Freedom Of Speech Quotes

Living under the tremendous illusion that personal freedoms and freedom of speech are devoid of moral assumptions and responsibilities, we have bankrupted ourselves, so that honor, truth, and morality have been sacrificed at the altar of autonomy and self-worship. ~ Ravi Zacharias

The problem with today's world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it.
The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense! ~ Brian Cox

After all, if freedom of speech means anything, it means a willingness to stand and let people say things with which we disagree, and which do weary us considerably. ~ Zechariah Chafee

Authoritative interpretations of the First Amendment guarantees have consistently refused to recognize an exception for any test of truth whether administered by judges, juries, or administrative officials and especially one that puts the burden of proving truth on the speaker. ~ William J. Brennan

I would hope to inspire in my listeners a feeling of freedom - of speech, thought and political activity. ~ John Hall

The moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it's a religious belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.
[Defend the right to be offended (openDemocracy, 7 February 2005)] ~ Salman Rushdie

What is the best thing that happens if we refuse to abide by the dictates of political correctness? I believe that we could return to a nation that truly cherishes freedom of speech and freedom of expression. ~ Ben Carson

If there's no sense of self, there's no sense of culture. If there's no sense of wisdom, there's no sense of progress. If there's no sense of love, there's no sense of peace. If there's no sense of peace, there's no sense of stability. If there's no room for freedom of expressions, there's no room for growth. ~ Henry Johnson Jr

I can't curse those who don't believe as I do. I can't express hate or disdain for those who criticize what I hold dear. I can't outshout, bully, or taunt them. I can't exercise the liberty of free speech because I answer to a higher law.
I answer to the Word of God. ~ Lori Hatcher

The exploitation of women, mass hunger, disregard for freedom of conscience and for freedom of speech, widespread and racial discrimination all these evils are far too prevalent to be overlooked. ~ Rene Cassin

without freedom of though there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. ~ Jack Russell

The Council is wrong. Yet, observe that none of us will risk telling it so, for fear of the consequences. ~ Mark Dunn

In the years since then, those four freedoms - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear - have stood as a summary of our aspirations for the American Republic and for the world. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights. ~ Thomas Sowell

It condemned The Wave as a dangerous and mindless movement that suppressed freedom of speech and thought and ran against everything the country was founded on. ~ Todd Strasser

There will be no more protest. No more dissension. No more violence. There will be only one voice. The voice of Ravinia. The voice of Halla. Your voice." "There goes freedom of speech." I said
Alexnder Naymeer and Bobby Pendragon, Raven Rise, Page 458 ~ D.J. MacHale

I think it's very important for everyone in America to realize right now the state of our country, not just on this issue but on a lot of issues, that it is time to get active again. People have just sat back and just sort of said, oh, let somebody else do it for a long time, and we're seeing what's happening to the country, even freedom of speech. It's not going well. So I think this is a real opportunity for people to see, yes, if you do get out and you do get active, there are other people there. You just have to seek them out. ~ Mary Steenburgen

The standing orders of the Parliamentary Party, however, apply to me, apply to every other Member of the Parliamentary Labour Party and they put into a context the way in which those rights to freedom of speech should be exercised. ~ Ron Davies

The old restriction meant that only the orthodox were allowed to discuss religion. Modern liberty means that nobody is allowed to discuss it. Good taste, the last and vilest of human superstitions, has succeeded in silencing us where all the rest have failed. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Where there is a great deal of free speech there is always a certain amount of foolish speech. ~ Winston Churchill

Which country is suffering from too much freedom of speech? Name it, is there one? ~ Julian Assange

when you disobey the rule, you sell your freedom. You cripple your real you. The daily direction of your life is restricted and directed by the rule and the ruling ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

You can't be selective about freedom of speech. If you say you believe in freedom of speech you have to acknowledge the people whose views you disagree with, people whose views you may detest, nevertheless have the right to freedom of speech. ~ George Brandis

About these developments George Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four , was quite wrong. He described a new kind of state and police tyranny, under which the freedom of speech has become a deadly danger, science and its applications have regressed, horses are again plowing untilled fields, food and even sex have become scarce and forbidden commodities: a new kind of totalitarian puritanism, in short. But the very opposite has been happening. The fields are plowed not by horses but by monstrous machines, and made artificially fertile through sometimes poisonous chemicals; supermarkets are awash with luxuries, oranges, chocolates; travel is hardly restricted while mass tourism desecrates and destroys more and more of the world; free speech is not at all endangered but means less and less. ~ John Lukacs

A persistent preoccupation with "freedom of speech" to the neglect of other freedoms can diminish the shelter available for religion and other precious freedoms. The intertwining of all our freedoms is greater than we realize ... It may be true ... that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had absolute free speech, but did they have anything worth saying? ~ Neal A. Maxwell

I want to be part of the happiness team - let's create the happiness team - from love, not greed, love of life & our planet, true & free. ~ Jay Woodman

I fight, and have fought, for political freedom, for justice and for fairness and freedom of speech. ~ Teresa Heinz

New York Times v. Sullivan was about the suppression of speech in the South [during the 1960s]. Today's version of suppression is just another verse of the same song. ~ Gilbert S. Merritt, Jr.

