“When society requires to be rebuilt, there is no use in attempting to rebuild it on the old plan.” John Stuart Mill 1859 (Dissertations and discussions, political, philosophical and historical, vol 1)

“Liberalism stand for liberty; but it is an error to think that a policy of liberty must always be negative, that the state can help liberty only by abstaining from action … often more law may mean more liberty.” Liberal Party, Britain’s Industrial Future (the Yellow Book) 1928

“as liberals... our core values are: a passionate commitment to the rule of law, equally applied to all, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor; a passionate commitment to the rights of all human beings to freedom of expression, and a passionate commitment to social justice.” Simon Hughes

“Liberty remains a response to the fact that we live in a world of uncertainty.” Ralf Dahrendorf

“[T]he state should not impose a preferred way of life, but should leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends, consistent with a similar liberty for others.” Michael Sandel, Liberalism and Its Critics

“I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself ... but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that people cherish: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity.” Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty

Liberalism is not… An ideology based on power. Achieving power through the electoral process is a means to an end for the liberal rather than the end in itself. p10 newliberalmanifesto.org.uk

“The LibDems are needed now more than ever. Our mix of Liberalism and Social Democracy, of believing in the power of the individual and caring for the least, the last and the lost in society, is unique in British politics.” Matthew Hulbert

“The love of liberty is the love of others. The love of power is the love of ourselves.” William Hazlitt

“It’s all about power – how to make individuals more powerful in their own lives, and how to hold the already powerful to account... Liberalism [is] an anti-establishment, reformist, ... creed, aimed at improving people’s lives by challenging the status quo and appealing to people’s dreams” Ed Davey

When we speak of freedom, we do not mean merely freedom to do as we like, irrespective of what it is we like. We mean the greatest power on the part of the citizens as a body to make the most and best of themselves. T. H. Green

“Liberty is the end product of politics and not its starting point.” Bernard Greaves and Gordon Lishman

Don't forget to finish up your sprouts, as we wish you all a merry Christmas, and remind you of what Gladstone said: “Nonconformity supplies the backbone of English Liberalism.”

“Society is indeed a contract... it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are about to be born.” Edmund Burke

"Liberals will always have in mind more consciously as their aim, not material progress but spiritual liberty; they will emphasise the importance of the individual, and the need to let each person develop on their own line, so long as they do not harm others." William Beveridge

“Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance – these may be cured by reform or revolution. But people do not live only by fighting evils.They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.” Isaiah Berlin

A test the UK isn't doing very well at right now: “The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is free is the amount of security enjoyed by its minorities.” Acton

“The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is free is the amount of security enjoyed by its minorities.” Acton

"My idea of being a liberal means never being afraid to be in a minority in order to stand up for what you believe." Paddy Ashdown

“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt” God

“The trunk of the tree of liberalism is rooted in the soil of ethics.” Herbert Samuel 1902

"Politicians at their peril dictate identity and culture. People can quite comfortably consider themselves both Scots and British and European, a combination of all. Indeed for the citizen it is empowering to have ownership of their identity." David Steel

“Man, as philosophy and theology know him, exists – or is realized – in politics only in the equal rights that those who are most different guarantee for each other.” Hannah Arendt

“You are a liberal because you know that it is not as it ought to be and because you would still march on to some nearer approach to equality.” Anthony Trollope

"The commitment to persuasion is of the essence of social democracy." Shirley Williams

"Liberty does not consist in mere general declarations of the rights of men. It consists in the translations of those declarations into definite action." Woodrow Wilson

“There is a part of human existence which necessarily remains individual and independent and by right beyond all political jurisdiction.” Benjamin Constant

“Descartes… Constant… Taylor and Mill… Isaiah Berlin… over the centuries that long storyline established liberal values: the freedom of the individual, reason, consent in government, individual rights, the separation of powers, protection of minorities, autonomy and moderation.” Ian Dunt

#Ukraine, we are with you. “Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” Ursula K. Le Guin

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing” Raymond Williams

“I believe in freedom with the same burning delight, the same faith, the same intense abandon which attended its birth on this continent more than a century and a half ago. … I am in love with freedom and that it is an affair of long standing and that it is a fine state to be in..” E B White

"Liberals must ever insist that each enlargement of the authority and functions of the State must justify itself as an enlargement of personal liberty, interfering with individuals only in order to set free new and larger opportunities." Hobson

“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.” John Stuart Mill 1859

We remember today those who fought for this freedom. "No man who knows aught can be so stupid to deny that all men were naturally born free," John Milton

"Each nation gives life to democracy in its own way... But history offers a clear verdict: governments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent, and not coercion, are more prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that do not." Barack Obama 2009

"To elect and to reject is the prerogative of the free people." Thomas Paine

“We believe in the intrinsic value of every human being, and we are deeply optimistic about people. We believe that our role – and the role of government – is to ensure they have the power and freedom to thrive and fulfil their potential.” Leading the Way policy review 2025

“In our rapidly changing society we can count on only two things that will never change. ... the will to change and the fear of change. [T]he will to change motivates us to seek help. It is the fear of change that motivates us to resist the very help we seek.” Harriet Lerner, The Dance of Intimacy

“We know the way to build that fair, free and open society is to empower individuals, businesses and communities to make their own choices – not to subjugate them to the power of the state, or powerful vested interests.” Leading the Way policy review 2025

An apposite quote for Guy Fawkes day. “Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.” JB Pritzker, governor of Illinois

“There are enemies, difficulties to be faced, decisions to be made, and passions to be generated. The enemies are complacency and wrong values and inertia in the face of incompetence and injustice. It is against this enemy we march.” Jo Grimond

“We exist to build a free society where every person’s rights and liberties are protected. Everyone should be able to live their lives as who they are: free to pursue their dreams and fulfil their potential, safe in the knowledge that their fundamental rights will be protected.” Leading the Way 2025

“Liberalism has the necessary beliefs and arguments; all it requires is liberals with confidence to deploy them.” Michael Meadowcroft

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." Abraham Lincoln 1858

“Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the ease with which the many are governed by the few and the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.” David Hume 1742

“The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.” Oliver Wendell Holmes 1860

“We are part of the community of Europe and must do our duty as such.” William Gladstone

"I have never advocated or asked for special rights or special sympathy for working people. What I stand for is equal rights for all people.” Henry George

“The elementary desire to be free is the force behind all liberties.” Ralf Dahrendorf

“The outstanding merit of Liberalism as a political creed – that it stands for the general interest – means that the Liberal party, unlike both its rivals, cannot count on automatic support from any sectional interest. It must build its own organisation for itself and its ideals.” William Beveridge