Vladimir Putin Quotes

It is necessary to ensure that the requirement to combat terrorism is not used to clamp down on freedom of expression, legitimate dissent, freedom of association and so on.

There's one place where (Fidel Castro’s) Cuba stands out head and shoulders above the rest – that is in its love for human rights and liberty!

I regard freedom of expression as the primary right without which one can not have a proper functioning democracy.

Let me start with Yahoo. As we meet today, a Chinese citizen who had the courage to speak his mind on the Internet is in prison because Yahoo chose to share his name and address with the Chinese Government.

Nobody wants a political prisoner, but a political emigrant is no problem.

Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.

Now the British are coming. I think Cameron should ask the Chinese government not to make people 'disappear' or to jail them merely because they have different opinions.

Democracy must first be safe for America before it can be safe for the world

Shame! Shame on this House! A civilized society does not stifle opposition. It meets it.

If there is liberty, if there is democracy, in this country, it will stand or fall with the right of the minority to express to the full force of language its opposition in public to the policies of the government. And it will stand or fall with the courage of the minority so to express itself.

I believe in defending democracy by preserving democracy, not by descending to the use of the same weapons used in dictatorships, whether of the Nazi or Communist stripe.

The people have every right to meet in a peaceful manner and express and ventilate their grievance and criticize the policy and actions of any civilized Government.

Joe and I are still very aware of the fact that we live in a country where he criticised the government and lived another day. That trumps all. To paraphrase Churchill, democracy is the worst form of government apart from all the other forms of government. You constantly have to fight for it; you have to keep your government honest.

I can't emphasize how important free speech is to a liberal and free democracy.

The right to free speech is critical to our democracy.

I want a country where you can express different ideas peacefully and not be bothered and arrested unfairly for it. I want a country where you shouldn't be scared to say that you are an atheist, for example.

India is the world's largest democracy and everyone should have a right to voice their opinions.

My grandfather wanted to remind us that freedom of expression is the fundamental ingredient for democracy, and all the rest is detail. It is the scaffolding around which every other freedom is based.

Whereas Canada and our allies see the rule of law, freedom of speech, and fair elections as the guardrails to a more secure world, Beijing sees them as a threat to the rule of the Communist Party.

Freedom of opinion is a valuable asset in a democracy.

This is what democracy is all about. People have every right to protest whoever's in the White House, without fear of persecution. If this happened in Iran, people would be shot on the streets. This is the United States of America, and we have a First Amendment that protects this kind of speech.

Acceptance by government of a dissident press is a measure of the maturity of a nation.

Almost half of the Turkish population believes it is not legitimate to criticize the government. Interestingly, this correlates with the number of supporters of Erdogan's government.

Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.

Freedom to speak and write about public questions is as important to the life of our government as is the heart to the human body. In fact, this privilege is the heart of our government. If that heart be weakened, the result is debilitation; if it be stilled, the result is death.