Free Speech Quotes

If I, as a liberal, didn’t speak out against those who would squelch the free speech of conservatives, I wouldn’t deserve to call myself a liberal.

Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.

Like the invention of the printing press before it, the Internet has been the greatest instrumentality of free speech and the exchange of ideas in the history of mankind.

Net neutrality was essential for our economy; it was essential to preserve freedom and openness, both for economic reasons and free speech reasons, and the government had a role in ensuring that Internet freedom was protected.

Free speech is not just another value. It’s the foundation of Western civilization.

People who hate me call me a Twitter troll, which is laughable given my extensive body of work, which you can find on Amazon in the form of books like ‘Gorilla Mindset’ and my documentary on free speech, ‘Silenced.’

To people like me, educated in post-war Britain, free speech has been a firm premise of the British way of life.

If City Hall started projecting swastikas, no one would say ‘You know what? Free speech.’ People would say that is wrong.

Nor was it only from the millions of slaves that chains had been removed; the whole nation had been in bondage; free speech had been suppressed.

The Right isn’t violent; the Left is. By allowing these sociopaths to shut down free speech with violence, you are all but demanding a war.

I have a long history of defending, and promoting, free speech and open debate – especially (especially!) within Muslim communities.

Donald Trump and the First Amendment, it’s not a beautiful match; it’s not a match made in heaven. Between the free speech rights that he has not defended and the freedom of the press, which he has not defended, it’s problematic.

Courts are supposed to interpret laws to avoid ‘absurd results’ and to avoid constitutional problems – such as infringing on the free speech rights of Americans.

I think our fans and NFL fans are very passionate about our country and our men and women who fight for our freedom, our freedom to free speech and free protest for that matter.

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

Protecting free speech is not only a matter of principle, it is also pragmatic.

Poking fun at other people’s beliefs, while it may seem frivolous and offensive, is a non-negotiable right. It is a principle that underpins free speech, the basis for progress.

Academic freedom and free speech mean the right to consider ideas with which you might disagree.

I always think the true test of free speech is when someone says something you don’t like.

I’m a free speech bigot. I don’t like censorship; I just don’t think it’s a good thing.

Practicing free speech on an open platform is a perilous path for any public figure, and there are no get-out-of-jail free passes in the court of public opinion.

In cyberspace, people with different skin colors, nationalities, cultures and languages should be equally entitled to participation, free speech and development. We should abandon prejudices, respect differences, and be tolerant and open.

We need to understand that an open society and free speech and press… really are the best weapons against al Qaeda and extremism.

Free speech and freedom of the press are under attack in the U.K. I cannot return to England, my country, because of my journalistic work with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and at WikiLeaks. There are things I feel I cannot even write.

Liberals love to screech about ‘free speech,’ but it’s pretty clear to most of us that they don’t really tolerate any speech but theirs.

Moderate people are able to be moderate and have free speech only because there are some people on the fringe.

It’s impossible to utilize your right to free speech in the way you truly deserve and not suffer repercussions on any level.

Free speech is against governments, not against the NBA. So the players and coaches and indeed owners have been fined for their speech, which is costly rather than free. I sort of acknowledge that there is not free speech when you agree to work in the NBA.

Free speech is the cornerstone to every right we have.

And a democracy can’t exist without free speech and the right to assemble. And that’s what Americans tend to forget. And they’re born into a culture where they take all of their freedoms for granted.

Free speech gives us the ability to react vigorously with effective arguments and expose the weakness and misdirection of the other side’s claims.

Everyone, regardless of the mode of expression, has a constitutionally protected right to free speech. But when it comes to freedom of the press, I believe we must define a journalist and the constitutional and statutory protections those journalists should receive.

Free speech means the right to shout ‘theatre’ in a crowded fire.

None of us believes in an untrammelled right to free speech. We all agree there are always going to be lines that, for the purposes of law and order, cannot be crossed; or for the purposes of taste and decency, should not be crossed. We differ only on where those lines should be drawn.

It’s important to acknowledge the danger when we provide an academic venue for racism. It’s interesting to hear people push the, quote, ‘free speech’ narrative in this way. They deny the speech of the people who disagree.

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.

It’s a pleasure to land here and see Australia upholding its commitment to free speech and Western culture – something that may not be here for much longer if left-wing Australian politicians continue their pathological worship of multiculturalism.

You know, everybody believes in free speech until you start questioning them about it.

You can’t come up and attack someone because of free speech.

There are certain things you must not say in spite of the fact that supposedly democracy means free speech. No. You are not allowed free speech. If you speak freely, you are then deemed as I was, to be a subversive.

Our founding documents didn’t just protect the right to bear arms: they were designed to protect all the principles upon which America was founded – and the first among those were freedom of worship, peaceful assembly, and the right to free speech.

Free speech rights means that government officials are barred from creating lists of approved and disapproved political ideas and then using the power of the state to enforce those preferences.

