William Jennings Bryan Quotes

Compelled speech isn't worth much.

While the Executive may exclude an alien for almost any reason, it cannot do so solely because the Executive disagrees with the contents of the alien’s speech and therefore wants to prevent the alien from sharing this speech with a willing American audience.

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, academic freedom, freedom of conscience—these are noble and inspiring phrases; as symbols of causes they are worth fighting for and dying for. The more pity that they should be invoked so often these days in behalf of those who abuse their freedom to the injury of their country's cause. When peace comes, freedom will be as regnant in American life and thought as ever before. But in the meantime, they are not helping the cause of freedom who are using it as a cloak to conceal disloyalty.

The American public is capable of doing its own censoring… If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do.

If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public school, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools, and the next year you can make it a crime to teach it to the hustings or in the church. At the next session you may ban books and the newspapers.

By giving in to protesters, colleges are denying the majority of students their right to hear controversial opinions and drawing their own conclusions about those opinions.

Brown’s core value of promoting the free and open exchange of ideas is bedrock to our capacity to fulfill our mission as a university. This value applies not only when ideas are agreeable and aligned with our own. Protecting the right to free expression and promoting open discourse is even more essential when ideas are divergent, abhorrent or even hurtful.

THE CONFLICT: HELL & THE HIGH SCHOOL

Prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and least tolerable infringement on First Amendment Rights.

Political speech is indispensable to decision-making in a democracy, and this is no less true because the speech comes from a corporation. By taking the right to speak from some and giving it to others, the Government deprives the disadvantaged person or class of the right to use speech to strive to establish worth, standing, and respect for the speaker’s voice. The Government may not by these means deprive the public of the right and privilege to determine for itself what speech and speakers are worthy of consideration. The First Amendment protects speech and speaker, and the ideas that flow from each.

We cannot have a society in which some dictator somewhere can impose censorship here in the United States.

In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own.... Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.

Free speech has remained a quintessential American ideal, even as our society has moved from the ink quill to the touch screen.

Beautiful speech doesn't need protection, it's ugly speech that needs protection. We have these cultural norms that allow people to say really ugly things. You don't have to invite them to your dinner party, but you should let them say it.

There's no backlog of people we can fire for no reason and act as if they don't exist.

In theory, it is illegal to make the basement into a bureaucratic purgatory. In 1994, for instance, Congress prohibited agencies from making significant changes in a whistleblower's 'working conditions' as punishment for speaking out.

I will withhold federal funding from universities that shut down debate and can't stand different points of view.

Conservatives should defend free speech - but we must not amplify it when it's blatantly grotesque.

I will try exercise my freedom of speech by avoiding legalities.

Free speech should never mean hate speech.

Obviously, whenever the government is getting involved with speech, it gives me a lot of pause. I have a background as a journalist, so that's something that I take very seriously.

It's impossible to utilize your right to free speech in the way you truly deserve and not suffer repercussions on any level.

Censorship is a really big deal, but online you don't have anything. You have slightly more freedom.

WikiLeaks' disclosures should be protected under the First Amendment.

We all live in a universe in which we're either asked to or are forced to accept certain premises about our employment without having the opportunity to verify them.