--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The word liberty has been falsely used by…" description: "\"The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and mischievous in public, had no hope left but i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg" --- # The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who… ![“The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and mischievous in public, had no hope left but in fomenting discord.” quote by Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg) > “The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and mischievous in public, had no hope left but in fomenting discord.” [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Liberty is misused by those who indulge privately and cause public disorder. **In simple terms:** Freedom misapplied by selfish people. Key Takeaway Guard liberty against selfish exploitation. Themes politics morality freedom corruption Mood critical reflective Type historical political When to use this quote - government policy - public debate - community organizing Key Concepts civic virtue ethical leadership social cohesion Questions to Reflect On - What safeguards protect true liberty? - How does personal vice affect public trust? A Different Perspective Some argue liberty includes personal freedom to act. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Degenerately Profligate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/degenerately-profligate-5166687/) [Discord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discord/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Liberty Falsely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty-falsely-5166683/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mischievous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mischievous/) [No hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/no-hope/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Persons Degenerately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons-degenerately-5166685/) [Private life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/private-life/) [Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/used/) [Word Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/word-liberty-492797/) ## Related quotes > [In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/in-seasons-of-tumult-and-discord-bad-men-have-most-power-mental-and/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/we-all-declare-for-liberty-but-in-using-the-same-word-we-do-not-all/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [This year has begun hopefully for right thinkers. After all these centuries of feudal barbarism and political slavery, it is surprising to see how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/this-year-has-begun-hopefully-for-right-thinkers-after-all-these/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-world-has-never-had-a-good-definition-of-the-word-liberty/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“Now I find my good men Are gathered in the night To wait in silence, not to sleep And the glorious word of liberty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/goethe/now-i-find-my-good-men-are-gathered-in-the-night-to-wait-in-silence/) [Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/goethe/) > [Wait until the world is free before you write a creed. In this creed there will be but one word -- Liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/wait-until-the-world-is-free-before-you-write-a-creed-in-this-creed/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [The word liberty in the mouth of Mr. Webster sounds like the word love in the mouth of a courtesan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-word-liberty-in-the-mouth-of-mr-webster-sounds-like-the-word-love/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If there was one word on a motivation or world view, that one word would be 'liberty.' That's what inspires me and motivates me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michele-bachmann/if-there-was-one-word-on-a-motivation-or-world-view-that-one-word/) [Michele Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michele-bachmann/) > [Now, you receive all your ideas; therefore you receive your wish, you wish therefore necessarily. The word "liberty" does not therefore belong in any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/now-you-receive-all-your-ideas-therefore-you-receive-your-wish-you/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [At Genoa, the word Liberty may be read over the front of the prisons and on the chains of the galley-slaves. This application of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/at-genoa-the-word-liberty-may-be-read-over-the-front-of-the-prisons/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-world-has-never-had-a-good-definition-of-the-word-liberty-and-the/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“The word Liberty circled the world and returned amazed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coluche/the-word-liberty-circled-the-world-and-returned-amazed/) [Coluche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coluche/) > [The highest political buzz word is not liberty, equality, fraternity or solidarity; it is service.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/the-highest-political-buzz-word-is-not-liberty-equality-fraternity-or/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [Take the word Liberty from human speech and all the other words become poor, withered, meaningless sounds - but with that word realized -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/take-the-word-liberty-from-human-speech-and-all-the-other-words/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-world-has-never-had-a-good-definition-of-the-word-liberty-and-the-2/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) ## More by Tacitus > [Benefits received are a delight to us as long as we think we can requite them; when that possibility is far exceeded, they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/benefits-received-are-a-delight-to-us-as-long-as-we-think-we-can/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/rumor-does-not-always-err-it-sometimes-even-elects-a-man/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [ None mourn more ostentatiously than those who most rejoice at it \[a death\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/none-mourn-more-ostentatiously-than-those-who-most-rejoice-at-it-a/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/so-true-is-it-that-all-transactions-of-preeminent-importance-are/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Be assured those will be thy worst enemies, not to whom thou hast done evil, but who have done evil to thee. And