Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.

The aphorism distinguishes liberty from mere permissiveness. Webster’s point is that freedom is not maximized by removing all constraints; rather, it grows when restraints are “wholesome”—i.e., legitimate, law-governed, and oriented toward the common good. Such restraints protect individuals from coercion by others, stabilize rights, and make collective self-rule possible. The quote also implies a moral dimension: self-restraint and civic discipline are prerequisites for political liberty. In this view, law is not the enemy of freedom but its framework, and a society that cannot accept reasonable limits risks sliding into disorder, which then invites harsher forms of control.