As I understand the American Founders, the most brilliant and daring idea they had was that it's possible to create a free society that could stay free forever.
Os Guinness
Related I long for a South African society that's free of ideological forces - no society can ever reall... DAMON GALGUT I think the real free person in society is one that's disciplined. It's the one that can cho... DEAN SMITH In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The def... MICHAEL NOVAK Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one ... WILLIAM ORVILLE DOUGLAS To create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person ... JIMMY WALES It strikes me as very strange that whereas Tennyson could support most of Mr. Buckley's proposit... GERMAINE GREER To realize the American dream, the most important thing to understand is that it belongs to everybod... CRISTINA SARALEGUI As in most fairy tales, there's a prince and a princess, dragons and some magic, and the feeling it ... CRYSTAL WOODS The genius of the American Founders was to create an intricate system of balanced powers both within... NANCY PEARCEY It's crazy: the first black man to actually step foot in America came as a free man, as an explo... ALDIS HODGE All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and e... BARRY LEVINSON The idea was to help journalists that didn't really know how to be journalists because they've never... JOE ANGOTTI There are contradictory tendencies in American society. There's a huge range of activities that ... NORMAN FINKELSTEIN I argued that the Bush administration, and the Coalition officials more recently, didn't underst... JUAN COLE That tradition is the way our culture gets made. As I explain in the pages that follow, we come from... LAWRENCE LESSIG I love children and I love family and I love that interaction. Because I had a really close relation... ALICIA KEYS Once I was free; there was no cage that could bind me, and I had yet to create my box of numbness wi... J.D. STROUBE The best-case scenario is that the organizations can work cooperatively, that elephants can be moved... CAROL BUCKLEY There's an ease that I have living in Australia. The best things about Sydney are free: the suns... RUSSELL CROWE Nowadays, my mood ungoverned, I'm free to think the most outrageous things, such as: might it no... WILL SELF I think there's a difference between calling people out and understanding the role that the pres... SEAN SPICER I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES I really hate bureaucracy and the idea that I'm not a free person. PALOMA FAITH The people currently in charge have forgotten the first principle of an open society, namely that we... GEORGE SOROS One of the greatest gifts that God has given us is free will. Even though it's free, we don'... NIECY NASH Free people make the only milieu possible in society for the full gift of one's self to church, ... HANIEL LONG To open up new markets and create American jobs, we need to make global bilateral free trade agreeme... MARK MCKINNON There's not a single country that actually approaches economics in a pure, free market, capitali... DAMBISA MOYO Comparing 'Christmas Vacation' to 'It's A Wonderful Life' is the silliest thing.... CHEVY CHASE To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man. ALAN PATON Getting to work with Edie Falco and watching her be a quiet presence - but a very powerful presence ... BETTY GILPIN For the music business, social networking is brilliant. Just when you think it's doom and gloom ... SIMON COWELL In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost i... MARGARET THATCHER It's a free society. But don't tell the world that we can feed the present population withou... NORMAN BORLAUG Is the purpose of free elections to allow the most clever and vicious person to aggregate power, or ... NEWT GINGRICH I am convinced that the majority of American people do understand that we have a moral responsibilit... RICHARD LUGAR I don't just play the trumpet because it's something that resonates with me: I play the trum... CHRISTIAN SCOTT One year, my good deed started with deciding to give all my friends makeup from a cruelty-free cosme... JENNA MORASCA Some of the most brilliant things that someone might do could happen in three minutes because it'... CHRIS CORNELL Free software is software that respects your freedom and the social solidarity of your community. So... RICHARD STALLMAN I have been motivated by this idea since I was a kid that if we invented machines