I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty. But we shall not be poor if we love liberty, because the nation that loves liberty truly sets every man free to do his best and be his best, and that means the release of all the splendid energies of a great people who think for themselves. A nation of employees cannot be free any more than a nation of employers can be.
Woodrow Wilson Connected to the Carolinas
Source
Woodrow Wilson, address on Latin American policy to the fifth annual convention of the Southern Commercial Congress, Mobile, Alabama (27 October 1913), The Papers of Woodrow Wilson (1978), edited by Arthur S. Link, vol. 28, p. 451. The first sentence is inscribed on a plaque in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
- year
- 1913
Cite this record
“I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to…” Woodrow Wilson. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-C7FE458181. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/c7fe458181
More from Woodrow Wilson
The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.
We are not put into this world to sit still and know; we are put into it to act. It is true that in order to learn men must for a little while withdraw from action, must seek some quiet place of remove from the bustle of affairs, where their thoughts may run clear and tranquil, and the heats of business be for the time put off; but that cloistered refuge is no place to dream in.
Segregation is not humiliating but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen. If your organization goes out and tells the colored people of the country that it is a humiliation, they will so regard it, but if you do not tell them so, and regard it rather as a benefit, they will regard it the same. The only harm that will come will be if you cause them to think it is a humiliation... If this organization is ever to have another hearing before me it must have another spokesman. Your manner offends me...