"The difference between a free Government and a Government which is not free is principally this—that a Government which is not free interferes with everything it can, and a free Government interferes with nothing except what it must. A despotic Government tries to make everybody do what it wishes; a Liberal Government tries, as far as the safety of society will permit, to allow everybody to do as he wishes. It has been the tradition of the Liberal party consistently to maintain the doctrine of individual liberty. It is because they have done so that England is the place where people can do more what they please than in any other country in the world."
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Original Language: English
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William Harcourt, speech in Oxford town hall (30 December 1872), quoted in The Times (31 December 1872), p. 5
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Liberalism
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Liberalism
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