Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty...

ORIGIN OF THE FAMOUS QUOTE: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”        Wendell Phillips (1811-1884)        American Abolitionist and liberal activist        In a speech to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society on January 28, 1852        This quotation is often mistakenly attributed to Irish lawyer and politician John Philpot Curran (1750–1817) or to various American Founding Fathers, most commonly Thomas Jefferson. Similar quotes by Curran, Jefferson and others do predate the speech by Phillips, but he created the formulation we are most familiar with today in his 1852 speech.        What Curran said, in a speech in Dublin on July 10, 1790, was: “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.”        The common misattribution to Thomas Jefferson may derive from a quote inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC: “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” This comes from a letter Jefferson wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush on September 23, 1800, in which he stressed his determination to prevent Christian clergyman from imposing their particular brands of religion on other Americans.        See this post on my This Day in Quotes site for more background.

A RECENT USE THAT IS SHAMEFULLY APPROPRIATE: “The IRS admitted that they targeted tea party groups to try and silence our voices...The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”        Adrienne King        Former head of the Honolulu Tea Party        Remarking on the revelation that apparently politically-motivated bureaucrats at the IRS had targeted Tea Party groups to challenge their tax-exempt status, an amazingly dumb move that gave conservative activists like King more ammunition against the Obama administration. Quoted in an article in the Hawaii Reporter, May 10th, 2013.

DUTCH’S LAW: “Eternal vigilance is not the price of liberty. It’s the price of everything. Every object you own has to be maintained. In society, there will always be people who oppose whatever you hold dear. They will try to overturn, evade or weaken your reforms. Others will seek power, wealth, or status without doing any work. The only way to keep what you have is to guard it constantly.”        Prof. Steven Dutch        Professor of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay        One of Dutch’s Laws of Just About Everything

ALDOUS HUXLEY’S TAKE: “Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty; eternal vigilance is the price of human decency.”        Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)        English novelist and social critic        From his introduction to the radio version of his novel Brave New World, produced by William Froug for CBS Radio in 1965

COLD WARRIOR QUOTE: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and a willingness to act in its defense.”         George P. Shultz        U.S. Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan        A saber-rattling variation attributed to Schultz

SURFING FREEDOM VARIATION: “The price of surfing freedom is eternal vigilance.”        Jay Garmon         A “professional geek, Web entrepreneur, and occasional science fiction writer”        In a post about online privacy tools (and the unfortunate need for them)

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