those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/be-assured-those-will-be-thy-worst-enemies-not-to-whom-thou-hast-done/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Christianity is a pestilent superstition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/christianity-is-a-pestilent-superstition/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Indeed, the crowning proof of their valour and their strength is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/indeed-the-crowning-proof-of-their-valour-and-their-strength-is-that/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/formerly-we-suffered-from-crimes-now-we-suffer-from-laws/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [ None mourn more ostentatiously over the death of Germanicus than those who most rejoice at it \[a death\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/none-mourn-more-ostentatiously-over-the-death-of-germanicus-than/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/once-killing-starts-it-is-difficult-to-draw-the-line/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [The lust of dominion burns with a flame so fierce as to overpower all other affections of the human breast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/the-lust-of-dominion-burns-with-a-flame-so-fierce-as-to-overpower-all/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [“It is a principle of nature to hate those whom you have injured.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/it-is-a-principle-of-nature-to-hate-those-whom-you-have-injured/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Kindness, so far as we can return it, is agreeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/kindness-so-far-as-we-can-return-it-is-agreeable/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [Posterity gives every man his true value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/posterity-gives-every-man-his-true-value/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) > [The most detestable race of enemies are flatterers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/the-most-detestable-race-of-enemies-are-flatterers/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) [Explore all 227 Tacitus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) ## More Discord quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [It is easy to speak words of love, or to meditate lovingly upon those people with whom you are in harmony. But it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-ponder/it-is-easy-to-speak-words-of-love-or-to-meditate-lovingly-upon-those/) [Catherine Ponder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-ponder/) > [All of my work is meant to evoke a whole bunch of different layers of discord between the attraction and repulsion that we feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-jordan/all-of-my-work-is-meant-to-evoke-a-whole-bunch-of-different-layers-of/) [Chris Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-jordan/) > [we cannot break a law of eternal justice, however ignorantly, but throughout the entire universe will there be a jar of discord that will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-saunders-cushman/we-cannot-break-a-law-of-eternal-justice-however-ignorantly-but/) [Charlotte Saunders Cushman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-saunders-cushman/) > [Discord or jealousy inhibits the ability of the Holy Ghost to teach us and inhibits our ability to receive light and truth. And the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/discord-or-jealousy-inhibits-the-ability-of-the-holy-ghost-to-teach/) [Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/) > [The fairest harmony springs from discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heraclitus/the-fairest-harmony-springs-from-discord/) [Heraclitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heraclitus/) > [The leader is one who, out of the clutter, brings simplicity... out of discord, harmony... and out of difficulty, opportunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-leader-is-one-who-out-of-the-clutter-brings-simplicity-out-of/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/but-the-desire-of-obtaining-the-advantages-and-of-escaping-the/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Charity is the note that resolves the discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-o-malley/charity-is-the-note-that-resolves-the-discord/) [Austin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-o-malley/) > [The scent organ was playing a delightfully refreshing Herbal Capriccio - rippling arpeggios of thyme and lavender, of rosemary, basil, myrtle, tarragon; a series…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-scent-organ-was-playing-a-delightfully-refreshing-herbal/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [A philosopher may deplore the eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of spoil is a more rational…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/a-philosopher-may-deplore-the-eternal-discords-of-the-human-race-but/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/christian-love-draws-no-distinction-between-one-enemy-and-another/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [A modicum of discord is the very spice of courtship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-chamfort/a-modicum-of-discord-is-the-very-spice-of-courtship/) [Nicolas Chamfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-chamfort/) > [Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned to discords.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-perkins-marsh/man-is-everywhere-a-disturbing-agent-wherever-he-plants-his-foot-the/) [George Perkins Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-perkins-marsh/) [Browse all 215 Discord quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discord/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and mischievous in public, had no hope left but in fomenting discord.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tacitus" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-by-persons-who-being/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Discord" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-by-persons-who-being/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c86/tacitus-1552_discord_the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-b_1442586.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and…” — Tacitus", "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": "Tacitus", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The word liberty has been falsely...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-by-persons-who-being/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/the-word-liberty-has-been-falsely-used-by-persons-who-being/#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 } } ] } ```