Pete Hoekstra Quotes

Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.

The core problem in our society is political correctness.

If you're a liberal, anything you say is protected. If you're a conservative, anything you say is hateful.

In America you can say anything you want - as long as it doesn't have any effect.

Any kind of restrictions put on free speech would have worse consequences than bullying.

Abuses of the freedom of speech ought to be repressed, but to whom are we to commit the power of doing it?

The oppression of any people for opinion's sake has rarely had any other effect than to fix those opinions deeper, and render them more important.

When truth is no longer free, freedom is no longer real: the truths of the police are the truths of today.

Free speech is against governments, not against the NBA. So the players and coaches and indeed owners have been fined for their speech, which is costly rather than free. I sort of acknowledge that there is not free speech when you agree to work in the NBA.

Those nations that say it's a crime to preach your religion are making a terrible mistake. All they're doing is driving underground other forms of spiritual intuitions and practices.

In England, you're allowed to have an opinion - as long as it comes out of your mouth.

Whether it's people walking off 'The View' when Bill O'Reilly makes a statement about radical Islam or Juan Williams being fired for expressing his opinion, over-reaching political correctness is chipping away at the fundamental American freedoms of speech and expression.

All the big powers they've silenced me. So much for free speech and choice on this fundamental human right.

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

I worry about censorship in many parts of the world.

It's always easy to get people to condemn threats to free speech when the speech being threatened is speech that they like. It's much more difficult to induce support for free speech rights when the speech being punished is speech they find repellent.

Religious fundamentalists in Bangladesh have always argued for a ban on my books.

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.

The critical importance of honest journalism and a free flowing, respectful national conversation needs to be had in our country. But it is being buried as collateral damage in a war whose battles include political correctness and ideological orthodoxy.

Only the suppressed word is dangerous.

Better a thousandfold abuse of speech than a denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.

Where there is official censorship it is a sign that speech is serious.

In the absence of debate unrestricted utterance leads to the degradation of opinion .... The more rational is overcome by the less rational, and the opinions that will prevail will be those that are held most ardently by those with the most passionate will. For that reason the freedom to speak can never be maintained merely by objecting to interference with the liberty of the press, of printing, of broadcasting, of the screen. It can be maintained only by promoting debate.

The speech at issue are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature that they present a clear and present danger that they would bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.