Dianne Feinstein Quotes

I no longer believe in freedom of speech.

I think the trend to control speech - and therefore thought - continues. Because of the freer flow of information now, there's more on the side of free thought.

I am sure that as soon as speech was invented, efforts to suppress and control it began, and that process of suppression continues unabated.

Free speech is too dangerous to a democracy to be permitted

Think 'free speech,' not 'free beer.'

Free speech is not just free speech for people you admire. It's also for people who you think of as reprehensible.

Freedom of expression is not absolute. Countries have laws that define the framework for exercising this right and which, for instance, condemn racist language.

Why shouldn't I be allowed to say stupid, outrageous things?

You can't stop people printing what they want to print.

I think it's important, however, that as we again talk about the importance of free speech we make it clear that actions predicated on violent talk are not America they are not who were they are not what we do and they will be prosecuted, so I want that message to be clear also.

We won't tolerate abuses and crimes made every day in the name of freedom of speech. That is freedom of extortion and blackmail.

We have freedom of speech, but you got to watch what you say.

Free speech is a valuable commodity, which we preserve and protect, but there quite rightly is restriction on free speech in the best interest of the good order of the community and common sense.

Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorize and which to prevent.

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.

Freedom of Expression stops where it can do harm …. My community is humiliated, my religion is insulted. I ask for justice.

If one seeks to disseminate his ideas by means of periodicals or pamphlets, the post-office officials may decline to transmit anything that does not suit their taste; and the courts have decided that the United States post-office has precisely the same right to refuse to carry The Masses that it has to exclude sulfuric acid and dynamite from the mails.

We are the only country that allows and protects hate speech.

The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.

I realize that, in speaking to you this afternoon, there are certain limitations placed upon the right of free speech. I must be exceedingly careful, prudent, as to what I say, and even more careful and prudent as to how I say it. I may not be able to say all I think; but I am not going to say anything that I do not think.

The most repressive societies have always restricted speech the most — and when people are finally able to speak, they often call for change.

The intelligent defense of free speech should not rest on the notion that we must tolerate every form of speech, no matter how offensive. It's that we should lean toward greater tolerance for speech we dislike, and reserve our harshest penalties only for the worst offenders.

The silence caused by politicizing speech is deafening.

Of all the threats to free speech in history, the one the media give the most credibility to without question is the feminist movement, which is trying to rebrand public debate as harassment.