--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you begin with the assumption of…" description: "\"If you begin with the assumption of freedom, the preoccupation is always how to keep freedom in check, how to bind; But if you begin with the assumptio..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg" --- # If you begin with the assumption of freedom, the… ![“If you begin with the assumption of freedom, the preoccupation is always how to keep freedom in check, how to bind; But if you begin with the assumption of bondage, the preoccupation is always how to set out the word that frees.” quote by Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg) > “If you begin with the assumption of freedom, the preoccupation is always how to keep freedom in check, how to bind; But if you begin with the assumption of bondage, the preoccupation is always how to set out the word that frees.” [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Freedom and bondage shape how we protect liberty; starting with freedom leads to safeguards, starting with bondage seeks liberation. **In simple terms:** How we view liberty changes our actions. Key Takeaway Consider both perspectives. Themes freedom bondage security liberty politics Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - government policy - activism - personal belief - legal frameworks Key Concepts philosophy political theory ethics Questions to Reflect On - What safeguards might limit freedom? - How can we balance security and liberty? A Different Perspective Focusing only on safeguards may ignore root causes of oppression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Assumption Bondage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption-bondage-3523647/) [Bondage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bondage/) [Bondage Preoccupation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bondage-preoccupation-3523646/) [Checks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/checks/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Freedom Preoccupation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-preoccupation-3523645/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Preoccupation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preoccupation/) [Preoccupation Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preoccupation-freedom-3523644/) ## Related quotes > [I'm simply saying that our deepest thoughts, desires and preoccupations manifest themselves in art, whether we intend them to or not. 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The great preoccupations of vast numbers of Brits, Frenchmen, Germans and other Western Europeans are how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-prager/citizens-of-liberal-welfare-states-become-increasingly-narcissistic/) [Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-prager/) > [When we let go of yearning for the future, preoccupation with the past, and strategies to protect the present, there is nowhere left to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/when-we-let-go-of-yearning-for-the-future-preoccupation-with-the-past/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [I have a very simple mantra and it's this: I want to make black cinema with the power, beauty, and alienation of black music.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-jafa/i-have-a-very-simple-mantra-and-it-s-this-i-want-to-make-black-cinema/) [Arthur Jafa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-jafa/) > [To wait for hours to buy a train ticket or to see a doctor is accepted as a normal way of doing things. Privacy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-travis/to-wait-for-hours-to-buy-a-train-ticket-or-to-see-a-doctor-is/) [Nancy Travis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-travis/) > [A priest is a man vowed, trained, and consecrated, a man belonging to a special corps, and necessarily with an intense esprit de corps.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/a-priest-is-a-man-vowed-trained-and-consecrated-a-man-belonging-to-a/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [Buddhism resonated very powerfully with a lot of my preoccupations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/buddhism-resonated-very-powerfully-with-a-lot-of-my-preoccupations/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [This constant, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-gleeson/this-constant-unproductive-preoccupation-with-all-the-things-we-have/) [Kerry Gleeson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-gleeson/) > [There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest in history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-lively/there-s-a-preoccupation-with-memory-and-the-operation-of-memory-and-a/) [Penelope Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-lively/) > [My major preoccupation is the question, 'What is reality?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/my-major-preoccupation-is-the-question-what-is-reality/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [Notions of chance and fate are the preoccupations of men engaged in rash undertakings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/notions-of-chance-and-fate-are-the-preoccupations-of-men-engaged-in/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [If you have an over-preoccupation with perception and trying to please people's expectations, then you can go mad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benedict-cumberbatch/if-you-have-an-over-preoccupation-with-perception-and-trying-to/) [Benedict Cumberbatch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benedict-cumberbatch/) > [Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matsuo-basho/go-to-the-pine-if-you-want-to-learn-about-the-pine-or-to-the-bamboo/) [Matsuo Basho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matsuo-basho/) > [One response was given by the innkeeper when Mary and Joseph wanted to find a room where the Child could be born. The innkeeper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/one-response-was-given-by-the-innkeeper-when-mary-and-joseph-wanted/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [Politics deserves much praise. Politics is a preoccupation of free men, and its existence is a test of freedom. The praise of free men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-crick/politics-deserves-much-praise-politics-is-a-preoccupation-of-free-men/) [Bernard Crick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-crick/) ## More by Gerhard > [We are in this life as it were in another man's house… In heaven is our home, in the world is our Inn: do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/we-are-in-this-life-as-it-were-in-another-man-s-house-in-heaven-is/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [I blur things to make everything equally important and equally unimportant. I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/i-blur-things-to-make-everything-equally-important-and-equally/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [...the Blessed will see their friends and relations among the damned as often as they like but without the least of compassion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/the-blessed-will-see-their-friends-and-relations-among-the-damned-as/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/we-are-justified-freely-for-christ-s-sake-by-faith-without-the/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [Christian growth is forgetting about yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/christian-growth-is-forgetting-about-yourself/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [A comprehended God is no God at all!