Free Speech Rights Quotes

“You don’t win a debate by suppressing discussion; you win it with a better argument.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

“It's freedom of speech, not freedom from consequences and/or ridicule.”
― A.E. Samaan

“Freedom of speech as I define it is more than a right granted by government. It's a process that each of us must believe in and fight for. You cannot have free speech in a world where everyone wants to deplatform you, destroy you, discard you, or distort you for what you say. Freedom of speech only works to the extent that people embrace it. The "right" alone is meaningless.”
― T.J. Kirk

“Free speech and debate are essential in our search for the truth.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

“Bear in mind, ladies and gentlemen, that every time you violate or propose to violate the free speech of someone else, you en potencia are making a rod for your own back.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“Defend the rights of someone you disagree with today, so that your rights can be defended tomorrow.”
― Jeanette Coron

“Truth, the slayer of lies, is often perceived to be a hateful enemy by people in love with illusions.”
― Criss Jami

“Speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. Fight for the rights of others. Because one day you may need someone to speak up for you.”
― Jeanette Coron

“[F]orgetting takes multiple guises and sometimes infuses life in the most subtle and taken-for-granted ways. Therefore, forgetting consists not only of markers that indicate the erasure of knowledge, but also the habits, routines, and physical movements that lead one to present and practice detachment and hiding. It includes hiding the outward indicators of one’s religion. It is taking care when choosing one’s words in public, or even when speaking among family, so that the children will not learn what is supposed to be forgotten. Practicing these habits until they become ingrained and no longer require conscious attention makes forgetting a part of everyday life… In Ulaanbaatar (and the next-biggest city, Darkhan) the state built wedding palaces, thus making marriages and the establishment of families matters that came under state control. The alphabet, personal names, food, hairstyles, consumer goods, clothing, and fashions also changed due to the revolution. All this meant that the younger generations had little reference in everyday life from which to inquire about the past. When the memories of those belonging to an older generation contradicted the national narrative, there was little chance they would be heard by succeeding generations, whose ideological training and values conflicted with those of the past. “The erasure of socio-political context . . . allowed for the absorption of the particular (memories) into the general” (Steedly 1993:131), and furthered the homogenization of history and the nation. In a homogenizing society, to be a misfit, a reactionary, was not only a source of shame and public alienation, but also invited the threat of state intervention… Those of the next generation were born in the 1940s and 1950s, after most of the political massacres had been carried out. They grew up with socialist propaganda and were removed from the past, owing to the silencing of their parents’ memories and the dominance of the state’s narrative. The past seeped through to them accidentally, against the will of their parents… Often silences are a sign of powerlessness, not of the lack of a story to tell. As Tsing (1990:122) argues, power consists, at least in part, of the ability to convene an audience. According to Steedly (1993:198), this ability requires telling a compelling story that is strategically designed to meet the interests of the listeners.”
― Manduhai Buyandelger, Tragic Spirits: Shamanism, Memory, and Gender in Contemporary Mongolia

“Free speech is when the left-wing dislike but allow the words and thoughts of the right-wing, and the right-wing dislike but allow the words and thoughts of the left-wing. What we are experiencing now in Western democracies, is the left-wing not only disallowing the words and thoughts of the right-wing, but also the words and thoughts of the moderates. Any such imbalance is dangerous to society.”
― Robert Black