Free Speech Quotes - Page 6

• I've skewered whites, blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife. As a standup comic, it is my job to make the majority of people laugh, and I believe that comedy is the last true form of free speech.

  Jeff Dunham

  Christian, Jobs, Believe

  "Comedian Defends 'Achmed the Dead Terrorist' Puppet Routine Against South African Ban" by Joshua Rhett Miller, www.foxnews.com. October 2, 2008.

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• I think free speech is probably the coolest thing we have in this country, and again, you can label it hate speech and dismiss it, and then you're allowed to censor it.

  Dana Carvey

  Country, Hate, Thinking

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• You cannot extend the mastery of government over the daily life of a people without somewhere making it master of people's souls and thoughts.... Every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to more liberty but to less liberty.

  Herbert Hoover

  Opportunity, Government, Roots

  United States. President (1929-1933 : Hoover), Herbert Hoover, United States. Office of the Federal Register (1974). “Herbert Hoover: Containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the President”

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• No one can deny that much of our modern advertising is essentially dishonest; and it can be maintained that to lie freely and all the time for private profit is not to abuse the right of free speech, whether it is a violation of the law or not. But again the practical question is, how much lying for private profit is to be permitted by law?

  Carl L. Becker

  Time, Lying, Law

  Carl L. Becker (1960). “Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life”

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• But in reality the point of free speech is for the stuff that’s over the line, and strikingly unbalanced. If free speech is only for polite persons of mild temperament within government-policed parameters, it isn’t free at all. So screw that.

  Mark Steyn

  Reality, Government, Lines

  Mark Steyn (2014). “The Undocumented Mark Steyn”, p.370, Regnery Publishing

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• Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Witty, Baby

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• A desire for privacy does not imply shameful secrets; Moglen argues, again and again, that without anonymity in discourse, free speech is impossible, and hence also democracy. The right to speak the truth to power does not shield the speaker from the consequences of doing so; only comparable power or anonymity can do that.

  Nick Harkaway

  Secret, Desire, Democracy

  Nick Harkaway (2012). “The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World”, p.145, Vintage

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

  Glenn Greenwald

  Speech, Reason, Assault

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• I love to doubt as well as know.

  Dante Alighieri

  Love, Doubt, Internet

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• To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Leadership, Excellence, Vision

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1977). “The Portable Nietzsche”, p.160, Penguin

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• Freedom of press is limited to those who own one.

  H. L. Mencken

  Funny, Freedom, Political

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• Without free speech no search for Truth is possible; without free speech no discovery of Truth is useful; without free speech progress is checked, and the nations no longer march forward towards the nobler life which the future holds for man. Better a thousandfold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day; but the denial stays the life of the people and entombs the hope of the race.

  Charles Bradlaugh

  Truth, Freedom, Men

  Charles Bradlaugh's speech at Hall of Science (circa 1880), as quoted in Annie Besant "Annie Besant: An Autobiography", 1893.

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• Patriotism threatens free speech with death. It is infuriated by thoughtful hesitation, constructive criticism of our leaders and pleas for peace. It despises people of foreign birth. It has specifically blamed homosexuals, feminists and the American Civil Liberties Union. In other words, the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder. Whom are we calling terrorists here?

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Thoughtful, People, Feminist

  "And our flag was still there" by Barbara Kingsolver, www.sfgate.com. September 25, 2001.

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• There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.

  Ken Olsen

  Funny, Business, Stupid

  "The 10 Stupidest Things Ever Said By Tech's Smartest People" by Dylan Love, www.businessinsider.com. April 17, 2013.

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• 

  There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

  Andrew Jackson

  Patriotic, Government, Evil

  Veto Message on Bank Bill, 10 July 1832

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• In America-as elsewhere-free speech is confined to the dead.

  Mark Twain

  Religious, America, Speech

  Mark Twain (194?). “Mark Twain's notebook”

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• I speak the password primeval; I give the sign of democracy.

  Walt Whitman

  Military, Giving, Democracy

  Walt Whitman (2015). “Leaves of Grass: Top Classic Poetry”, p.76, 谷月社

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• The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community.

  Paula Poundstone

  Reading, Book, Thought Provoking

  "Richard Lewis, Julie Halston, Paula Poundstone and More Set for August Comedy Nights at Bay Street". www.broadwayworld.com. July 27, 2016.

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• Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Laughter, Law, Internet

  Du Contrat Social bk. 3, ch. 15 (1762)

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• Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance. Let us remember that "if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom," it is a very serious consideration that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.

  Samuel Adams

  Perseverance, Rights, Suffering

  Essay in The Boston Gazette under the pseudonym "Candidus", October 14, 1771.

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• The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Government, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Inaugural addresses and messages. Replies to public addresses. Indian addresses. Miscellaneous: 1. Notes on Virginia; 2. Biographical sketches of distinguished men; 3. The batture of New Orleans”, p.400

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• Free speech not only lives, it rocks!

  Oprah Winfrey

  Rocks, Speech, Censorship

  Oprah Winfrey, Janet Lowe (1998). “Oprah Winfrey speaks: insight from the world's most influential voice”, John Wiley & Sons

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• Information wants to be free.

  Stewart Brand

  Want, Information, Internet

  Quoted in Wash. Post, 18 Nov. 1984

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• Since Humanism as a functioning credo is so closely bound up with the methods of reason and science, plainly free speech and democracy are its very lifeblood. For reason and scientific method can flourish only in an atmosphere of civil liberties.

  Corliss Lamont

  Atmosphere, Democracy, Liberty

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• But we either believe in democracy or we don't. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed. If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Believe, Men, Law

  Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955.

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