Quotes on censorship
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
Mill, John Stuart
I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.
West, Mae
Take away the right to say "fuck" and you take away the right to say "fuck the government."
Bruce, Lenny
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
West, Rebecca
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
Kennedy, John F.
The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.
Whitman, Walt
The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.
Commager, Henry Steele
Every burned book enlightens the world.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Every human being has a right to hear what other wise human beings have spoken to him. It is one of the Rights of Men; a very cruel injustice if you deny it to a man!
Carlyle, Thomas
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
Mill, John Stuart
A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.
Camus, Albert
A "critic" is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased - he hates all creative people equally.
Heinlein, Robert
Censorship feeds the dirty mind more than the four-letter word itself.
Cavett, Dick
To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor's prohibited list.
Aikin, John
Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
Griswold, Alfred Whitney