Christopher Hitchens Quotes

Society needs a couple of vents that say what you're not supposed to say.

[There exists a] profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.

I'm a great believer in freedom of speech.

When men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public; when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter.

The nation relies upon public discussion as one of the indispensable means to attain correct solutions to problems of social welfare. Curtailment of free speech limits this open discussion. Our whole history teaches that adjustment of social relations through reason is possible when free speech is maintained.

That's what I love about the Internet. Even if it's small-scale and you're just posting on a forum, that's an uncensored expression. That's what I love.

Let me be clear: I am not an advocate of censorship.

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

I believe in a free market of ideas and not shying away from debate.

Maybe politically it wasn't wise but when people have different view points I think the public has a right to hear it and the public has a right to make decisions based on those view points.

Freedom rings where opinions clash.

The goal of higher education should be to champion the airing of all honest viewpoints. Nothing less is acceptable.

The method of democracy is to bring ... conflicts out into the open where their special claims can be seen and appraised, where they can be discussed and judged.

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

None of us would trade freedom of expression and of ideas for the narrowness of the public censor. America is the free market for people who have something to say, and need not fear to say it.

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

The public use of man's reason must always be free, and it alone can cause enlightenment.

It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks

When we speak freely, let us speak plainly, for plain speech is wholesome; especially, plain speech about public affairs and public men.

Men must also be allowed the publication of their opinions, if this be done with decency and seriousness, for the learned can have no right to say that they are in possession of the truth, still less can the unlearned, unless every grave man can offer his opinions, be they what they may…

America's Founders were committed to a wide-open public forum in which all voices and perspectives could have a chance of being heard.

'Fifty Shades' opened the door and made it easier to write about any issue that's controversial. It has helped other authors talk honestly.

You've got to ensure that the holders of an opinion, however unpopular, are allowed to put across their points of view.

Speak your mind; you don't have to be PC.

People can voice their different points of view. We are also a country where there will be criticism.