"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it speaks to an assertive independence historically found in American political philosophy and partly because of its contrast to the milder sentiments found in other state mottos.
The phrase comes from a toast written by General John Stark on July 31, 1809. Poor health forced Stark, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the American Revolutionary War, to decline an invitation to an anniversary reunion of the Battle of Bennington. Instead, he sent his toast by letter:
- Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.
The motto was enacted at the same time as the state emblem, on which it appears.
Read more about Live Free Or Die: Legal Battle, Similar Mottos
Famous quotes containing the words live, free and/or die:
“nat every wight he sholde go selle
Al that he hadde and yive it to the poore,
And in swich wise folwe him and his fore:
He spak to hem that wolde live parfitly—
And lordinges, by youre leve, that am nat I.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“We’ll free every slave in every town and region. Can anybody get a bigger army than that?”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)
“Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)