Does a person have a right to change his or her own religion? This is a fundamental human right, just like a right to freedom of speech. ~ Miroslav Volf

When one makes a Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forward - or go back. He who now talks about the 'freedom of the press' goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism. ~ Vladimir Lenin

You can't believe how pro-gay and pro-freedom-of-speech I am. I'm way out beyond anyone on the Left. ~ Penn Jillette

Let every
writer
tell his
own
lies
That's freedom
of the
press. ~ Norman Mailer

Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality. ~ Ben Shapiro

J. D. Salinger, the greatly loved author who "had elected to silence himself. He had freedom of speech but what he had ended up wanting more than anything else, it seemed, was the freedom to be silent. ~ Michael Hofmann

So the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is out there preserving and fighting for, and sometimes winning and sometimes losing, the fight for First Amendment rights in comics and, more generally, for freedom of speech. ~ Neil Gaiman

If we can't say what we think under our roof, then we have no roof. ~ Andre Aciman

The androcentric, patriarchal cultures, whatever you want to call it, are quite new. So, every economic statement should start with reproduction, not production. Every statement for human rights ought to include reproduction as a basic human right, like freedom of speech. ~ Gloria Steinem

...Society needs to open its collective mind to all ideas and ideologies. It needs to give its people the chance to listen to the opinions of others, and then examine them critically instead of rejecting them prematurely. Such a creative dialogue based on positive critical thinking can enhance and develop ideas. ~ Raif Badawi

I have a decision to go, but I am not sure to choose which other prison on the earth. ~ Ali Rezavand Zayeri

Beyond all the other reasons not to do it, free speech assaults always backfire: they transform bigots into martyrs. ~ Glenn Greenwald

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
[Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950] ~ Harry Truman

This is, in theory, still a free country, but our politically correct, censorious times are such that many of us tremble to give vent to perfectly acceptable views for fear of condemnation. Freedom of speech is thereby imperiled, big questions go undebated, and great lies become accepted, unequivocally as great truths. ~ Simon Heffer

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ~ James Madison

Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are in my opinion more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality. Freedom of speech, freedom of religious thought, and the right to due process for composers, performers and retailers are imperiled if the PMRC and the major labels consummate this nasty bargain. ~ Frank Zappa

Abuses of the freedom of speech ought to be repressed, but to whom are we to commit the power of doing it? ~ Benjamin Franklin

People don't often say what they think but rather what they think is permissible. ~ Michael Rectenwald

Trading old broken mirrors that feed lies into our souls for new mirrors of freedom requires choices. ~ Danielle Bernock

I believe that the freedom of speech should be protected, but so should a family's right to privacy as they grieve their loss. There is a time and a place for vigorous debate on the War on Terror, but during a family's last goodbye is not it. ~ Dave Reichert

I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don't have the right to bear arms because of burglars. We have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It's not about duck hunting, it's about the ability of the individual. It's the same reason we have freedom of speech, ~ Vince Vaughn

Freedom of speech is one of the greatest American liberties, and I hope this pardon serves as a reminder of the precious freedoms we are fighting to preserve as we continue to wage the war on terror. ~ George Pataki

Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience. ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Freedom is an ingredient of humble facts. ~ Arif Naseem

A false argument should be refuted, not named. That's the basic idea behind freedom of speech. Arguments by name-calling, rather than truth and light, can generally be presumed fraudulent. ~ Ann Coulter

Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right. ~ Anthony Horowitz

Among all the accomplishments of youth there is none preferable to a decent and agreeable behavior among men, a modest freedom of speech, a soft and elegant manner of address, a graceful and lovely deportment, a cheerful gravity and good-humor, with a mind appearing ever serene under the ruffling accidents of human life. ~ Isaac Watts

Freedom of speech doesn't apply only if you like the message; it applies to everyone. And if it is gone, so is a free society. ~ Pamela Geller

Freedom is an absolute state, there is no such thing as being half-free. ~ Daniel Delgado F.

