Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [201-220] of 371 Free Thought quotesFree Thought QuotesFree Thought Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes The only real security for social well-being is the free exercise of men’s minds.~ Harold J. Laski It is the tragic story of the cultural crusader in a mass society that he cannot win, but that we would be lost without him.~ Paul F. Lazarsfeld One has to multiply thoughts to the point where there aren't enough policemen to control them.~ Stanislaw Jerszy Lec [M]y work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.~ Antonie van Leeuwenhoek The liberty of thinking and publishing whatsoever each one likes, without any hindrances, is not in itself an advantage over which society can wisely rejoice. On the contrary, it is the fountainhead and origin of many evils.~ Pope Leo XIII Political correctness is the natural continuum from the party line. What we are seeing once again is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others.~ Doris Lessing Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.~ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing The burning of an author’s books, imprisonment for opinion’s sake, has always been the tribute that an ignorant age pays to the genius of its time.~ Joseph Lewis Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile. In protest, I declined election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters some years ago, and now I must decline the Pulitzer Prize.~ Sinclair Lewis Collective judgment of new ideas is so often wrong that it is arguable that progress depends on individuals being free to back their own judgment despite collective disapproval.~ Sir William Arthur Lewis One's first step in wisdom is to question everything -- and one's last is to come to terms with everything.~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.~ Joshua Liebman New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.~ John Locke The most merciful thing in the world ... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.~ H. P. Lovecraft The most merciless thing in the world ... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.~ H. P. Lovecraft And I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak Will risk t’ other half for the freedom to speak.~ James Russell Lowell A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.~ James Russell Lowell The dissenter is every human being at those times of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.~ Archibald Macleish Once you permit those who are convinced of their own superior rightness to censor and silence and suppress those who hold contrary opinions, just at that moment the citadel has been surrendered.~ Archibald Macleish The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.~ James Madison Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print