None can love freedom but good men; the rest love not freedom but license, which never hath more scope than under tyrants.
John Milton
The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)
[From the Wikipedia link above: “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates is a book by John Milton, in which he defends the right of people to execute a guilty sovereign”.
I found the quote in The Great Thoughts (link is to the 2nd Edition, mine is the 1st Edition–1985) compiled by George Seldes.—Joe]
Interesting.
When I saw “John Milton” in the title, I wondered what the quote would be. (I didn’t remember that he wrote on politics, I just remembered him as the author of Paradise Lost…)
For all the problems that Puritans have with their reputation, I think it is hard to ignore that their thoughts on individual rights, and the ability of the people to depose a king, heavily influenced American thought about freedoms.