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by Nerwesta 1743 days ago
There is a saying in French, "La liberté des uns s'arrête là où commencent celle des autres". I'm not sure if it's known in English, I never read it online that's for sure, so I just roughly translated word by word :

The freedom of someone ends where the freedom of others begins.

Basically saying that living in a stable society is like signing a contract to restrain your liberty of doing anything when it's proved harmful for the others.

2 comments

A common English equivalent is "your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins": https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/15/liberty-fist-nose/
Thanks, today I learnt the equivalent !
I've been saying that verbatim in English for years. I didn't know it originated as a French saying.