\u201cI often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, and upon courts. \u00a0These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. \u00a0Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. \u00a0While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. \u00a0And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? \u00a0It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. \u00a0This is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow. \u00a0A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few \u2014 as we have learned to our sorrow.<\/p>\n
What, then, is the spirit of liberty? \u00a0I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. \u00a0The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten \u2014 that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learned Hand \u2014 1944<\/p>\n