The goal is to give people a free encyclopedia to every person in the world, in their own language. Not just in a ‘free beer’ kind of way, but also in the free speech kind of way.

American democracy is greater with free speech and open dialogue.

Somehow, defending my liberal values of free speech, liberty, and rights of the individual has become a conservative position.

Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.

We are a country that believes in free speech and the open debate of ideas. We’re a country that also believes in the Second Amendment and our ability to have guns. But we’ve got to figure out a way to keep America safe.

If you actually believe in free speech and not simply the free distribution of other people’s intellectual property, you should let journalists, law firms, and investors exercise their rights to it alongside your own.

Free speech includes the right to not speak.

The right of free speech cannot be parceled out based on whether we want to hear what the speaker has to say or whether we agree with those views. It means, quite often, tolerating the expression of views that we find distasteful, perhaps even repugnant.

We stand for free speech. This means we are not going to ban distasteful subreddits. We will not ban legal content even if we find it odious or if we personally condemn it.

I don’t know, people take chances on stage. It’s a big free speech zone, a comedy show. So sometimes things happen, you say things that are a little bit off the edge.

The idea that corporations have the same First Amendment protections of free speech as people is troubling. Corporations are not people. They don’t attend our schools, get married and have children. They don’t vote in our elections.

Ignorant free speech often works against the speaker. That is one of several reasons why it must be given rein instead of suppressed.

With true free speech has to come an understanding of when and when not to use it. But you can’t legislate that. It must be voluntary – especially in a world where a whisper can reach a million people in an eye blink.

We have no blasphemy laws these days but with that freedom comes the responsibility which should always attend the exercise of free speech: truth, courtesy and an awareness of impact. It is the last of these which is so neglected by so much modern comedy.

I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned.

The new right-wing movement is a wide group of people committed to free speech, anti-war, trade. It’s sympathetic to whistleblowers.

The intelligent defense of free speech should not rest on the notion that we must tolerate every form of speech, no matter how offensive. It’s that we should lean toward greater tolerance for speech we dislike, and reserve our harshest penalties only for the worst offenders.

Free speech has remained a quintessential American ideal, even as our society has moved from the ink quill to the touch screen.

I fundamentally agree with the critical nature of Israeli democracy, which embraces the core notion of free speech.

The people on the far left, they claim to be about free speech and expression. But as soon as you put something out there that offends them, all of a sudden, no – free speech out the window.

This country is built on free speech.

We are strong supporters of First Amendment rights, and we believe free speech is a two-way street. While anyone is free to be an anti-Muslim bigot, on campus or off, CAIR is free to challenge their bigotry by speaking out against the promotion of hatred and intolerance.

Obama will win the 2012 election, thanks in part to the tech community rallying behind him due to issues like SOPA, visas, and free speech.

Everyone who is critical of Israeli policy is deluged by crazed messages intended to flood their email system or, more insidiously, passwords are accessed and messages sent out under their name! I’m sure it’s illegal. It’s also an effort to undermine free speech.

The fact that we’re protected under that Constitution in exercising the right of free speech, it’s a wonderful thing. You’ve got to come from somewhere else to realize how valuable it is.

We’re muddying the waters when we are having a discussion about what’s going on on YouTube and Twitter and whether that’s a matter of free speech. These are private platforms and they’re allowed to decide what should and should not be on its platforms. It’s not an issue of free speech.

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

Today it is becoming harder to speak out, with the inception of the Patriot Act, the president has legislated free speech to be a crime.

That I have the right to express myself freely at all times in all circumstances entails the idea that free speech is a ‘basic human right’ possessed by each individual, and, as such, trumps the interests of the society or group, including my neighbour.

Portland has a long history of embracing the most important of American values. Those are the rights to assembly and the rights to free speech. And we’re proud of protecting those core American values.

The thing I have come to find astonishing is that people from all political sides routinely say that the Internet has to be the model of free speech and freedom.

Twitter is a form of free speech, and I’m all for that. But if Cee Lo Green, a maverick of sorts, can’t get on Twitter and say something outlandish or outrageous, then what is the whole point of Twitter at all?

If you have ever read my columns, you know how important free speech is to me… and how important it should be to everyone.

‘Free speech’ isn’t speech at all if it’s being used without listening, attention, or care.

Religious liberty doesn’t include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief.

You must stand for free speech in the streets.

I always knew it’d be difficult to balance the right of privacy and the right of free speech. I think that is a tension that we’ve seen in court case after court case and law after law. And we always strive to find that right balance.

Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.

Even in democratic society, we don’t have good answers how to balance the need for security on one hand and the protection of free speech on the other in our digital networks.

For me, Westernization is not about consuming fanciful goods; it’s about a system of free speech, democracy, egalitarianism and respect for the people’s rights and dignity.

We are becoming a society where traditional values and free speech are being diminished and the religious are viewed as having a backward mentality.

That said, the question remains: how to strike the balance between free speech and mutual respect in this mixed-up world, both blessed and cursed with instant communication? We should not fight fire with fire, threats with threats.

