"Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties; and that in its government the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
, (', 1927).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Freedom of speech
193 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Freedom of speech →
Related Quotes
"Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a …"
"There is nothing so fretting and vexatious, nothing so justly TERRIBLE to tyrants, and their tools and abettors, as a…"
"For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and ala…"
"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government…"
"The free communication of thoughts and of opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: any citizen thus may sp…"
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abri…"
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree o…"
"Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it."
"The power of communication of thoughts and opinions is the gift of God, and the freedom of it is the source of all sc…"
"Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties."