Salman Rushdie Quotes

Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition of nearly every other form of freedom.

Freedom of choice and free speech without fear must be defended.

Let us refuse to be silent! Speaking freely is a decisive step forward on the road to freedom.

If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain

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.

Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered Expression

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.

European values, civil rights, freedom of speech, freedom of information, and freedom of assembly are being violated by Spain's central government.

I don't want our right to be able to speak and dissent to be taken away.

It is called the First Amendment. ...Simple words marching in seried ranks. Compact, concise. To the point. Clear and pure. It's freedom's music.

If Mumia Abu-Jamal has nothing important to say, why are so many powerful people trying to shut him up?

Freedom of speech is central to most every other right that we hold dear in the United States and serves to strengthen the democracy of our great country. It is unfortunate, then, when actions occur that might be interpreted as contrary to this honored tenet.

Who is it that said that 'you have not converted a man because you have silenced him?' This is true of the use of the military on people.

How a man who holds the entire population of a country as his prisoners, and punishes the families of those who escape, can be admired by people who call themselves liberals is one of the many wonders of the human mind's ability to rationalize. Yet such is the case with Fidel Castro.

Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience.

We must ask the high cadres ... When you suppressed the rights of others to express freely their political views, did you secure your own?

The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit - a spirit that demands self-expression .

Speak, speak, speak, & remember that whenever anyone's liberty to speak is denied, your liberty is denied also, & your place is where the attack is.

...any form of government that required the repression, imprisonment, and execution of those who disagreed with it was certainly not a government of the people.

The U.S. affirms freedom of speech.[Vladimir] Putin is no friend of freedom of speech.

Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech.

the fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do.

Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.

If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.