If you are not free to say no, your yes is meaningless. ~ Brent Weeks

As politicians we have to make very difficult decisions and one ... is when freedom of speech actually insults public safety. ~ Tulip Siddiq

The 'lump of equality' argument, which assumes that if someone is doing well it must be at the expense of someone else, is both false and has been used to previously justify some pretty dystopian actions. When those with power believe that the end justifies the means, any action to achieve this end becomes viable. We've seen multiple variations of ideology-based 'equality' solutions implemented in the real world; none of which turned out well for those they purported to help. ~ Sean A. Culey

No danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is an opportunity for full discussion. Only an emergency can justify repression. ~ Louis D. Brandeis

Somewhere along the line we started misinterpreting the First Amendment and this idea of the freedom of speech the amendment grants us. We are free to speak as we choose without fear of prosecution or persecution, but we are not free to speak as we choose without consequence. ~ Roxane Gay

At least in America, you have freedom of speech, which is a good thing. It's just a question of whether you're allowed to use it on 'Fox News'. ~ Eric Idle

Freedom of speech is detestable only to those who have no desire to think for themselves. ~ Criss Jami

Lose your freedom, and become a slave by borrowing. ~ Auliq Ice

It's certainly not too late to change to the winning side. But you know, you also have the freedom to stay just where you are. That's what it means to be an American. That's the miracle of America. Freedom to believe means the freedom to believe the wrong thing, after all. Just as freedom of speech gives you the right to stay silent. ~ Neil Gaiman

It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. ~ Abe Fortas

I remember when I left Hungary," Zoltan said, "understanding so completely that literature could save me as much as it could get me killed. Of course it's not like that here. But isn't it funny, that in some ways the price one pays for freedom of speech is ... a kind of indifference. ~ Daphne Kalotay

America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing. ~ Alexis De Tocqueville

I know it when I see it
Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), concurring op. ~ Justice Potter Stewart

Patrick Henry said 'give me liberty or give me death.' I think his famous quote makes it crystal clear that the Constitutional framework of this country values liberty as an essential element of life, worth dying for. If something is worth such a sacrifice, how can the loss of it be justified for the argument that it will make us safer to give up our liberty and our civil rights? Are we to tell the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of all the soldiers lost in foreign wars that it was all a big lie? That they died for nothing? ~ Kenneth Eade

You believe in freedom of speech for communists because what they say is true. You do not believe in freedom of speech for fascists because what they say is a lie. ~ John Howard Lawson

There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech ~ Idi Amin

I should say here, because some in Washington like to dream up ways to control the Internet, that we don't need to 'control' free speech, we need to control ourselves. ~ Peggy Noonan

This can't be constitutional," he said. "This is America, damn it. We still have freedom of speech here. ~ Bentley Little

I could only think one troubling thought: the police, the state, did the bidding of the holders of great wealth. How much freedom of speech and freedom of assembly you had depended on what class you were in. ~ Howard Zinn

At first Christ was a man – nothing more. Mary was his mother, Joseph his father. The genealogy of his father, Joseph, was given to show that he was of the blood of David.
Then the claim was made that he was the son of God, and that his mother was a virgin, and that she remained a virgin until her death.

The claim was made that Christ rose from the dead and ascended bodily to heaven.
It required many years for these absurdities to take possession of the minds of men.
If he really ascended, why did he not do so in public, in the presence of his persecutors? Why should this, the greatest of miracles, be done in secret, in a corner?

Is Christ our example? He never said a word in favor of education. He never even hinted at the existence of any science. He never uttered a word in favor of industry, economy or of any effort to better our condition in this world. He was the enemy of the successful, of the wealthy. Dives was sent to hell, not because he was bad, but because he was rich.

Lazarus went to heaven, not because he was good, but because he was poor.
Christ cared nothing for painting, for sculpture, for music – nothing for any art. He said nothing about the duties of nation to nation, of king to subject; nothing about the rights of man; nothing about intellectual liberty or the freedom of speech. He said nothing about the sacredness of home; not one word for the fireside; not a word in favor of marriage, in honor of matern ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

At all times, day by day, we have to continue fighting for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from want ... for these are things that must be gained in peace as well as in war. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

It's not about contraception. It's about economic liberty, it's about freedom of speech, it's about freedom of religion, it's about government control of your lives and it's got to stop! ~ Rick Santorum

Mill sets out several related arguments for protecting freedom of speech, not just from oppressive government intervention, but also from social pressures. Underlying them all are the assumptions that (a) truth is valuable, and (b) no matter how certain someone is that they know the truth, their judgement is still fallible: they might still be wrong. ~ Nigel Warburton

