Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.
~George Washington
If freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to the slaughter.
~George Washington
Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors.
Benjamin Franklin
I think you’re taking it too literally. No matter what you hold dear, death will take it. Whether what you hold dear is another human or all the junk you can’t part with that is stuffed in boxes in your attic makes no difference.