Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2007-06-07 Jun 7, 2007Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained.~ John Stuart MillA free press stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves.~ Justice George SutherlandPersecution in intellectual countries produces a superficial conformity, but also underneath an intense, incessant, implacable doubt.~ Walter Bagehot Jun 6, 2007If you admit that to silence your opponent by force is to win an intellectual argument, then you admit the right to silence people by force.~ Hans EysenckThink not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thy faults.~ SocratesThe abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.~ William Shakespeare Jun 5, 2007Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking; where it is absent, discussion is apt to become worse than useless.~ Leo Nikolaevich TolstoiFree inquiry requires that we tolerate diversity of opinion and that we respect the right of individuals to express their beliefs, however unpopular they may be, without social or legal prohibition or fear of success.~ Paul KurtzThere’s a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any over-large concentration of like-minded individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.~ P. J. O'Rourke Jun 4, 2007The mark of a truly civilized man is confidence in the strength and security derived from the inquiring mind.~ Felix FrankfurterHuman progress is furthered, not by conformity, but by aberration.~ H. L. MenckenThe door of the Free Exercise Clause stands tightly closed against any government regulation of religious beliefs as such. Government may neither compel affirmation of a repugnant belief, nor penalize or discriminate against individuals or groups because they hold views abhorrent to the authorities.~ Justice William J. Brennan Jun 1, 2007To be able to think freely, a man must be certain that no consequence will follow whatever he writes.~ Ernest RenanI discharge every person under punishment or prosecution under the Sedition Law, because I considered, and now consider, that law to be a nullity as absolute and palpable as if Congress had ordered us to fall down and worship a golden image.~ Thomas JeffersonThis is, in theory, still a free country, but our politically correct, censorious times are such that many of us tremble to give vent to perfectly acceptable views for fear of condemnation. Freedom of speech is thereby imperiled, big questions go undebated, and great lies become accepted, unequivocally as great truths.~ Simon Heffer Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print