If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.
Benjamin FranklinErrors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
Thomas JeffersonWe have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.
VoltaireA state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.
Winston ChurchillThe oppression of any people for opinion’s sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.
Hosea BallouI had three points I wanted to make: That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job. But I didn’t make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.
Clint EastwoodIf you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.
Kurt VonnegutCensorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.
Noam ChomskyThe first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.
George Bernard ShawI am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
Thomas JeffersonCensorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.
George Bernard ShawEvery man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.
Samuel JohnsonWhat we will do is we’ll say, ‚Okay, you have your page, and if you’re not trying to organize harm against someone, or attacking someone, then you can put up that content on your page, even if people might disagree with it or find it offensive.‘ But that doesn’t mean that we have a responsibility to make it widely distributed in News Feed.
Mark ZuckerbergIt is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
Mark TwainI think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.
EminemFreedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George OrwellThere’s no such thing as going to a soapbox and saying, ‚The government’s corrupt,‘ and not having the intelligence service see your face. In the digital world, that can be done.
Bill GatesWhether we are New Dealer, Old Dealer, Liberty Leaguer or Red, whether we agree or not, we still have the right to think and speak how we feel.
Lyndon B. JohnsonIf liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George OrwellChildren say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.
Joan of ArcThe government of Israel doesn’t like the kinds of things I say, which puts them into the same category as every other government in the world.
Noam ChomskyThere is never a shortage anywhere of lawyers eager to attack the First Amendment, as though it were nothing more than a clause in a lease from a crooked slumlord.
Kurt VonnegutI’m speaking for all of us. I’m the spokesman for a generation.
Bob DylanThere are really two core principles at play here. There’s giving people a voice so that people can express their opinions. Then, there’s keeping the community safe, which I think is really important. We’re not gonna let people plan violence or attack each other or do bad things.
Mark ZuckerbergBeautiful speech doesn’t need protection, it’s ugly speech that needs protection. We have these cultural norms that allow people to say really ugly things. You don’t have to invite them to your dinner party, but you should let them say it.
Jeff BezosWithout freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.
Benjamin FranklinI love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
James BaldwinI speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, young or old.
Arnold SchwarzeneggerIf the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
George WashingtonOne of the roles of the Presidency is to lead a political party. Having a President in office is usually a huge advantage to a party because it gives the party a mouthpiece and an advocate at the highest level.
John C. MaxwellIn many respects, the United States is a great country. Freedom of speech is protected more than in any other country. It is also a very free society.
Noam ChomskyA man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.
James MadisonIt may be that the most striking thing about members of my literary generation in retrospect will be that we were allowed to say absolutely anything without fear of punishment.
Kurt VonnegutDemocratic societies are unfit for the publication of such thunderous revelations as I am in the habit of making.
Salvador Dali