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Do we exert our own liberties without injury to others - we exert them justly do we exert them at the expense of others - unjustly. And, in thus doing, we step from the sure platform of liberty upon the uncertain threshold of tyranny.

Frances Wright

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Frances Wright
Age: 57 †
Born: 1795
Born: September 6
Died: 1852
Died: December 13
Philosopher
Writer
City of Dundee
Frances D'Arusmont
Step
Platform
Steps
Expense
Liberty
Platforms
Sure
Expenses
Unjustly
Upon
Uncertain
Exert
Others
Injury
Justly
Without
Tyranny
Threshold
Thus
Liberties

More quotes by Frances Wright

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Instead of establishing facts, we have to overthrow errors instead of ascertaining what is, we have to chase from our imaginations what is not.
Frances Wright
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... a nation to be strong, must be united to be united, must be equal in condition to be equal in condition, must be similar inhabits and feeling to be similar in habits and feeling, must be raised in national institutions as the children of a common family, and citizens of a common country.
Frances Wright
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It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that half by far the most important and influential.
Frances Wright
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Trust me, there are as many ways of living as there are men, and one is no more fit to lead another, than a bird to lead a fish, or a fish a quadruped.
Frances Wright
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Turn your churches into halls of science, and devote your leisure day to the study of your own bodies, the analysis of your own minds, and the examination of the fair material world which extends around you!
Frances Wright
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If we bring not the good courage of minds covetous of truth, and truth only, prepared to hear all things, and decide upon all things, according to evidence, we should do more wisely to sit down contented in ignorance, than to bestir ourselves only to reap disappointment.
Frances Wright
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the language of truth is too simple for inexperienced ears.
Frances Wright
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It is singular to look round upon a country where the dreams of sages, smiled at as utopian, seem distinctly realized, a people voluntarily submitting to laws of their own imposing, with arms in their hands respecting the voice of a government which their breath created and which their breath could in a moment destroy!
Frances Wright
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... the happiness of a people is the only rational object of government, and the only object for which a people, free to choose, can have a government at all.
Frances Wright
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the mode of delivering a truth makes, for the most part, as much impression on the mind of the listener as the truth itself.
Frances Wright
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Love of power more frequently originates in vanity than pride (two qualities, by the way, which are often confounded) and is, consequently, yet more peculiarly the sin of little than of great minds.
Frances Wright
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... your spiritual teachers caution you against enquiry--tell you not to read certain books not to listen to certain people to beware of profane learning to submit your reason, and to receive their doctrines for truths. Such advice renders them suspicious counsellors.
Frances Wright
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Do not confound noise with fame. The man who is remembered, is not always honored.
Frances Wright
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Equality is the soul of liberty there is, in fact, no liberty without it.
Frances Wright
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It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that half by far the most important and influential. If they exert it not for good, they will for evil if they advance not knowledge, they will perpetuate ignorance. Let women stand where they may in the scale of improvement, their position decides that of the race.
Frances Wright
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Fathers and husbands! do ye not also understand this fact? Do ye not see how, in the mental bondage of your wives and fair companions, ye yourselves are bound?
Frances Wright
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All that I say is, examine, inquire. Look into the nature of things. Search out the grounds of your opinions, the for and against. Know why you believe, understand what you believe, and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
Frances Wright
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Moral truth, resting entirely upon the ascertained consequences of actions, supposes a process of observation and reasoning.
Frances Wright
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The simplest principles become difficult of practice, when habits, formed in error, have been fixed by time, and the simplest truths hard to receive when prejudice has warped the mind.
Frances Wright
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Persecution for opinion is the master vice of society.
Frances Wright