Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others

From a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany (4 April 1819)

Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the limits of the law" because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.