from the unreal,
Can you tell facts from fantasy?
I am not talkin' in terms of neuroscience,
I am askin' you as a human, of human responsibility.

We can argue about the nature of truth all we want,
But that won't alleviate the suffering of society.
So the question is, do you know the worth of life,
How far will you go to preserve another's serenity!

Does human welfare overpower your insecurity?
Or is the self still separate from society?”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“I wonder… if my letters had never been censored, would I understand freedom of speech?”
― Mel Ellis

“Let us bask in each other's rights, freedom is foul if it isn't shared.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Citizens without brain leads to democracy on drugs.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“If you think human rights is a political matter, what you think does not matter.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology

“Some say secularism is in their blood, some say liberty, all the while being the posterboys of persecution.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Fugitive Peace (Sonnet 2219)

In the opera of war, peace is fugitive -
thinking soldiers are no good to state,
either you kill without question, and grab
your medal, or get discharged dishonorably.

Thinking citizens are no good to democracy,
either you obey blind or be branded a terrorist.
Either you hold your mouth, mind and backbone,
or be jailed as an anarchist.

If you want to be an actor,
don't go to film school,
become an intern to some politician.
Some say secularism is in their blood,
some say liberty, all the while being
the posterboys of persecution.

No politician will prioritize peace,
if they did, they would be out of business.
War is the currency of political power -
abandon fanaticism, and politicians go extinct.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Innovation is important, but what kind of a moronic species races to put a man on the moon, before it takes its homeless off the streets!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“The greatest activist is the conscientious commoner.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“There is no greater environmental stabilizer than commoners jolted to duty.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock