Independence Day. What does it mean? The U.S. Declaration of Independence's self-evident truths - "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - are the definition we live by. Here we offer some additional definitions to ponder:
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." - Thomas Paine
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." - Elmer Davis
"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have." - Harry Emerson Fosdick
"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better." - Albert Camus
"It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you." - Dick Cheney
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." - George Bernard Shaw
"Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim." - Thomas Macaulay
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." - Abraham Lincoln
"Freedom is the oxygen of the soul." - Moshe Dayan
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." - William J. Clinton.