Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. It is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies.

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• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
  • First Amendment to the United States Constitution

• I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it.
  • To Archibald Stuart, Philadelphia, 23 December 1791
  • Cited in Jefferson, Thomas (2002). "1791". in Jerry Holmes. Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. p. 128. ISBN 0742521168. 

• Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
  • Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1801

• After all, if freedom of speech means anything, it means a willingness to stand and let people say things with which we disagree, and which do weary us considerably.
  • Zechariah Chafee; in Chafee (1920). Freedom of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Howe. pp. p. 366. 

• 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 for Critics (1848), Pt. V - Cooper, st. 3

• I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
  • Evelyn Beatrice Hall, Ch. 7 : Helvetius : The Contradiction, p. 199

• Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free speech but object to their being "pushed to an extreme", not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.
  • John Stuart Mill, 'On Liberty' Ch. 2, Mill (1985). On Liberty. Penguin. pp. p. 108. 

• The power of communication of thoughts and opinions is the gift of God, and the freedom of it is the source of all science, the first fruits and the ultimate happiness of society; and therefore it seems to follow, that human laws ought not to interpose, nay, cannot interpose, to prevent the communication of sentiments and opinions in voluntary assemblies of men.
  • Eyre, L.C.J., Hardy's Case (1794), 24 How. St. Tr. 206; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 99.

• It was not by accident or coincidence that the rights to freedom in speech and press were coupled in a single guaranty with the rights of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for redress of grievances. All these, though not identical, are inseparable. They are cognate rights, and therefore are united in the First Article's assurance.
  • Wiley B, Rutledge, Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, 530 (1945).

• The west has fiscalised its basic power relationships through a web of contracts, loans, shareholdings, bank holdings and so on. In such an environment it is easy for speech to be "free" because a change in political will rarely leads to any change in these basic instruments. Western speech, as something that rarely has any effect on power, is, like badgers and birds, free.
  • Julian Assange, The Guardian: Julian Assange answers your questions

See also

• Dissent
• First Amendment to the United States Constitution
• Freedom of the press