Freedom Of Thought Quotes - Page 3

• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

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• One man's blasphemy doesn't override other people's free-speech rights, their freedom to publish, freedom of thought.

  Dan Savage

  Men, Rights, People

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• We will not be led like sheep to the slaughter.

  Abba Kovner

  Freedom, Taken, Patriotic

  "Freedom fighters" by Andrew Pulver, www.theguardian.com. February 23, 2001.

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• Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

  John Adams

  Education, Mind, Superstitions

  "John Adams: Quotes & Facts". Book by Blago Kirov, 2016.

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• In our democratic society, the library stands for hope, for learning, for progress, for literacy, for self-improvement and for civic engagement. The library is a symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and hence, is a symbol for democracy itself.

  Vartan Gregorian

  Opportunity, Self, Freedom Of Speech

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• It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follows from the advance of science.

  Charles Darwin

  Atheist, Men, Illumination

  "Science and religion need a truce" by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, www.theguardian.com. August 24, 2009.

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• From a comparative perspective, the United States is unusual if not unique in the lack of restraints on freedom of expression. It is also unusual in the range and effectiveness of methods employed to restrain freedom of thought... Where the voice of the people is heard, elite groups must insure their voice says the right things.

  Noam Chomsky

  Unique, Expression, Voice

  "Though Control in the USA: The Case of the Middle East". "Index on Censorship" Magazine, July/August 1986.

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• Human society is born in the shadow of religious fear, and in that stage the suppression of heresy is a sacred social duty. Then comes the rise of a priesthood, and the independent thinker is met with punishment in this world and the threat of eternal damnation hereafter. Even today it is from the religious side that the greatest danger to freedom of thought comes. Religion is the last thing that man will civilise.

  Chapman Cohen

  Religious, Independent, Men

  "The Freethinker", Vol. 84, G.W. Foote,(p. 215), 1964.

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• Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Teaching, Practice, Community

  Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Steve Neal (2002). “Eleanor and Harry: The Correspondence of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman”, p.279, Simon and Schuster

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• If mankind is to profit freely from the small and sporadic crop of the heroically gifted it produces, it will have to cultivate the delicate art of handling ideas. Psychology is now able to tell us with reasonable assurance that the most influential obstacle to freedom of thought and to new ideas is fear; and fear which can with inimitable art disguise itself as caution, or sanity, or reasoned skepticism, or on occasion even as courage.

  Wilfred Trotter

  Art, Freedom, Hero

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• America's greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.

  Benazir Bhutto

  America, Freedom Of Speech, Democracy

  Benazir Bhutto (1989). “Speeches and Statements: Apr. 2-Nov. 14, 1989”

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• There is nothing wrong with intellectual differences flowing from freedom of thought as long as such differences remain confined to intellectual debates.

  Pervez Musharraf

  Differences, Long, Intellectual

  "In Musharraf's Words: 'A Day of Reckoning'". www.nytimes.com. January 12, 2002.

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• And what do Democrats stand for, if they are so ready to defame concerned citizens as the 'mob' - a word betraying a Marie Antoinette delusion of superiority to ordinary mortals. I thought my party was populist, attentive to the needs and wishes of those outside the power structure. And as a product of the 1960s, I thought the Democratic party was passionately committed to freedom of thought and speech.

  Camille Paglia

  Party, Wish, Ordinary

  "Obama’s Healthcare Horror". Salon Column, www.salon.com. August 12, 2009.

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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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• Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of identity. This is my Holy Trinity, each one an intrinsic aspect of my god: Freedom, the Holiest of Holies. Yes it bloody well is. It is absolutely sacred and inviolable, beyond any negotiation or compromise, now and forever. Amen.

  Pat Condell

  Forever, Freedom Of Speech, Identity

  YouTube Channel "Pat Condell"/"Free Speech Is Sacred", www.youtube.com. March 17, 2009.

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• America is the greatest engine of innovation that has ever existed, and it can't be duplicated anytime soon, because it is the product of a multitude of factors: extreme freedom of thought, an emphasis on independent thinking, a steady immigration of new minds, a risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing, a noncorrupt bureaucracy, and financial markets and a venture capital system that are unrivaled at taking new ideas and turning them into global products.

  Thomas Friedman

  Independent, Thinking, Ideas

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• You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action. In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. They're both very good things. I personally prefer freedom of thought. But in England you get neither: you're ground down by convention. You can't think as you like and you can't act as you like. That's because it's a democratic nation. I expect America's worse.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Thinking, Things In Life, Two

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• The regime had understood that one person leaving her house while asking herself: Are my trousers long enough?' Is my veil in place?' Can my make-up be seen?' Are they going to whip me?' No longer asks herself: Where is my freedom of thought?' Where is my freedom of speech?' My life, is it livable?' What's going on in the political prisons?

  Marjane Satrapi

  Long, House, Political

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• I understand you, and I shall not attempt to make you change your mind. I am too old to want to improve the world. I have told you what I think, and that is all. I shall remain your friend even if you act contrary to my convictions, and I shall help you even if I disagree with you.

  Milan Kundera

  Thinking, Mind, World

  "Farewell Waltz". Book by Milan Kundera, 1972.

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• A public-school system, if it means the providing of free education for those who desire it, is a noteworthy and beneficent achievement of modern times; but when once it becomes monopolistic it is the most perfect instrument for tyranny which has yet been devised. Freedom of thought in the middle ages was combated by the Inquisition, but the modern method is far more effective.’ (1923)

  John Gresham Machen

  School, Mean, Free Education

  John Gresham Machen (1923). “Christianity and Liberalism”, p.14, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself

  George Orwell

  Loyalty, Men, Tears

  George Orwell (2014). “1984”, p.126, Arcturus Publishing

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• Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.

  Charles Darwin

  Atheist, Men, Illumination

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.34, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Cultural speciation had been crippling to human moral and spiritual growth. It had hindered freedom of thought, limited our thinking, imprisoned us in the cultures into which we had been born. . . . These cultural mind prisons. . . . Cultural speciation was clearly a barrier to world peace. So long as we continued to attach more importance to our own narrow group membership than to the ‘global village’ we would propagate prejudice and ignorance.

  Jane Goodall

  Spiritual, Ignorance, Thinking

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• The only conception of freedom I can have is that of the prisoner or the individual in the midst of the State. The only one I know is freedom of thought and action.

  Albert Camus

  Freedom, Action, Individual

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays”, p.56, Vintage

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• No body of knowledge needs an organizational policy. Organizational policy can only impede the advancement of knowledge. There is a basic incompatibility between any organization and freedom of thought.

  William S. Burroughs

  Organization, Advancement, Needs

  William S. Burroughs (1973). “Ali's smile”, Expanded Media

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