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/a-comprehended-god-is-no-god-at-all/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [What I'm attempting in each picture is nothing other than this...to bring together in a living and viable way, the most different and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/what-i-m-attempting-in-each-picture-is-nothing-other-than-this-to/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [The preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified on account of sinners is Gods desired way of being God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/the-preaching-of-jesus-christ-and-him-crucified-on-account-of-sinners/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [A theologian of the cross says what a thing is. In modern parlance: a theologian of the cross calls a spade a spade. One…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/a-theologian-of-the-cross-says-what-a-thing-is-in-modern-parlance-a/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) > [You shouldn't do science just to improve wealth - do science for the sake of human culture and knowledge. There must be some purpose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/you-shouldn-t-do-science-just-to-improve-wealth-do-science-for-the/) [Gerhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) [Explore all 11 Gerhard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/) ## More Assumption quotes > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. If the risk among non-smokers is taken as unity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-doll/the-risk-of-developing-carcinoma-of-the-lung-increases-steadily-as/) [Richard Doll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-doll/) > [Fortunately, the mind is restless; when it uncovers a layer of its own deception, gives up an illusion, exposes a lie, it does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-chernin/fortunately-the-mind-is-restless-when-it-uncovers-a-layer-of-its-own/) [Kim Chernin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-chernin/) > [The possibility of saying anything about a thing rests on the assumption that it preserves its identity, or continues to be the same thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-knight/the-possibility-of-saying-anything-about-a-thing-rests-on-the/) [Frank Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-knight/) > [She spent hours drawing on her own, trying to perfect her craft. And when she got into music, she had that same diligence in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-joplin/she-spent-hours-drawing-on-her-own-trying-to-perfect-her-craft-and/) [Laura Joplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-joplin/) > [If they are, then the only ultimate truths are the particulars of concrete experience, and no postulate or general assumption is inherent in science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-wright/if-they-are-then-the-only-ultimate-truths-are-the-particulars-of/) [Chauncey Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-wright/) > [If he's - the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a - is a noble institution I would - I would strongly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/if-he-s-the-inference-is-that-somehow-he-thinks-slavery-is-a-is-a/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [Leadership, pure and simple, is the assumption of responsibility for the pursuit of excellence in group life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-selznick/leadership-pure-and-simple-is-the-assumption-of-responsibility-for/) [Philip Selznick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-selznick/) > [Humans suffer from self-centred notions as to the nature of life. Humans assume that alien life forms should conform to standards that match our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-perry/humans-suffer-from-self-centred-notions-as-to-the-nature-of-life/) [Steve Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-perry/) > [When I see a fan coming over, I can't help but make an assumption about what they want to talk about. A middle-aged American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-dormer/when-i-see-a-fan-coming-over-i-can-t-help-but-make-an-assumption/) [Natalie Dormer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-dormer/) > [The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-kuan-yew/the-bell-curve-is-a-fact-of-life-the-blacks-on-average-score-85-per/) [Lee Kuan Yew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-kuan-yew/) > [Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/pussy-riot-have-certainly-changed-some-people-s-assumptions-about-the/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) [Browse all 1,277 Assumption quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you begin with the assumption of freedom, the preoccupation is always how to keep freedom in check, how to bind; But if you begin with the assumption of bondage, the preoccupation is always how to set out the word that frees.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-freedom-the-preoccupation-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Assumption" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-freedom-the-preoccupation-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/gerhard-40129_assumption_if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-free_2001439.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you begin with the assumption of freedom, the preoccupation is always how to keep freedom in check, how…” — Gerhard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gerhard", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If you begin with the assumption...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-freedom-the-preoccupation-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard/if-you-begin-with-the-assumption-of-freedom-the-preoccupation-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```