Quote#Freedom
Excess of liberty contradicts itself. In short, there is no such…
Quote byLeonard Trelawny Hobhouse · 1864–1929
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Social Evolution and Political Theory (1911), p. 190..
English (original)
Excess of liberty contradicts itself. In short, there is no such thing; there is only liberty for one and restraint for another. If liberty then be regarded as a social ideal, the problem of establishing liberty must be a problem of organizing restraints; and thus the conception of a liberty which is to set an entire people free from its government appears to be a self-contradictory ideal.
— Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse
More from Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse
If there is one law for the Government and another for it's subjects, one for noble and another for commoner, one for rich and another for poor, the law does not guarantee liberty for all.
The first condition of universal freedom, that is to say, is a measure of universal restraint. Without such restraint some men may be free but others will be unfree.
At all times men have lived in societies, and ties of kinship and of simple neighbourhood underlie every form of social organization.
The modern state is the distinctive product of a unique civilization. But it is a product which is still in the making, and a part of the process is a struggle between old and new principles of social order.
Both logically and historically the first point of attack is arbitrary government, and the first liberty to be secured is the right to be dealt with in accordance with law. A man who has no legal rights against another, but stands entirely …
Great changes are not caused by ideas alone; but they are not effected without ideas.