#speech

Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear. ↗

— St. Catherine of Siena

#fear #freedom-of-speech #truth #truth-telling #freedom

We live in a world in which people are censured, demoted, imprisoned, beheaded, simply because they have opened their mouths, flapped their lips, and vibrated some air. Yes, those vibrations can make us feel sad or stupid or alienated. Tough shit. That's the price of admission to the marketplace of ideas. Hateful, blasphemous, prejudiced, vulgar, rude, or ignorant remarks are the music of a free society, and the relentless patter of idiots is how we know we're in one. When all the words in our public conversation are fair, good, and true, it's time to make a run for the fence. ↗

— Daniel Gilbert

#freedom #ideas #society #freedom

Censors never go after books unless kids already like them. I don’t even think they know to go after books until they know that children are interested in reading this book, therefore there must be something in it that’s wrong. ↗

— Judy Blume

#censoring #censors #censorship #censure #first-amendment

The struggle for a free intelligence has always been a struggle between the ironic and the literal mind. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#free-inquiry #free-speech #irony #intelligence

I thought I would lose, so I didn't prepare a speech. ↗

— E. L. Doctorow

#lose #prepare #speech #thought #would

Unfortunately, the media, which are not at all reluctant to act in their own self-interest, have succeeded in equating reform in the public mind with further restrictions on just about everyone else's freedom of political speech. ↗

— James L. Buckley

#act #else #equating #everyone #freedom

That has always seemed to me one of the stranger aspects of literary fame: you prove your competence as a writer and an inventor of stories, and then people clamour for you to make speeches and tell them what you think about the world. ↗

— J. M. Coetzee

#always #aspects #clamour #competence #fame

I am a technological activist. I have a political agenda. I am in favor of basic human rights: to free speech, to use any information and technology, to purchase and use recreational drugs, to enjoy and purchase so-called 'vices', to be free of intruders, and to privacy. ↗

— Bram Cohen

#agenda #am #any #basic #basic human rights

I joined the Labour party because I believed in equality, in freedom of speech and in tolerance, compassion and understanding for people, irrespective of their background and views. In whatever I decide to do in the future I will hold to those principles. ↗

— Geoff Hoon

#because #believed #compassion #decide #equality

I believe in freedom of speech, but I believe we should also have the right to comment on freedom of speech. ↗

— Stockwell Day

#also #believe #comment #freedom of speech #i