Freedom Of Expression Quotes

• If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

  Noam Chomsky

  Inspirational, Relationship, Freedom

  Interview with John Pilger on BBC's "The Late Show", November 25, 1992.

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  What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

  Salman Rushdie

  Honesty, Integrity, Expression

  Salman Rushdie (1990). “In good faith”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

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• Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth.

  Liu Xiaobo

  Mother, Rights, Expression

  "Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo’s Imprisonment a Painful Reminder of China’s Dictatorship" by Thor Halvorssen, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 10, 2012.

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• If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it’s a human need.

  Ai Weiwei

  Expression, Choices, Needs

  "Enforced Disappearance". W Magazine, November 2011.

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• If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

  George Orwell

  Inspirational, Life, Freedom

  "The Freedom of the Press" (1945)

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• Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Motivational, Freedom

  Albert Einstein (2011). “Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words”, p.14, Open Road Media

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• Freedom of expression is actually a way for people to know themselves better, and to understand themselves better. Because without it, you become a stranger to yourself.

  Lucien Bourjeily

  Expression, People, Freedom Of Speech

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• Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players... they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure.

  Arsene Wenger

  Soccer, Player, Expression

  "How do world class coaches and the worlds best clubs view Youth player Development?". Interview with Alfred Galustian, challengefc.org. May 02, 2015.

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• Two things form the bedrock of any open society - freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don't have those things, you don't have a free country.

  Salman Rushdie

  Country, Expression, Law

  'Don't allow religious hooligans to dictate terms' by Dina Vakil, timesofindia.indiatimes.com. January 16, 2008.

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• I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.

  Madonna Ciccone

  Inspirational, Graduation, Dream

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  If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.

  John Stuart Mill

  Freedom, Philosophy, Differences

  On Liberty ch. 2 (1859)

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• Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

  Benjamin Cardozo

  Freedom, Expression, Form

  Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, Abraham Lawrence Sainer (1999). “Law is Justice: Notable Opinions of Mr. Justice Cardozo”, p.417, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

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• Freedom to think requires not only freedom of expression but also freedom from the threat of orthodoxy and being outcast and ostracized.

  Helen Foster Snow

  Freedom, Thinking, Expression

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• I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things.

  Naguib Mahfouz

  Pay The Price, Expression, Literature

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• We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Freedom, Expression, Essentials

  Annual Message to Congress, 6 Jan. 1941 See Roosevelt and Churchill 3

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• I believe in absolute freedom of expression. Everyone has a right to offend and be offended.

  Taslima Nasrin

  Believe, Offended You, Expression

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• I regard freedom of expression as the primary right without which one can not have a proper functioning democracy.

  Lord Hailsham

  Expression, Democracy, Can Not

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• Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.

  Corazon Aquino

  Government, Expression, Essence

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• Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.

  Salman Rushdie

  Freedom, Games, Speech

  Excerpts From Rushdie's Address: 1,000 Days 'Trapped Inside a Metaphor', archive.nytimes.com. December 12, 1991.

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• I'm a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought.

  Jimmy Wales

  Freedom, Expression, Speech

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• The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

  John Stuart Mill

  Opportunity, Errors, Race

  John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Troyer (2003). “The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill”, p.163, Hackett Publishing

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• Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Freedom, Mistake, Struggle

  Mahatma Gandhi (1947). “Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi”

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• Governments that block the aspirations of their people, that steal or are corrupt, that oppress and torture or that deny freedom of expression and human rights should bear in mind that they will find it increasingly hard to escape the judgement of their own people, or where warranted, the reach of international law.

  William Hague

  Motivational, Block, Rights

  "Nato to take control in Libya after US, UK and France reach agreement" by Nicholas Watt, Nick Hopkins and Ian Traynor, www.theguardian.com. March 22, 2011.

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• Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.

  John Milton

  Freedom, Giving, Liberty

  'Areopagitica' (1644) p. 34

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• Any test that turns on what is offensive to the community's standards is too loose, too capricious, too destructive of freedom of expression to be squared with the First Amendment. Under that test, juries can censor, suppress, and punish what they don't like, provided the matter relates to "sexual impurity" or has a tendency "to excite lustful thoughts." This is community censorship in one of its worst forms. It creates a regime where, in the battle between the literati and the Philistines, the Philistines are certain to win.

  William O. Douglas

  Winning, Expression, Community

  "Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476". U.S. Supreme Court case, supreme.justia.com. June 24, 1957.

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