Thomas Babington Macaulay Quotes

To punish a man because he has committed a crime, or because he is believed, though unjustly, to have committed a crime, is not persecution. To punish a man, because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds, or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him, that he will commit a crime, is persecution, and is, in every case, foolish and wicked.

Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.

Alas, how many have been persecuted for the wrong of having been right?

I've always hated oppression.

No people in the history of the world have ever been so misunderstood, so misjudged, and so cruelly maligned.

As long as you persecute people, you will actually throw up terrorism.

Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma.

As many times as I've seen 'The Merchant of Venice,' I always take Shylock's side. For all the hatred that guy is shown, he has a reason to hate in return. He's treated cruelly. And it's tragic that he learns to be intolerant because of what others do to him.

Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.

Hate crimes are the scariest thing in the world because these people really believe what they're doing is right.

There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime - namely, repressive justice.

It is useless to attempt to disguise the hostility that exists on the part of a great many here toward northern men…. There is now a test of what shall be the status of northern men–whether they can live here without being in constant dread or not; whether they can be protected in life and property, and have justice in the courts.

There is social intimidation by the self-appointed brigades of the thought police… they exist in every society, whether they are of the religious, nationalistic or atheistic variety. Dogmatists, who are convinced that they know better, that only the way they think is acceptable and who would deprive others of their right to hear differing and discordant voices.. They try to achieve this by either silencing the author or scaring away the public.

We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

Evil or atrocity often explodes from a furnace built from the steady accretion of small, unchallenged wrong.

Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.

Men are sometimes hanged for telling the truth.

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.

The growing tide of anti-Semitism shocks the conscious of everyone who values freedom, and the ugly, hateful acts particularly stain the character of democracies where liberty and religious freedom are supposed to be respected.

If, at the limit, you can rule without crime, you cannot do so without injustices.

Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand with a grip that kills it.

Bigotry and intolerance, silenced by argument, endeavors to silence by persecution, in old days by fire and sword, in modern days by the tongue.

If we stand idly by while states legalize bigotry, we are responsible for allowing it to happen.

Unfortunately, our history has abundant examples of patriotism being used to hurt those who express views in disagreement with that of the majority.

Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.