Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every

The English philosopher and statesman Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, once wrote: “Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.” These words, written in the early 18th century, ring with a timeless strength. In them lies a metaphor both elegant and profound — the comparison of a nation’s freedom to a person’s vital health. Bolingbroke, a man who lived through political upheaval, understood that liberty, like health, is invisible when we possess it, yet its absence brings suffering more painful than any physical wound.

To say that liberty is the health of society is to recognize that freedom is not merely a political privilege, but the living pulse of civilization itself. Just as a body deprived of health weakens, so a nation deprived of liberty decays — its people reduced to shadows of what they might have been. The strength of a free society lies not in its armies, nor in its wealth, but in the spiritual vigor of its citizens — their ability to think, speak, and act without chains. Bolingbroke’s vision reminds us that a nation’s liberty, like a man’s health, must be guarded with vigilance, for once lost, it is not easily restored.

To understand the depth of his wisdom, we must recall the times from which these words arose. Bolingbroke lived in the age of monarchs and revolutions, when questions of power and freedom burned across Europe. He saw how tyranny poisoned nations just as disease poisons the blood — slowly, invisibly, until strength is gone and decay sets in. In his eyes, liberty was not chaos but balance — the harmonious state in which authority serves the people, and the people, through virtue and vigilance, preserve their own freedom. Thus he taught that liberty, like health, demands both discipline and courage.

History gives us many witnesses to this truth. Consider the story of the American Revolution, born just a few decades after Bolingbroke’s words. The colonies, though rich in land and spirit, lived under the weight of distant rule. They had prosperity but not liberty, comfort but not dignity. It was only when they risked their lives for freedom that they became truly alive as a people. Like a man who casts off sickness and feels the rush of fresh air again, the new nation found that happiness was not in wealth or safety, but in the living breath of liberty. Bolingbroke’s metaphor became prophecy: without freedom, society withers; with it, even hardship becomes bearable.

And yet, his words reach beyond politics — they speak to the soul of humanity itself. Just as health is not the mere absence of disease, liberty is not simply the absence of oppression. Both are conditions of wholeness, of natural harmony. A man truly healthy does not live recklessly, nor does a people truly free live lawlessly. Health is the order of the body; liberty is the order of justice. Each demands care, balance, and wisdom. To abuse freedom, as to neglect health, is to invite ruin.

The lesson, therefore, is both moral and eternal: guard liberty as one guards health — through mindfulness, discipline, and gratitude. A people who take freedom for granted will lose it as surely as a man who abuses his body will lose his strength. Let every generation renew its vigilance, for liberty, like health, fades in silence before it dies in violence. We must nourish it with truth, protect it with courage, and temper it with virtue.

And so, let Bolingbroke’s wisdom be passed to those who come after: Without health, life is hollow; without liberty, civilization is a corpse. The strength of the individual lies in the body’s vigor; the strength of nations lies in the freedom of their people. To be healthy is to live fully — to be free is to live nobly. Cherish both, for they are twin blessings that sustain all joy, all virtue, and all hope in the heart of mankind.