H.L Mencken
This quote doesn't need any comment from me. One of the truest things Mencken wrote in the millions of words he produced in his lifetime.
“I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave”
This quote is from "Why Liberty?”, in the Chicago Tribune (30 January 1927)