Roger Ebert Quotes

Think about it: If you were publicly branded a racist on an issue of public debate, might you not next time hesitate to speak out, write your elected representatives or go to a meeting? That's a chilling effect - and undermines the First Amendment.

If it were not for the fact that editors have become so timorous in these politically correct times, I would probably have a greater readership than I have.

I think people are frightened of saying what they think, and I think that's a bad thing for society.

I think we have gone too far into the PC culture, but there's a limit to how far we can take that.

There is no right to not be offended, nor should there be.

Whether you like Kanye or not, there has been a character assassination against this guy. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but you do have to defend his right to say it.

It's kinda ridiculous what you can't say nowadays. You really can't say anything you believe! I think it's fricking ridiculous how sensitive everyone is to everything, how much things are frowned upon. How much stuff will cost you nowadays. I think it's fricking ridiculous that we can't - there's certain topics that you can't really say how you feel about.

The freedom to think out loud on certain topics, without fear of being hounded into hiding or killed, has already been lost.

The P.C. police are out in force at all times... We've reached a point where people are actually afraid to talk about what they want to say.

Well, I'm not afraid to say something if I think it's funny, even if it's harsh or racist.

All critics should be assassinated.

The idea that the law should punish what is rude; that government should protect our tender sensibilities from those who would - quite often with shallow motivations but sometimes with deeper and more serious complaints - challenge our national certainties and rituals, should alarm and anger us.

What's now shocking is I can't say anything publicly without it having a life. Not because I have extraordinary views but because people are keen on conflict, so they'll make that the story.

Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk.

I don't think any media has to feel obliged to show the cover of 'Charlie Hebdo.'

Our schools too often want to shut people up so they can't talk about real solutions. People who think differently tend to clam up because they think something is wrong with their ideas.

In America you can say anything you want - as long as it doesn't have any effect.

If you're politically correct, chances are you're not coming to one of my shows. I get to go onstage and say things that everybody thinks all the time, but can't say out loud.

I remember when TV networks believed in the First Amendment. It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended.

Well, there are certain words and emotions I don't want kids hearing, and I'm not changing because they think it's going to sell better. This is going to sound horrible, but I got 12 million votes doing what I did.

Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.

Advocates of 'free speech' often repeat the mantra that the best response to bad speech is more and better speech, not the suppression of the bad stuff.

Anyone working in the media can tell you that there seems to be an always-ready-to-explode segment of the populace for whom offense is a fate worse than anything imaginable. You'd think offense is one of the most calamitous things that could happen to a human being; right up there with the loss of a limb, or just missing a parking space.

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.

Everyone champions freedom of expression in the abstract but few can resist calling for censorship when they do not like what is being expressed.