It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
Interpretation
Sacrificing others' freedom undermines your own autonomy.
James Otis suggests that individuals who willingly trade away the freedom of others may eventually become indifferent to their own liberation. This reflects a deeper philosophical idea that the respect for personal liberty should be universal, as violating the rights of others can lead to a collective deterioration of freedom.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of protecting freedoms for all.
I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow... for bitter bread, earned under the frowns of some who have no natural or divine right to be above me, and entirely owe their grandeur and honor to grinding the faces of the poor.
There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the Law of Nature and the grant of God Almighty, who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they please.
I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is.
If we are not represented, we are slaves.
Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.
A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit.
There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.
An admiral without ships, a hand without fingers, in service of a king without a throne. Is this a knight who comes before us, or the answer to a child's riddle?
Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like 9/11, they have terrorism threats, they have new war threats, they have economy problems, and they think, 'What can I do? I'm basically a victim.'
Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.
The world is full of things that upset people. But most of us deal with it and move on and don't try and burn the planet down.
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