# That Benjamin Franklin Quote about Freedom & Security

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-benjamin-franklin-quote-about-freedom-security/199362>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 3, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-benjamin-franklin-quote-about-freedom-security/199362 "2003-09-03T17:41:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![irinotecan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/47e85d/32.png) [@irinotecan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irinotecan)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-benjamin-franklin-quote-about-freedom-security/199362/1 "2003-09-03T17:41:32Z")

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You know the one, “He who would give up freedom for security deserves neither”. Oft quoted in these times of freedom sacrificing security measures.

My question is, is this REALLY a quote from Ben? If so, in what context was this uttered? Is it in a published work of his? Did he belt it out as an angry response to some early overzealous congressman who wanted to enact Ye Old Patriot Act in those times of the War Against The Terrible Monarchy? Or, as the cynical side of me wonders, was this really a quote from some nobody newspaper editor who said something like, “Ben Franklin would be proud of me when I say…”

It sure seems like everybody famous these days gets some memorable quote misattributed to them. So what’s the Straight Dope?

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**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-benjamin-franklin-quote-about-freedom-security/199362/2 "2003-09-03T17:52:24Z")

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Here’s the quote I think you’re looking for…

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> They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

from [The Quotable Franklin](http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/quote04.htm)  
According to [this site…](http://www.correspondences.org/archives/000152.html)

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> This sentence was much used in the Revolutionary period. It occurs even so early as November, 1755, in an answer by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to the Governor, and forms the motto of Franklin’s “Historical Review,” 1759, appearing also in the body of the work.-Frothingham: Rise of the Republic of the United States, p. 413.

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**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-benjamin-franklin-quote-about-freedom-security/199362/3 "2003-09-03T19:27:10Z")

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Great quote. Not nearly as good as:

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> Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.