"It is important to remember that it is tiring, and trying, being free: and in times of exhaustion affection for freedom has always waned, whatever lip-service might be paid to it.
"The conclusion I draw from the history of slavery is that freedom is not just a matter of rights, to be enshrined in law. The right to express yourself still leaves you with the need to decide what to say, to find someone to listen, and to make your words sound beautiful; these are skills which need to be acquired. All that the law says to you is that you can play your guitar, if you can get hold of one. So declarations of human rights provide only a few of the ingredients out of which freedom is made."
--from An intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin
