Freedom of speech and expression

Explore 34 quotes about Freedom of speech and expression

Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

Louis Brandeis

Whitney v. California

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression

Author

Louis Brandeis

Source

Whitney v. California

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Brandeis, Louis. United States, Supreme Court. Whitney v. California. United States Reports, vol. 274, 16 May 1927, pp. 357-379. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/357/.

The chilling effect upon the exercise of First Amendment rights may derive from the fact of the prosecution, unaffected by the prospects of its success or failure.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Dombrowski v. Pfister

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Topic

First Amendment Freedom of speech and expression

Author

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Source

Dombrowski v. Pfister

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brennan, William J, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Dombrowski v. Pfister. United States Reports, vol. 380, 26 Apr. 1965, pp. 479-502. supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/380/479/.

These times have the rare good fortune that you may think what you like and say what you think.

Tacitus

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression

Author

Tacitus

Source

Histories (Tacitus)

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Latin

Time

110 BC 110s BC 2nd century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tacitus. Historiae [Histories]. Venice, c. 110, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Tacitus. The Histories, translated by W. H. Fyfe. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1, ch. 1.

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression Dissent Seeking the truth

Author

John Stuart Mill

Source

On Liberty

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 2.

Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression Freedom

Speaker

Jefferson Smith

Actor

Jimmy Stewart

Source

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Medium

Film

Genre

Political (film) Comedy drama (film) Political Comedy drama

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Directed by Frank Capra, Columbia Pictures, 1939.

If we think to regulate printing, thereby to rectify manners, we must regulate all recreations and pastimes, all that is delightful to man... And who shall silence all the airs and madrigals, that whisper softness in chambers?

John Milton

Areopagitica

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Topic

Freedom of the press Freedom of speech and expression

Author

John Milton

Source

Areopagitica

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1644 1640s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Milton, John. Areopagitica; a speech of Mr. John Milton for the liberty of unlicenc'd printing, to the Parlament of England. 1644.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Areopagitica." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008.

If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind; reason is of no use to us—the freedom of Speech may be taken away—and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.

George Washington

Read this speech at the National Archives website

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression

Author

George Washington

Source

Speeches of George Washington

Medium

Speech

Genre

Military speech

Language

English

Time

1783 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Washington, George. Address to officers of the Army. 15 Mar. 1783, Newburgh, NY, USA.

Current Citation

Washington, George. "Speech to officers of the army, March 15, 1783." George Washington: Writings, edited by John H. Rhodehamel. Library of America, 1997.

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic... The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Schenck v. United States

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Topic

First Amendment Freedom of speech and expression Constitutional law Legal theory Law

Author

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Source

Schenck v. United States

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Schenck v. United States. United States Reports, vol. 249, 3 Mar. 1919, pp. 47-53. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/249/47/.

Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty. To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present, unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.

Louis Brandeis

Whitney v. California

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression

Author

Louis Brandeis

Source

Whitney v. California

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brandeis, Louis. United States, Supreme Court. Whitney v. California. United States Reports, vol. 274, 16 May 1927, pp. 357-379. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/357/.

Political agitation, by the passions it arouses or the convictions it engenders, may in fact stimulate men to the violation of law. Detestation of existing policies is easily transformed into forcible resistance of the authority which puts them in execution, and it would be folly to disregard the causal relation between tire two. Yet to assimilate agitation, legitimate as such, with direct incitement to violent resistance, is to disregard the tolerance of all methods of political agitation which in normal times is a safeguard of free government.

Learned Hand

Masses Pub Co. v. Patten

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Topic

First Amendment US Constitution Freedom of speech and expression

Author

Learned Hand

Source

Masses Pub Co. v. Patten

Medium

Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hand, Learned. US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Masses Pub. Co. v. Patten, 244 F. 535 (1917).

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 Fable of Critics

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Topic

Taking risks Freedom of thought Freedom of speech and expression

Author

James Russell Lowell

Source

A Fable of Critics

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lowell, James Russell [published anonymously]. A Fable for Critics: A Glance at a Few of Our Literary Progenies. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1848.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.

John Milton

Areopagitica

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Topic

Freedom of thought Freedom of speech and expression Freedom

Author

John Milton

Source

Areopagitica

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1644 1640s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Milton, John. Areopagitca; a speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England. London, 1644.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Areopagitica." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008.

It's worth remembering this: freedom of expression sustains all the other freedoms we enjoy.

Ian McEwan

Read this speech at dickinson.edu

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Topic

Freedom of speech and expression Political theory Politics Freedom

Speaker

Ian McEwan

Source

2015 Dickson College commencement address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

2015 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McEwan, Ian. Commencement address. Commencement ceremony. 17 May 2015, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, USA.

Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.

William J. Brennan, Jr

New York Times Company v. Sullivan

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More information about this quote

Topic

Freedom of speech and expression First Amendment Bill of Rights Constitutional law

Author

William J. Brennan, Jr

Source

New York Times Company v. Sullivan

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brennan, William J., Jr. United States, Supreme Court. New York Times Company v. Sullivan. United States Reports, vol. 376, 9 Mar. 1964, pp. 254-305. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/376/254/.