Conservatives should defend free speech – but we must not amplify it when it’s blatantly grotesque.

I think free speech is probably the coolest thing we have in this country, and again, you can label it hate speech and dismiss it, and then you’re allowed to censor it.

If you’re a black woman at an Ivy League school, there is no free speech for me because they’re already pissed that I’m there.

Liberals shouldn’t cede the responsibility to defend free speech on college campuses to conservatives. After all, without free speech, what’s liberalism about?

It’s obvious that I come down on the side of free speech for anybody’s work.

If Thomas Jefferson had heard us, he probably would have said, ‘We shouldn’t have free speech.’

If liberalism is to mean anything at all, it is duty bound to support without hesitation the dissenting individual over the group, the heretic over the orthodox, innovation over stagnation, and free speech over offense.

You hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to myself, ‘That man is a Red, that man is a Communist!’ You never hear a real American talk like that.

Joan Rivers broke down barriers, advocated for free speech, and never apologized for who she was.

There’s public health risks to doing large political gatherings, but in this country – and we do still live in America – we protect the right to free speech and we protect the right to political discourse and political events.

Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen.

I was interested in the ideas – freedom, free speech and having control of my own life. That’s why I became a Tory.

We still have a First Amendment that protects your business and free speech.

Free speech is one of the most important things to me, but I think it gets confusing when it comes to offense. Because for one, just because you have the right to say anything, it doesn’t mean you have to.

We have ways to protect the public when free speech crosses over in hate speech.

Protected free speech has boundaries, and one boundary is fraud.

Products are a form of speech, and free speech must be fiercely protected, even if we disagree with some of the voices.

Free speech is never out of the news.

One of the problems with defending free speech is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting.

Money is speech. It’s incongruous to say a multimillionaire can spend as much on his own campaign as he wants, but you can only give $2,300. His free speech rights are different from yours, thus violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. It’s absurd.

I can’t emphasize how important free speech is to a liberal and free democracy.

Freedom of choice and free speech without fear must be defended.

If there is anyone who values free speech, it is a tenured professor!

Democracy relies on free speech. Yes, say anything you want, but it relies even more on the speech being truthful. It is the truth, after all, that sets us free.

The facts of the fossil record never justified denying poor people a healthy diet. The facts of the weather record do not justify denying poor people affordable energy. And no set of facts, whatever they may be, can justify denying scientists – or anyone else, for that matter – the right to free speech.

Just as Chairman Mao and Joseph Stalin started by going after the intellectuals, against those whose words who might form an opposition to them, so Trump has gone across us. Free speech is first among equals when we look at what is being violated by this new regime.

The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.

We should protect free speech by repealing offences that stifle legitimate debate – like ‘glorification’ of terrorism and religious hatred – but take a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to extremists inciting violence.

Without free speech no search for truth is possible… no discovery of truth is useful.

You cannot prevent me from talking. I am exercising my right to free speech.

Judges are either partial to the Constitution or they aren’t; they either believe that the document is perfect in its form and that rights like free speech don’t ebb in and out of style – or they believe that it’s an anachronistic document in a world that needs a malleable, living Constitution.

Manchester is a city which has witnessed a great many stirring episodes, especially of a political character. Generally speaking, its citizens have been liberal in their sentiments, defenders of free speech and liberty of opinion.

Now is the time to draw a clean, clear, bright line and say if you are engaging in speech over the Internet you do not have to check with your lawyer or your accountant. You are a free American, and you have the opportunity to engage in free speech over the Internet.

I’m a strong believer in free speech to the degree that I support everybody’s right to speak, including those whose views I find disgusting.

Better a thousandfold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech.

It’s not OK to condone violence because of free speech.

It is, in fact, precisely to defend the right to free speech that countless patriots have given the last full measure of devotion.

Free speech is the foundation of an open and liberal democracy from college campuses to the White House.

The reality is, we have had filled rooms wherever we’ve spoken, and in New Zealand, the left and the right have been coming together and saying, ‘We believe in free speech.’

Imageboards are the most important medium for free speech on the Internet.

Hate speech can’t be a part of free speech.

Depending on your political orientation, the Dixie Chicks are either the great defenders of free speech or American traitors.

It’s always easy to get people to condemn threats to free speech when the speech being threatened is speech that they like. It’s much more difficult to induce support for free speech rights when the speech being punished is speech they find repellent.

When you read the Oath of Office, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, we should be supportive of people’s rights, their right of free speech.

Speech is protected in the U.S., and at the risk of repeating a hackneyed aphorism, free speech is worthless unless it applies to offensive speech. It is an American value, and one well worth protecting.

I have no problem with free speech, but free speech and then silencing your opposition – boy, I have a problem with that.

You can’t have a university without having free speech, even though at times it makes us terribly uncomfortable. If students are not going to hear controversial ideas on college campuses, they’re not going to hear them in America. I believe it’s part of their education.