The 4th of July conjures up images of barbecues, warm weather, fireworks and overall fun, but most importantly the holiday marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of America as a free nation.

Here as some of the best quotes about freedom and independence to ponder on Independence Day.

Erma Bombeck

"You have to love a nation that celebrate its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks and soldiers, who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but its patriotism."

Horace McFarland

"It is the love of country that has lighted and keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism."

Lyndon B. Johnson

"This, then, is the state of the Union: Free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith."

Malcolm X

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."

Harry S. Truman

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."

Daniel Webster

"May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own county!"

Louis D. Brandeis

"Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty."

Albert Camus

"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better."

Florence A. Jones

"Freedom's natal day is here. Fire the guns and shout for freedom, see the flag above unfurled! Hail the stars and stripes forever, dearest the fall in all the world."

Harry Emerson Fosdick

"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have."

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