Thursday, July 3, 2008

Liberty Lies in the Heart

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it…

What is this liberty that must lie in the hearts of men and women?

It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow.

A society in which men recognize no check on their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few — as we have learned to our sorrow.

What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right;

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women;

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias;

The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded;

The spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten:

That ... the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.

Judge Learned Hand, 1944


Blessings, my friends. May we all live up to the ideals of the liberty we cherish. With love, One Heart Dancing

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