--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: External vigilance is the price of liberty." description: "\"“External vigilance is the price of liberty.”\" — Wendell Phillips" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wendell-phillips-3986_freedom_external-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liber_2187056.png" --- # External vigilance is the price of liberty. ![“External vigilance is the price of liberty.” quote by Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wendell-phillips-3986_freedom_external-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liber_2187056.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wendell-phillips-3986_freedom_external-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liber_2187056.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wendell-phillips-3986_freedom_external-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liber_2187056.png) > ““External vigilance is the price of liberty.”” [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Freedom requires constant vigilance to protect against oppression. **In simple terms:** Freedom needs watchfulness. Key Takeaway Stay alert. Themes freedom vigilance rights responsibility Mood serious urgent Type political philosophical When to use this quote - political activism - community organizing - legal reform Key Concepts civil liberties social justice Questions to Reflect On - What threats are you overlooking? - How can you maintain vigilance? A Different Perspective Complacency erodes liberty. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Vigilance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vigilance/) ## Related quotes > [Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/eternal-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liberty-power-is-ever-stealing-from/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Vigilance is not only the price of liberty, but of success of any sort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/vigilance-is-not-only-the-price-of-liberty-but-of-success-of-any-sort/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/eternal-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liberty/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let eternal vigilance be the price of liberty and integrity of the country hereafter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiran-bedi/let-eternal-vigilance-be-the-price-of-liberty-and-integrity-of-the/) [Kiran Bedi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiran-bedi/) > [Eternal vigilance is only part of the price of freedom. The maturity to live with imperfections is another crucial part of the price of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/eternal-vigilance-is-only-part-of-the-price-of-freedom-the-maturity/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Card players have a saying: "It's all right to play if you keep your eyes on the deck" - which is another way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-sinatra/card-players-have-a-saying-it-s-all-right-to-play-if-you-keep-your/) [Frank Sinatra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-sinatra/) > [Eternal vigilance is the price of knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/eternal-vigilance-is-the-price-of-knowledge/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Eternal Vigilance is the price of democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/eternal-vigilance-is-the-price-of-democracy/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Eternal vigilance is the price of sexual confidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-tiger/eternal-vigilance-is-the-price-of-sexual-confidence/) [Lionel Tiger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-tiger/) > [The price of liberty is, in addition to eternal vigilance, eternal patience with the vacuous blather occasionally expressed from behind the shield of free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/the-price-of-liberty-is-in-addition-to-eternal-vigilance-eternal/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-jackson/but-you-must-remember-my-fellow-citizens-that-eternal-vigilance-by/) [Andrew Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-jackson/) > [“The price of liberty is labor as well as vigilance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-scovel/the-price-of-liberty-is-labor-as-well-as-vigilance/) Carl Scovel > [The price of liberty is something more than eternal vigilance. There must also be eternal advance. We can save the rights we have inherited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-demarest-lloyd/the-price-of-liberty-is-something-more-than-eternal-vigilance-there/) [Henry Demarest Lloyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-demarest-lloyd/) > [I sometimes think that the price of liberty is not so much eternal vigilance as eternal dirt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/i-sometimes-think-that-the-price-of-liberty-is-not-so-much-eternal/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Our Founders always wondered about how long it would last. The price of liberty is everlasting vigilance. You've got to be on your guard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-novak/our-founders-always-wondered-about-how-long-it-would-last-the-price/) [Michael Novak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-novak/) ## More by Wendell Phillips > [Right is the eternal sun; the world cannot delay its coming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/right-is-the-eternal-sun-the-world-cannot-delay-its-coming/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [The best education in the world is that got by struggling to get a living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/the-best-education-in-the-world-is-that-got-by-struggling-to-get-a/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/eternal-vigilance-is-the-price-of-liberty-power-is-ever-stealing-from/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [The Puritan's idea of hell is a place where everybody has to mind his own business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/the-puritan-s-idea-of-hell-is-a-place-where-everybody-has-to-mind-his/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [The paleontological evidence before us today clearly demonstrates ordered progressive change with the successive development of new faunal and floral assemblages through the changing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/the-paleontological-evidence-before-us-today-clearly-demonstrates/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [The press is the exclusive literature of the million; to them it is literature, church, and college.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/the-press-is-the-exclusive-literature-of-the-million-to-them-it-is/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Every government is always growing corrupt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/every-government-is-always-growing-corrupt/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Neither do I acknowledge the right of Plymouth to the whole rock. No, the rock underlies all America: it only crops out here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/neither-do-i-acknowledge-the-right-of-plymouth-to-the-whole-rock-no/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [The heart beats louder and the soul hears quicker in silence and solitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/the-heart-beats-louder-and-the-soul-hears-quicker-in-silence-and/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Freedom to preach was first gained, dragging in its train freedom to print.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/freedom-to-preach-was-first-gained-dragging-in-its-train-freedom-to/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Politicians are like the bones of a horse's foreshoulder-not a straight one in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/politicians-are-like-the-bones-of-a-horse-s-foreshoulder-not-a/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Wants awaken intellect. To gratify them disciplines intellect. The keener the want the lustier the growth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/wants-awaken-intellect-to-gratify-them-disciplines-intellect-the/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Popular opinion is oftenest, what Carlyle pronounced it to be, a lie!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/popular-opinion-is-oftenest-what-carlyle-pronounced-it-to-be-a-lie/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Great political questions stir the deepest nature of one-half the nation, but they pass far above and over the heads of the other half.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/great-political-questions-stir-the-deepest-nature-of-one-half-the/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Organize, and stand together. Claim something together, and at once; let the nation hear a united demand from the laboring voice, and then, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/organize-and-stand-together-claim-something-together-and-at-once-let/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) [Explore all 117 Wendell Phillips quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) ## More Freedom quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-robison/some-people-still-believe-you-should-just-fall-in-line-with-what-s/) [Emily Robison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-robison/) > [I believe in freedom to do what you want if you aren't hurting others, but pictures of obese protesters giving their children big gulps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-defranco/i-believe-in-freedom-to-do-what-you-want-if-you-aren-t-hurting-others/) [Philip DeFranco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-defranco/) > [Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. 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Right and wrong demand freedom of choice, but if each action…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/in-a-world-of-fixed-future-there-can-be-no-right-or-wrong-right-and/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [“In any case, white people, who had robbed black people of their liberty and who profited by this theft every hour that they lived,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/in-any-case-white-people-who-had-robbed-black-people-of-their-liberty/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [I don't want to be famous famous. 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