Ezra Stiles Quotes

Roger Williams... successfully vindicated the right of private judgment in matters of conscience, and effected a moral and political revolution in all governments of the civilized world.

Freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate.

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.

The Liberty of Conscience and of the Press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified by any authority of the United States

The state has not only the obligation to stay neutral in matters of religion but also to ensure that freedom of thought and conscience of all individuals is protected.

I should be very sorry to see the United States holding anyone in confinement on account of any opinion that that person might hold. It is a fundamental tenet of our institutions that people have a right to believe what they want to believe and hold such opinions as they want to hold without having to answer to anyone for their private opinion.

The right of liberty is God-given and immortal. It cannot be regulated. Or controlled. It cannot be banned. And it must not be restricted.

Americans take justifiable pride in the freedoms given to them by nature or God and enshrined in the Constitution's Bill of Rights.

I'm a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought.

The greatest single blessing enjoyed by the people of these United States is the right of conscience -- the right to think, and to say and write what one thinks. I admit of no limitation of that right.

Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property.

Personal liberty shall be inviolable. No Danish subject shall in any manner whatever be deprived of his liberty because of his political or religious convictions or because of his descent.

People have rights and government must be kept from trampling on them.

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion all have a double aspect—freedom of thought and freedom of action.

Religious and civil liberty are best protected by unbounded freedom of thought.

I believe in limited government. I believe that government should be limited in many ways, …. No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literacy or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race

Liberty is an inalienable right, adhering to all residents of the Netherlands commonwealth. No power on earth, much less any power derived truly from the people … can challenge or obstruct the enjoyment of this liberty …

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

We're losing our freedom of speech. We are losing freedom of religion. We are losing freedom of the press.

Our rights are interconnected and inseparable. When freedom of expression is threatened, the rights to freedom of association and assembly, of thought, conscience and religion, are also compromised.

The right of private judgment is absolute in every American citizen.

While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the conscience of others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to Him only in this case are they answerable.

Government has no Right to hurt a hair of the head of an Atheist, for his Opinions. Let him have a care of his Practices.

We see our liberties curtailed more and more and more.We see a tremendous attack on religious freedom.

Political freedom is, or ought to be, the best guaranty for the safety and continuance of spiritual, mental, and civil freedom. It is the combination of numbers to secure the liberty to each one.