Freedom Of Speech Quotes

Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose

Some people only speak of freedom of speech while they're out of power. Once they're in power, they're ruthless in suppressing the rights of others.

I am not so much concerned with the right of everyone to say anything he pleases as I am about our need as a self-governing people to hear everything relevant.

You have a right to say what you believe, and I have a right.

There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a bad word.' You know bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad intentions.

In so far as it takes effect at all, pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism.

The only way to settle questions of an ideological nature or controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education, and not by the method of coercion or repression.

We went to America a few times and [Brian] Epstein always tried to waffle on at us about saying nothing about Vietnam. So there came a time when George [Harrison] and I said 'Listen, when they ask next time, we're going to say we don't like that war and we think they should get right out.' That's what we did.

To make fun of an administration, to make fun of anything, Mark Twain said, is the last defense of democracy.

To tell a woman not to talk too much was like telling Jesse James not to carry a gun, or a hen not to cackle.

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

It is the characteristic of the most stringent censorships that they give credibility to the opinions they attack.

If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the philosophical writings of Cicero.

I just say whatever I want to whoever I want whenever I want wherever I want however I want.

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.

I don't think that anything anyone has to say should ever be censored or unheard

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

The danger of crippling thought, the danger of obstructing the formation of the public mind by specially suppressing ... representations is far greater than any real danger that there is from such representations.

For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.

The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.

We have to uphold a free press and freedom of speech - because, in the end, lies and misinformation are no match for the truth.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Experience has taught us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession, and when the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

We aren't allowed to have any opinions. People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but it doesn't stop you having your own opinion. Even if people are still very young, they shouldn't be prevented from saying what they think.

A people that is able to say everything, becomes able to do everything. The crowd which follows me with admiration, would run with the same eagerness were I marching to the Guillotine.

The editor of a newspaper cannot be independent, but must work with one hand tied behind him by party and patrons, and be content to utter only half or two-thirds of his mind . writers of all kinds are manacled servants of the public. We write frankly and fearlessly, but then we "modify" before we print.

I believe no satirist could breathe this air. If another Juvenal or Swift could rise up among us tomorrow, he would be hunted down. If you have any knowledge of our literature, and can give me the name of any man, American born and bred, who has anatomised our follies as a people, and not as this or that party; and who has escaped the foulest and most brutal slander, the most inveterate hatred and intolerant pursuit; it will be a strange name in my ears, believe me.

People would say I never censor. As Billy Crystal says, 'I don't have that button.'

If the book be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But, for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides, if we choose.

Stand-up is the place where you can do things that you could never do in public. Once you step on stage you're licensed to do that. It's an understood relationship. You walk on stage - it's your job.

A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.

A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything.

Such expression is impossible in a cramped atmosphere. As I have no desire to offer civil disobedience I cannot write freely. As the author of satyagraha I cannot, consistently with my profession, suppress the vital part of myself for the sake of being able to write on permissible subjects. ... It would be like dealing with the trunk without the head.

We cannot have a society, in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States.

I wouldn't advise [people] to be silent.

Take away freedom of speech, and the creative faculties dry up.

There was no really good true war book during the entire four years of the war. The only true writing that came through during the war was in poetry. One reason for this is that poets are not arrested as quickly as prose writers.

A free press is one of the pillars of democracy.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je d‚fendrai jusqu'... la mort le droit que vous avez de le dire/ I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it

It is necessary for the welfare of society that genius should be privileged to utter sedition, to blaspheme, to outrage good taste, to corrupt the youthful mind, and generally to scandalize one's uncles.

Cable is not bound because people pay for it. It's literally a choice, that's the operative word. If you don't like the language, if cocksucker offends you, then turn it off.

I was trying to get out of the night clubs and was thinking maybe I'll go to the colleges now; that's where you can speak your mind.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public.

A journalist's peculiar function is to read the mind of the country and to give definite and fearless expression to that mind.

There is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail.

If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves.

Grievances cannot be redressed until they are known; and they cannot be known but through complaints and petitions. If these are deemed affronts, and the messengers punished as offenders, who will henceforth send petitions? And who will deliver them? Wise governments encouraged the airing of grievances, even those that were lightly founded Foolish governments did the opposite - to their peril. Where complaining is a crime, hope becomes despair.

Free speech carries with it the evil of all foolish, unpleasant venomous things that are said but, on the whole, we would rather lump them than do away with them.

Opinion, and the just maintenance of it, shall never be a crime in my view.

My thing is this; if I'm sick enough to think it, then I'm sick enough to say it.

The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.

Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors.

Libraries should be open to all - except the censor. [Response to questionnaire in Saturday Review, October 29 1960]

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.

Stand-up is the place where you can do things that you could never do in public.

I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.

Write anything you want because we'll never be heard from again.

In the old days men had the rack. Now they have the Press.