1.
There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech
Idi Amin
'The right to free expression is guaranteed, but the consequences cannot be controlled.'
2.
No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.
Thomas Jefferson
3.
Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.
St. Catherine of Siena
Declare the facts and do not stay quiet out of trepidation.
4.
Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
5.
Dissents speak to a future age. It's not simply to say, 'My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.' But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
6.
Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality.
Ben Shapiro
7.
Freedom of speech doesn't protect speech you like; it protects speech you don't like.
Larry Flynt
8.
Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.
Noam Chomsky
9.
It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.
Louis D. Brandeis
10.
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Thurgood Marshall
11.
Freedom includes the right to say what others may object to and resent... The essence of citizenship is to be tolerant of strong and provocative words.
John Diefenbaker
12.
Free speech is meaningless if the commercial cacophony has risen to the point where no one can hear you.
Naomi Klein
13.
Israel is a country that respects freedom - freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom of worship.
George Pataki
14.
I am a victim-oriented person. I like to see that the victims know that they have a voice.
Fatou Bensouda
15.
Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating the Jewish state. It runs a theocratic totalitarian state in Gaza, with no individual liberty, and no freedom of speech or press.
Dennis Prager
16.
There's a time and a place for getting a smart mouth.
J. K. Rowling
17.
WikiLeaks will not comply with legally abusive requests from Scientology any more than WikiLeaks has complied with similar demands from Swiss banks, Russian offshore stem-cell centers, former African kleptocrats, or the Pentagon.
Julian Assange
18.
Freedom of thought and freedom of speech in our great institutions are absolutely necessary for the preservation of our country. The moment either is restricted, liberty begins to wither and die.
John Peter Altgeld
19.
Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion all have a double aspect - freedom of thought and freedom of action.
Frank Murphy
20.
A state that suppresses all freedom of speech, and which by imposing the most terrible punishments, treats each and every attempt at criticism, however morally justified, and every suggestion for improvement as plotting to high treason, is a state that breaks an unwritten law.
Kurt Huber
21.
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
22.
I keep telling myself to calm down, to take less of an interest in things and not to get so excited, but I still care a lot about liberty, freedom of speech and expression, and fairness in journalism.
Kate Adie
23.
Our republic and its press will rise and fall together.
Joseph Pulitzer
24.
Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
26.
You cannot take away freedom to protect it, you cannot destroy the free market to save it, and you cannot uphold freedom of speech by silencing those with whom you disagree. To take rights away to defend them or to spend your way out of debt defies common sense.
Glenn Beck
27.
The freedom of speech and the freedom of the press have not been granted to the people in order that they may say things which please, and which are based upon accepted thought, but the right to say the things which displease, the right to say the things which convey the new and yet unexpected thoughts, the right to say things, even though they do a wrong.
Samuel Gompers
28.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Gore Vidal
29.
The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it.
Grace Kelly
30.
We don't have the freedom of speech to talk about the weather. We have the first amendment so we can say some very controversial things.
Ron Paul
31.
Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
32.
Gorbachev gave us freedom of worship and freedom of speech and freedom to see what was going on and freedom to vote, but that freedom won't last unless it is underpinned by economic freedom.
Boris Yeltsin
33.
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
34.
Wherever despotism abounds, the sources of public information are the first to be brought under its control. Where ever the cause of liberty is making its way, one of its highest accomplishments is the guarantee of the freedom of the press.
Calvin Coolidge
35.
We have our difficulties, true; but we are a wiser and a tougher nation than we were in 1932. Never have there been six years of such far flung internal preparedness in all of history. And this has been done without any dictator's power to command, without conscription of labor or confiscation of capital, without concentration camps and without a scratch on freedom of speech, freedom of the press or the rest of the Bill of Rights.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
36.
Freedom of speech is the great bulwark of liberty; they prosper and die together: And it is the terror of traitors and oppressors, and a barrier against them. It produces excellent writers, and encourages men of fine genius.
Benjamin Franklin
37.
Freedom of speech is a great thing and we have said nothing that is not allowed.
Geert Wilders
38.
The freedom of speech of private individuals includes the right to not agree, not to listen, and not to finance one's own antagonists.
Ayn Rand
39.
Freedom of speech and of the press are essential to the enlightenment of a free people and in restraining those who wield power.
Felix Frankfurter
40.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public.
Theodore Roosevelt
41.
One cannot have a trade union or a democratic election without freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly. Without a democratic election, whereby people choose and remove their rulers, there is no method of securing human rights against the state. No democracy without human rights, no human rights without democracy, and no trade union rights without either. That is our belief; that is our creed.
George Meany
42.
The law is agnostic about truth. It's very skeptical of ultimate truth. That's why freedom of speech permits lies to be told.
Alan Dershowitz
43.
So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
44.
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
Frederick Douglass
45.
Freedom of Speech is Freedom of Music.
Sun Ra
46.
There is price you pay when you want freedom of speech. You must be willing to accept the good the bad and the ugly when trying something out of the box.
Sunny Leone
47.
The primacy of the word, basis of the human psyche, that has in our age been used for mind-bending persuasion and brain-washing pulp, disgraced by Gobbles and debased by advertising copy, remains a force for freedom that flies out between all bars.
Nadine Gordimer
48.
Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.
Potter Stewart
49.
It's now very common to hear people say 'I'm rather offended by that'.
Stephen Fry
50.
In a free state there should be freedom of speech and thought.
Tiberius