Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [321-340] of 371 Free Thought quotesFree Thought QuotesFree Thought Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes If we were all to be judged by our thoughts, the hills would be swarming with outlaws.~ Johann Sigurjonsson Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying “No” to any authority -- literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.~ Ignazio Silone Protection of political speech advanced two important democratic goals:1) an informed citizenry that would be capable of making educated decisions on matters of public concern, and 2) a free and open marketplace of ideas wherein the truth would ultimately prevail… Only through a vigorous and spirited public debate could citizens be educated about the actions of their government and react responsibly.~ Craig R. Smith The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long.~ Thomas Sowell Hitler’s dictatorship differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. It was the first dictatorship in the present period of modern technical development, a dictatorship which made complete use of all technical means for the domination of its own country. Through technical devices like the radio and the loud-speaker, eighty million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man.~ Albert Speer The Internet…has become the voice of the people in the first genuine experiment in democracy yet conducted in America. It stands ready to serve every facet, every faction.~ Gerry Spence The authoritarian sets up some book, or man, or tradition to establish the truth. The freethinker sets up reason and private judgment to discover the truth... It takes the highest courage to utter unpopular truths.~ Herbert Spencer Formerly no one was allowed to think freely; now it is permitted, but no one is capable of it any more. Now people want to think only what they are supposed to think, and this they consider freedom.~ Oswald Spengler Laws which prescribe what everyone must believe, and forbid men to say or write anything against this or that opinion, are often passed to gratify, or rather to appease the anger of those who cannot abide independent minds.~ Baruch Spinoza The first great struggle for liberty was in the realm of thought. The libertarians reasoned that freedom of thought would be good for mankind; it would promote knowledge, and increased knowledge would advance civilization. But the authoritarians protested that freedom of thought would be dangerous, that people would think wrong, that a few were divinely appointed to think for the people.~ Charles T. Sprading Does it not seem a vast waste of valuable human material that the pioneers of thought, those who by their genius dare to clear unknown paths in the arts and sciences and in government, should have to conform to the dictates of that non-creative, slow-moving mass, the majority? An appeal to the majority is a resort to force and not an appeal to intelligence; the majority is always ignorant, and by increasing the majority we multiply ignorance. The majority is incapable of initiative, its attitude being one of opposition toward everything that is new. If it had been left to the majority, the world would never have had the steamboat, the railroad, the telegraph, or any of the conveniences of modern life.~ Charles T. Sprading Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.~ Gertrude Stein And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in all the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.~ John Steinbeck The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion.~ Justice John Paul Stevens If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow it wherever the search may lead us.~ Adlai E. Stevenson II Freedom rings where opinions clash.~ Adlai E. Stevenson II A race of altruists is necessarily a race of slaves. A race of free men is necessarily a race of egoists.~ Max Stirner The pretence is made that to do away with right and wrong would produce uncivilized people, immorality, lawlessness, and social chaos. The fact is that most psychiatrists and psychologists and other respected people have escaped from moral chains and are able to think freely.~ J. A. Stormer Such being the happiness of the times, that you may think as you wish, and speak as you think. [Lat., Rara temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quae velis, et quae sentias dicere licet.]~ Cornelius Tacitus Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print