Free Expression Quotes - Page 2

• Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.

  Liu Xiaobo

  Mother, Truth, Freedom

  "Liu Xiaobo: 'No Enemies, No Hatred,' Only Courage". Statement prepared for court, www.npr.org. February 16, 2012.

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• I'm all in favour of free expression provided it's kept rigidly under control.

  Alan Bennett

  Business, Expression, Favour

  Alan Bennett (2008). “Alan Bennett Plays 1: Forty Years On, Getting On, Habeas Corpus and Enjoy”, p.53, Faber & Faber

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• He said he "admired our courage" but didn't want to see us do anything to "damage our promising futures." He felt "proud as an American" that we had "exercised our right to peaceful free expression." But if we did it again, he didn't "know what action the state board of education might take against individual students." Translation: You've had your fun. Now sit down, shut up, and take the freakin' test. Or else.

  Jordan Sonnenblick

  Fun, Expression, Peaceful

  "After Ever After". Book by Jordan Sonnenblick, 2012.

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• [Christian rebellion] arises from the doctrine of mankind made in the image of God, and therefore protests against all forms of dehumanization. It sets itself against the social injustices which insult God the Creator, seeks to protect human beings from oppression and longs to liberate them… it protests against every authoritarian regime, whether of the left or of the right, which discriminates against minorities, denies people their civil rights, forbids the free expression of opinions or imprisons people for their views alone.

  John Stott

  Christian, Rights, Views

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• The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society.

  Emma Goldman

  Peace, Expression, People

  Emma Goldman (2013). “Living My Life”, p.210, Courier Corporation

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• The American feels too rich in his opportunities for free expression that he often no longer knows what he is free from. Neither does he know where he is not free; he does not recognize his native autocrats when he sees them.

  Erik Erikson

  Opportunity, Government, Expression

  Erik H. Erikson (1993). “Childhood and Society”, p.321, W. W. Norton & Company

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• You can have no wise laws nor free enforcement of wise laws unless there is free expression of the wisdom of the people -- and, alas, their folly with it. But if there is freedom, folly will die of its own poison, and the wisdom will survive.

  William Allen White

  Wise, Wisdom, Expression

  William Allen White (1937). “Forty Years on Main Street”

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• The will of the entire people is the true basis of republican government, and a free expression . . . by the public vote of all citizens, without distinctions of race, color, occupation, or sex, is the only means by which that will can be ascertained.

  Victoria Woodhull

  Sex, Mean, Race

  Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1974). “The Victoria Woodhull Reader”, Weston, Mass. : M&S Press

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• But please know, whether you believe campaign contributions are speech or property, that I learned to love very dearly the right of free expression when I lived without that freedom for a while a long time ago.

  John McCain

  Believe, Expression, Long

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• No, nothing is sacred. And even if there were to be something called sacred, we mere primates wouldn't be able to decide which book or which idol or which city was the truly holy one. Thus, the only thing that should be upheld at all costs and without qualification is the right of free expression, because if that goes, then so do all other claims of right as well.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Book, Expression, Idols

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• This new enemy seeks to destroy our freedom and impose its views. We value life; the terrorists ruthlessly destroy it. We value education; the terrorists do not believe women should be educated or should have health care, or should leave their homes. We value the right to speak our minds; for the terrorists, free expression can be grounds for execution. We respect people of all faiths and welcome the free practice of religion; our enemy wants to dictate how to think and how to worship even to their fellow Muslims.

  George W. Bush

  Inspiration, Believe, Home

  Speech in Atlanta, www.cnn.com. November 08, 2001.

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• The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable. To curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views necessarily also deprives others of the right to listen to those views.

  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

  Thinking, Discovery, Views

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• It is frequently said that speech that is intentionally provocative and therefore invites physical retaliation can be punished or suppressed. Yet, plainly no such general proposition can be sustained. Quite the contrary.... The provocative nature of the communication does not make it any the less expression. Indeed, the whole theory of free expression contemplates that expression will in many circumstances be provocative and arouse hostility. The audience, just as the speaker, has an obligation to maintain physical restraint.

  Thomas I. Emerson

  Integrity, Communication, Responsibility

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• The free expression of resentment against one's parents represents a great opportunity. It provides access to one's true self, reactivates numbed feelings, opens the way for mourning and - with luck - reconciliation.

  Alice Miller

  Family, Opportunity, Self

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• Those who would rule with an iron fist always fear the free expression of opinions by those they would suppress.

  Neal Boortz

  Expression, Iron, Fists

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• To curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views necessarily deprives others of the right to listen to those views.

  C. Vann Woodward

  War, Views, Expression

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• Above all, every member of the university has an obligation to permit free expression in the university. No member has a right to prevent such expression. Every official of the university, moreover, has a special obligation to foster free expression and to ensure that it is not obstructed.

  C. Vann Woodward

  War, Expression, Special

  "Free Expression, Peaceful Dissent, and Demonstrations". Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale, catalog.yale.edu. January 1975.

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• At present, when the prevailing forms of society have become hindrances to the free expression of human powers, it is precisely the abstract branches of science, mathematics and theoretical physics, which ... offer a less distorted form of knowledge than other branches of science which are interwoven with the pattern of daily life, and the practicality of which seemingly testifies to their realistic character.

  Max Horkheimer

  Character, Expression, Theoretical Physics

  Max Horkheimer (1972). “Critical Theory: Selected Essays”, p.133, A&C Black

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• Colleges have a twofold duty when it comes to dealing with censorship. First, there is the duty to not censor the free expression of ideas, especially important and newsworthy ones. Second, colleges have the duty to protect speakers from being silenced by others. Century has failed miserably on both counts.

  Greg Lukianoff

  College, Expression, Ideas

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• If instituted, the TPP's IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons. If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you're ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs.

  Julian Assange

  Writing, Thinking, Rights

  "Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) - IP Chapter". wikileaks.org. November 13, 2013.

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• In theater and dance, I was trying to win someone's approval, trying to get in, trying to be good. It felt out of my control, whereas music suddenly felt like this free expression. It was fun.

  Susanna Hoffs

  Fun, Winning, Expression

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• The good society was, like the good self, a diverse yet harmonious, growing yet unified whole, a fully participatory democracy in which the powers and capacities of the individuals that comprised it were harmonized by their cooperative activities into a community that permitted the full and free expression of individuality.

  John Dewey

  Self, Expression, Community

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• Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.

  Friedrich Frobel

  Children, Expression, Play

  Friedrich Fröbel (1912). “Froebel's Chief Writings on Education”

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• The value of free expression is perceived to be at odds with goals that were considered 'more important,' like inclusiveness, diversity, nondiscrimination, and tolerance.

  Greg Lukianoff

  Odds, Expression, Diversity

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• All I care about is free speech and free expression; I want people to be able to be, do, and say anything.

  Milo Yiannopoulos

  Expression, People, Say Anything

  "Where Was Everyone Years Ago When Milo Yiannopoulos Was Making These "Jokes"?" by Sady Doyle, www.elle.com. February 22, 2017.

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