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If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. · 1929The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities. — Allan Bloom · 1987It is a very great thing to be able to think as you like; but, after all, an important question remains: what you think. — Matthew Arnold · 1861There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. — Virginia Woolf · 1929When people talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more. — John Adams · 1817You can break a man's skull, you can arrest him, you can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? How do you fight an idea? — Sextus · 1959All 10 quotes →
When people talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more. — John Adams · 1817And 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 · 1848Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. — John Milton · 1644
Freedom2 quotes
There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. — Virginia Woolf · 1929Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. — John Milton · 1644
America1 quote
Freedom of thought and the right of private judgment, in matters of conscience, driven from every other corner of the earth, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum. — Samuel Adams · 1776
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. — Robert H. Jackson · 1943
Dissent1 quote
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. — Robert H. Jackson · 1943
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities. — Allan Bloom · 1987
Pluralism1 quote
If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. · 1929
You can break a man's skull, you can arrest him, you can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? How do you fight an idea? — Sextus · 1959
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 · 1848
The mind1 quote
You can break a man's skull, you can arrest him, you can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? How do you fight an idea? — Sextus · 1959
Thoughts1 quote
It is a very great thing to be able to think as you like; but, after all, an important question remains: what you think. — Matthew Arnold · 1861
Tyranny1 quote
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities. — Allan Bloom · 1987