Katharine Graham Quotes

The first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum.

If you can exchange information freely, isn’t that almost a definition of democracy.

Free and open communications is the best guarantee of democracy.

Democracies can’t accomplish much of anything without the free flow of information – including waging the war on terrorism.

If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.

The first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum.

A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

We need to understand that an open society and free speech and press... really are the best weapons against al Qaeda and extremism.

Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of achieving a free society.

I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society.

What I'm thinking about more and more these days is simply the importance of transparency, and Jefferson's saying that he'd rather have a free press without a government than a government without a free press.

I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.

As you have fewer and fewer voices in a democracy, in a free society, it's not good to limit the number of voices.

In many respects, the United States is a great country. Freedom of speech is protected more than in any other country. It is also a very free society.

The people currently in charge have forgotten the first principle of an open society, namely that we may be wrong and that there has to be free discussion. That it's possible to be opposed to the policies without being unpatriotic.

It is subversive to set up inquisitions like this, state or national, into the thoughts and consciences of Americans.... It is subversive for commissions like this to spread hysteria and intimidation throughout the land that Americans are afraid to sign petitions, afraid to read progressive magazines, afraid to make out checks for liberal causes, afraid to join organizations, afraid to speak their mind on public issues. Americans dare not be free citizens! This is the destruction of democracy.

In a free state there must be free speech. In libera civitate etiam linguas esse liberas.

We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not need to know, and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows

Journalist, in my opinion, are mediators between the Information Age and our democracy.

If you have an open society that what happens—people say things and they criticize you.

Usually the public is better off with more information than less. That includes information the government would like to keep quiet.

American democracy depends on the public's ability to remain accurately informed on our state of affairs.

No one needs to tell me about the importance of the free press in a democratic society or about the essential role a newspaper can play in its community.

There is no democracy without journalism.