I think when people talk about civil liberties, they sometimes forget that action taken to protect the citizen against physical violence and physical attack is a blow in favour and not a blow against civil liberties.
I think we [Americans] are going to look back and realize that the civil liberties that we've given up in the name of security, the authority that we've given Democratic and Republican presidents, all have contributed to a fraying of the fabric of our democratic republic.
National security is the first duty of government but we are also committed to reversing the substantial erosion of civil liberties.
All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.
It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al-Qaeda. We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust.
A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?
I think that there's going to be a rush to judgment on civil liberties, and a clamping down, a suspension of our democratic rights. And I believe that those who are good Americans would want to see this not happen and that we debate how to find a balance between the public safety and the protection of civil liberties.
In the defense of civil liberties there can be no exceptions, or there will soon be many.
One of the least impressive liberties is the liberty to starve. This particular liberty is freely accorded to authors.
Politicians have always coveted the liberties we hold.
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom.
Do the people of this land…desire to preserve those [liberties] protected by the First Amendment… If so, let them withstand all beginnings of encroachment. For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanquished liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch for a saving hand while yet there was time.
What I want to do is protect the religious liberties of those who believe that opposing same-sex marriage is part of their faith.
Power tempts even the best of men to take liberties with the truth.
[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.
I rise today in support of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law.
I don't think I should tell you what to do, nor should the government. As long as you enjoy your own personal liberties and don't infringe on the liberties of others, I don't care.
Don't be afraid to take liberties with this music. Try and put some of yourself into it.
After each perceived security crisis ended, the United States has remorsefully realized that the abrogation of civil liberties was unnecessary.
You don't protect any of your individual liberties by lying down and going to sleep.