that were created ... DAVID HANSON People that are brilliant and successful, we think they've just always been that way. That's... BOBBY BOWDEN The study was to be as complete and free of 'recovery bias' as possible. JOEL PARKER Part of living in a free society is accepting that no idea is beyond being challenged or ridiculed, ... JAMIE BARTLETT As far as I can see, it's not important that we have free will, just as long as we have the illu... ALAN MOORE We're not done yet, but two things WordPress has been able to exemplify is that open source can ... MATT MULLENWEG On weekends, the U.S. was casual; in Italy the weekend was very formal. I came to understand that we... DIEGO DELLA VALLE Free speech has remained a quintessential American ideal, even as our society has moved from the ink... MARVIN AMMORI That I have the right to express myself freely at all times in all circumstances entails the idea th... TOM STOPPARD Anthony's a carefree, free-spirited guy, and if you know anything about the academy, they don't cate... JAPPY OLIVER I want to suggest to you that citizens of free societies, democracies, do not preserve their freedom... SALMAN RUSHDIE For a year after I left Cambridge, I had an agent, and I was working in a pub and doing waitering. B... EDDIE REDMAYNE It's good to pay high taxes - you have free schools, free universities. It's a much more dec... STELLAN SKARSGARD We need to understand that an open society and free speech and press... really are the best weapons ... ELLIOTT ABRAMS Real artists free of the tedium of money can use, now, all of society as an idea factory. ANDREI CODRESCU It's that Romney is taking advantage of the government's 'free stuff,' too, and has ... JENNIFER GRANHOLM I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the First Amendment, don't understand t... ROGER EBERT My father used to administer herbal medicine for free. But I can't give drugs for free. So the n... KALLAM ANJI REDDY I had promised them I would stay and I always told myself if I promise someone I would stay, I would... ANTONIO CROMARTIE When 'Red Tails' came along, all I knew was that they were the first African-American fighte... NE-YO In philosophy, they talk a lot about humans being actual organic machines, and the idea of free will... JOEL KINNAMAN The American idea is a free church in a free state, and a free and unsectarian public school in ever... HENRY CABOT LODGE This Campaign will provide a voice for Americans who believe in both a free church and a free state.... IRA GLASSER We hope and we've made clear that the forces need to come out. It needs to be full and complete ... STEPHEN HADLEY The idea is not to live forever, it is to create something that will. ANDY WARHOL Human beings want to be free and however long they may agree to stay locked up, to stay oppressed, t... AUNG SAN SUU KYI I owned the world that hour as I rode over it. free of the earth, free of the mountains, free of the... CHARLES LINDBERGH We talk about a free press. These people hide, they make a lot of money off the media. They hide beh... ROBERT SCHEER The fact that their [the flower children's] uniforms and their jargons precisely represented the dis... JAMES BALDWIN Most of Roosevelt's innovations have been the law of the land for 70 years now, and yet we are s... THOMAS FRANK You hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words ... FRANK HAGUE The second I walk onto the set and I know that there's a camera and I know that there's a Da... VIN DIESEL I always felt free when I ran. I suppose that's what was good about it. BETTY CUTHBERT Americans have a warrior's mentality, most of them. That's how this society was built. The f... ISABEL ALLENDE The modern picture of the artist began to form: The poor, but free spirit, plebeian but aspiring onl... THOMAS WOLFE It is maintained that a society is free only when dissenting minorities have room to throw their wei... ERIC HOFFER First we launched free calls for our customers, today we're launching free broadband forever. Our fo... CHARLES DUNSTONE American law was suspended, Iraqi law was suspended, and Iraq basically became a free fraud zone. In... ALAN GRAYSON The pact creating a North American free-trade zone was President Bill Clinton's signature accomp... NINA EASTON [That was when Wilson hit upon the idea of offering free memberships to soldiers. All they had to do... CHRIS WILSON I don't know that a political climate - as long as it's still a free country - makes much di... MIKE NICHOLS