The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book. ~ Walt Whitman

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them. ~ Alexis De Tocqueville

We need a free media, not just freedom of speech. ~ Tom Scholz

Turkey, with its political intolerance, as I have described it, is prepared to march forward, to break with its taboo about the Armenians, and is making great strides with respect to human rights and freedom of speech so that it can join the European Union. This alone shows how powerful the European idea is. ~ Orhan Pamuk

I believe in power of speech, and food inside prison. ~ Popo Santos

A nice, easy place for freedom of speech to be eroded is comics, because comics are a natural target whenever an election comes up. ~ Neil Gaiman

If you think love can be anything why do we decide to ignore how others think love should be?

Why is there laws about love, if it can be anything?

Why in some countries is it illegal to marry your own kind if love can be anything?

My point is people hear what they want, say what they want, watch what they want, but they can't love how they want. The only thing free about the U.S.A is freedom of speech. We can't love in any way we want at all. ~ Leah

Criminalizing offensive speech is a far greater and essential danger to freedom than terrorism is. Anybody who wants to criminalize speech that they find offensive differs from the terrorists only in degree, not in kind. ~ Andy Levy

If there's one American belief I hold above all others, it's that those who would set themselves up in judgment on matters of what is "right" and what is "best" should be given no rest; that they should have to defend their behavior most stringently ... As a nation, we've been through too many fights to preserve our rights of free thought to let them go just because some prude with a highlighter doesn't approve of them."
[Bangor Daily News, Guest Column of March 20, 1992] ~ Stephen King

It is depressing to have to point out, yet again, that there is a distinction between having the legal right to say something & having the moral right not to be held accountable for what you say. Being asked to apologise for saying something unconscionable is not the same as being stripped of the legal right to say it. It's really not very f-cking complicated. Cry "free speech" in such contexts, you are demanding the right to speak any bilge you wish without apology or fear of comeback. You are demanding not legal rights but an end to debate about and criticism of what you say. When did bigotry get so needy? ~ China Mieville

All liberty required was that the space for discourse itself be protected. Liberty lay in the argument itself, not the resolution of that argument, in the ability to quarrel, even with the most cherished beliefs of others; a free society was not placid but turbulent. The bazaar of conflicting was the place where freedom rang. ~ Salman Rushdie

Freedom of speech and the press must be complete. But then freedom of association must be complete too. ~ Vladimir Lenin

We have our difficulties, true; but we are a wiser and a tougher nation than we were in 1932. Never have there been six years of such far flung internal preparedness in all of history. And this has been done without any dictator's power to command, without conscription of labor or confiscation of capital, without concentration camps and without a scratch on freedom of speech, freedom of the press or the rest of the Bill of Rights. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Personally, when it comes to rights, I think one of two things is true. I think either we have unlimited rights, or we have no rights at all. Personally I lean towards unlimited rights, I feel for instance I have the right to do anything I please, BUT! If I do something you don't like I think you have the right to kill me. ~ George Carlin

Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four. ~ George Orwell

Because Freedom is the most important thing on life, let me Be. ~ John Steinbeck

Love myself I do. Not everything, but I love the good as well as the bad. I love my crazy lifestyle, and I love my hard discipline. I love my freedom of speech and the way my eyes get dark when I'm tired. I love that I have learned to trust people with my heart, even if it will get broken. I am proud of everything that I am and will become. ~ Johnny Weir

Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom of speech. ~ Emily Robison

A NATION'S GREATNESS DEPENDS ON ITS LEADER

To vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose from those they do not pick. Pick a leader from among the people who is heart-driven, one who identifies with the common man on the street and understands what the country needs on every level. Do not pick a leader who is only money-driven and does not understand or identify with the common man, but only what corporations need on every level.

Pick a peacemaker. One who unites, not divides. A cultured leader who supports the arts and true freedom of speech, not censorship. Pick a leader who will not only bail out banks and airlines, but also families from losing their homes -- or jobs due to their companies moving to other countries. Pick a leader who will fund schools, not limit spending on education and allow libraries to close. Pick a leader who chooses diplomacy over war. An honest broker in foreign relations. A leader with integrity, one who says what they mean, keeps their word and does not lie to their people. Pick a leader who is strong and confident, yet humble. Intelligent, but not sly. A leader who encourages diversity, not racism. One who understands the needs of the farmer, the teacher, the doctor, and the environmentalist -- not only the banker, the oil tycoon, the weapons developer, or the insurance a ~ Suzy Kassem