Dinesh D’Souza on Freedom & Virtue

“Conservatives defend freedom not because they believe in the right to do as you please, but because freedom is the precondition for virtue. It is only when people choose freely that they can choose the good. Without freedom there is no virtue: A coerced virtue is no virtue at all.”

— Dinesh D’Souza, Letters to a Young Conservative, “The Libertarian Temptation”

Barry Goldwater on Extremism

“I would remind you that extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!”

— Barry Goldwater, speech accepting the presidential nomination, 16 July 1964

Martin Luther on the Christian Faith

“Many people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength there is in faith.”

— Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian, 1520