Feminism... I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo T... RUTH BADER GINSBURG I do not understand how it is that financial institutions could think that they could take taxpayer ... ELIZABETH WARREN All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together crea... BERNARD BERENSON You can only really understand good if you have bad, so the idea of heaven or anything that happens ... CONOR OBERST If any Republican nominee wants to run on the idea that borrowing money and printing it up and sendi... RAND PAUL I don't know what they mean by an icon. I never thought of myself as being that. It seems strange to... BETTE PAGE I think when the people in Burma stop thinking about whether or not they're free, it'll mean... AUNG SAN SUU KYI Swedes are such a civilised, perfect society - at least on the surface. There's a great safety n... ALEXANDER SKARSGARD I'm a free spirit and that definitely comes from my upbringing, so it's definitely shaped me... NEON HITCH I really wanted those free throws. They were fouling, and I knew they were going to foul. So I wante... ERICA FARINA I was a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, and my neighbor was Michae... DINESH D'SOUZA They were singing in French, but the melody was freedom and any American could understand that. AUDIE MURPHY If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free... EDITH HAMILTON When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility,
then Athens ceased to be free... EDITH HAMILTON We have a system that allows us to manage a free and fair election, free of fraud, free of intimidat... KENNETH BLACKWELL If I had to name one thing that differentiates me from the other women, it's that I get free stu... SONG HYE-KYO All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and e... BARRY LEVINSON 'Born Free' was the first film I ever saw. I just fell in love with the idea of people havin... MARTIN CLUNES
More Os Guinness
I'm obviously not an advocate of Christian America or a simplistic view of America as 'a cit... OS GUINNESS There are lots of people depending on the government who are good, honest citizens who have worked a... OS GUINNESS I give lectures on globalization. I have lived on three continents. I have no quarrel with a global ... OS GUINNESS American democracy in the past has always been known for its large middle class and its relatively f... OS GUINNESS The American 'unum' has been lost since the Sixties. If this continues, there will soon be n... OS GUINNESS The rewards of freedom are always sweet, but its demands are stern, for at its heart is the paradox ... OS GUINNESS Negative freedom is freedom from - freedom from oppression, whether it's a colonial power or add... OS GUINNESS Like a precious family heirloom, freedom is not just ours to enjoy, but to treasure, protect, and pa... OS GUINNESS Beyond any question, the way the American founders consistently linked faith and freedom, republican... OS GUINNESS I have lived under totalitarian Communism, so I prize freedom as much as anyone and have long fought... OS GUINNESS Jesus made clear that the Kingdom of God is organic and not organizational. It grows like a seed and... OS GUINNESS Because it lacks the element of outrage, the modern church needs to be reminded that, if her life an... OS GUINNESS The story of Christian reformation, revival, and renaissance underscores that the darkest hour is of... OS GUINNESS Augustine says that you don't understand a nation by the throw weight of its military or the str... OS GUINNESS The Christian church in the U.S. is still strong numerically, but it has lost its decisive influence... OS GUINNESS One of the key places where sociology should be used is in analyzing 'the world' of our time... OS GUINNESS Thus, for followers of Christ, calling neutralizes the fundamental position of choice in modern life... OS GUINNESS Calling is not only a matter of being and doing what we are but also of becoming what we are not yet... OS GUINNESS calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything w... OS GUINNESS All good thinking is a matter of asking and answering three elementary questions. What is being said... OS GUINNESS Creative persuasion is a matter of being biblical, not of being either modern or postmodern. OS GUINNESS Balaam’s ass is the patron saint of apologists. Madness, as we shall see, is an appropriate term f... OS GUINNESS Just as to a man with a hammer, everything is a nail, so in the age of science and technology, every... OS GUINNESS The age of the Internet, it is