Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. [Benjamin Franklin]
“I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire or preserve his freedom. _[Malcolm X]
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom. _[Albert Einstein]
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” – George Washington Carver
“Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” – General John Stark
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”―Benjamin Franklin
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ―George Orwell
“It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.”
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” ―Thomas Jefferson
“Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.” – Woodrow Wilson
“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.” – Edward R. Murrow
“When a truth is not given complete freedom, freedom is not complete.” – Vaclav Havel
“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.” – John F. Kennedy
William 191. Do you BLEAVE that we are together as a people 
and if not . Just how far . Are we going to fall. was just thinking about what you said
No, I don’t believe we’re united as a country. We’re united in the framework of the gubment holding the states together. We don’t teach our children to be American anymore. We teach them it’s okay to live around each other and sometimes not even that. America used to be a melting pot, now we are groups of people tolerating being close to each other.
The best example I can give is that our military isn’t going to met it’s recruiting needs again. The US can barely mount a military operation and then it’s mostly robots.
What’s In Your Wallet
I’ve been keeping three pieces of paper in my wallet with handwritten messages from my then-six year-old daughter back in 2002.
When I’m not in a good mood, there are various ways I do to improve it. Pray, sing, walk, ride, talk to my dog.
A lot of times, I just read her messages which immediately make me cry and smile at the same time.
Almost 21 years old, the pages have turned to yellow and the ink starts to fade. So, I put them on my scanner to save a digital copy.
That’s when I noticed this anonymous quote I wrote on the back of one of the pages.
@BeanCounter What a great post! What’s in your wallet…
I carry a poem my first supervisor wrote to me during my first internship. It is the only poem anyone ever wrote to me. I printed the email and cut it out and carry it with me. I also carry something my son wrote to me on one of his deployments. Yes, smiles and tears.
Thanks for the quote, your memories, and your honesty…as always, Bean!
Sweet! That’s a keeper too!
Not gonna lie…this about did me in tonight. My little girl is still at home for a few more years. Got sticky notes and stuff all over from her.
“…And in the passage from the cradle to the grave
We are born, madly dancing
Rushing headlong through the crashing of the days
We run on and on without a backwards glance
We run on and on without a backwards glance…”
Dan Fogelberg
(Oh, those pesky backward glances…)
Something like:
If you always do
What you’ve always done
You’ll always get
What you always got
Washington D.C oath of office?
My old band teacher in Jr. High used to say, “Practice makes permanent. If you practice it wrong, you’ll learn it wrong.”
One of the Gracies says it like this:
Don’t practice until you get it right, Practice until you don’t get it wrong.