said, is the age of the self and the selfie. The world is full of peo... OS GUINNESS Genuine outrage is not just a permissible reaction to the hard-pressed Christian; God himself feels ... OS GUINNESS Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist Modern Christianity is crucially weak at three vital po... OS GUINNESS Continuing a short series on education: It is ironic that, although fundamentalists are implacab... OS GUINNESS Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253 Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Mora... OS GUINNESS Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460 The evidence for Christ... OS GUINNESS Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888 In his experie... OS GUINNESS The question the doubter does not ask is whether faith was really useless or simply not used. What w... OS GUINNESS Mastering our emotions has nothing to do with asceticism or repression, for the purpose is not to br... OS GUINNESS [Some people are called to medicine; others are called to the priesthood. Still others, like Casey S... OS GUINNESS God often uses failure to make us useful. When Jesus called the disciples, He did not go out and fin... OS HILLMAN I always dreamt that I would marry in the Piazza Del Campo in Siena and go on my honeymoon down the ... JASMINE GUINNESS Be kind, don't judge, and have respect for others. If we can all do this, the world would be a b... JASMINE GUINNESS It's all very well setting up your own brand of face cream or exercise wear - but Christ, it'... JASMINE GUINNESS I've worked since I was 18. I have no trust fund and don't expect anything. JASMINE GUINNESS Mum and I were delighted to find out we were descended from 'bog-trotters.' JASMINE GUINNESS I knew nothing about my mum's family. Her parents were dead by the time she was 14. She was brou... JASMINE GUINNESS People tend to assume that I come from a long line of castle-dwelling gentry and am made of money. JASMINE GUINNESS Books have always been an important part of my life. JASMINE GUINNESS I try not to wear too much makeup, as I think there comes a point where too much makes you look olde... JASMINE GUINNESS I once stayed in a roach-infested hotel in Istanbul for a work trip. I had to share my room with a m... JASMINE GUINNESS Arnica is great. I got kicked in the stomach by a horse once, and some adult slapped arnica all over... JASMINE GUINNESS I always dress scruffily, but at weekends I live in muddy Wellies. JASMINE GUINNESS My husband is experimental, loves to cook, and is really good at it. If I do the cooking, I lose my ... JASMINE GUINNESS I think children of divorced parents do grow up quicker. You just do. JASMINE GUINNESS I have always loved clothes, and the opportunity to design my own line could not be missed. It's... JASMINE GUINNESS People talk about me as if I am the sole inheritor of the Guinness family fortune and worth masses, ... JASMINE GUINNESS I used to be frightened of the countryside after dark. Now I enjoy it. There is something wonderful ... JASMINE GUINNESS My husband says he wants to have the best hay field in Britain. I can't wait. JASMINE GUINNESS I want to do something to help people. JASMINE GUINNESS It has long been a childhood dream of mine to have a farm. JASMINE GUINNESS I spent a day in a neck brace on a hospital trolley after falling from a horse and cart in Ireland. ... JASMINE GUINNESS My face hasn't matured as I've grown up, and neither has my sense of humour. In the mirror, ... JASMINE GUINNESS We have too many poisons in our diets now, like sugar and caffeine. JASMINE GUINNESS In my twenties, I was obsessed with what other people thought of me. In my thirties, it's about ... JASMINE GUINNESS I've known my best friend since I was a baby, and I don't know what I would do without her. ... JASMINE GUINNESS I can't understand it when people are closed-minded. I mean, boy, have I made mistakes and been ... DAPHNE GUINNESS I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but you... ALEC GUINNESS The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surr... ALEC GUINNESS Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be caut... ALEC GUINNESS In my experience, there's no such thing as luck. ALEC GUINNESS The Force will be with you, always. ALEC GUINNESS An actor is totally vulnerable. His total personality is exposed to critical judgment - his intellec... ALEC GUINNESS An actor is at his best a kind of unfrocked priest who, for an hour or two, can call on heaven and h... ALEC GUINNESS Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows it? ALEC GUINNESS Essentially, I'm a small-part actor who's been lucky enough to play leading roles for most of his li... ALEC GUINNESS A superb tenor voice, like a silver trumpet muffled in silk. ALEC GUINNESS I just am who I am. And then when people label me eccentric or different, I'm kind of astonished... DAPHNE GUINNESS A marriage is a solemn affair. The tempest of emotions and the myriad of arrangements are giddying, ... DAPHNE GUINNESS Memories are like mercury. Every time you sort of try to get near them, they slip out of your hand l... DAPHNE GUINNESS I treat clothing or a piece of jewelry like it was a piece of art, even though people who collect cl... DAPHNE GUINNESS People who read on holiday always have a better time because it's total escapism, both physicall... JASMINE GUINNESS I think everyone envisions me sitting at Alexandre's all day, picking out beautiful clothes from... GLORIA GUINNESS Acting is happy agony. ALEC GUINNESS I've been really upset sometimes when I've been misquoted. And it's the one thing they u... DAPHNE GUINNESS Fragrance takes you on a journey of time. You can walk down the street and pass someone and get take... DAPHNE GUINNESS We need a government, not politics. Because there's too much politics. Of course there should be... DAPHNE GUINNESS Use the Force, Luke. ALEC GUINNESS She flung herself full-length on the stage, drummed with her feet and, taking the corner of a small ... ALEC GUINNESS That's no moon. It's a space station. ALEC GUINNESS I spend a lot of time upside down. It increases the blood flow to the brain, so it really helps your... DAPHNE GUINNESS Seasons are really annoying. You get a really great pair of shoes or a beautiful pair of boots, and ... DAPHNE GUINNESS Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. ALEC GUINNESS There hasn't been anything real since grunge. That was the last movement led by music or an art ... DAPHNE GUINNESS My style is difficult to contain in a sentence; it's ever evolving. Generally I'm drawn to c... DAPHNE GUINNESS I'd never go under the knife because I have a phobia of needles. JASMINE GUINNESS Sunglasses are great, but I always feel a bit pretentious wearing sunglasses. I mean, I do love to w... DAPHNE GUINNESS Fashion is not just about trends. It's about political history. You can trace it from the ancien... DAPHNE GUINNESS Everyone wants to get behind the red rope, but actually: be yourself, don't believe what you see... DAPHNE GUINNESS Normally, you should be dead if you have a retrospective. DAPHNE GUINNESS I really don't understand the idea of a celebrity stylist. Is it a real job? I know there's ... DAPHNE GUINNESS I'd quite like to have one place where I stay put. And I don't like living in cities all the... DAPHNE GUINNESS You can tell the state of civilization by the way people dress. If the people who fought two World W... DAPHNE GUINNESS Life is full of banana skins. You slip, you carry on. DAPHNE GUINNESS From 1989 to 2000, I was focusing in on my children. I hadn't realized the world had changed a l... DAPHNE GUINNESS I have a four-and-a-half-, nearly five-octave range. I probably should have had extra lessons as a c... DAPHNE GUINNESS Essentially, I'm a small-part actor who's been lucky enough to play leading roles for most o... ALEC GUINNESS I don't know what else I could do but pretend to be an actor. ALEC GUINNESS I'm normally late, so I just kind of throw on the sort of thing that's at hand. And then I... DAPHNE GUINNESS In fashion, there are so many gangs, if you identify too much with one, you get caught - I would los... DAPHNE GUINNESS It's quite nice to have a place to leave things. You can be a permanent gypsy, but it's nice... DAPHNE GUINNESS Fantasy appeals to me and can be very much reflected in my dress - but then, each day is different. ... DAPHNE GUINNESS I know sometimes I can come off like a lonely spinster in a tower. That's not me at all. DAPHNE GUINNESS Love is agony, isn't it? I've been involved with someone for some time now, but it's all... DAPHNE GUINNESS I think life is about having the mixture of the curiosity of an older person and the imagination of ... DAPHNE GUINNESS Through art, you create your own world. DAPHNE GUINNESS Acting is happy agony. SIR ALEC GUINNESS An actor is totally vulnerable. His total personality is exposed to critical judgment - his intellec... SIR ALEC GUINNESS A person who is keen to shake your hand usually has something up his sleeve. SIR ALEC GUINNESS