Thomas Jefferson Quotes

A people without reliable news is, sooner or later, a people without the basis of freedom.

A free press stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves.

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.

The right to discuss freely and openly, by speech, by the press, by the pen, all political questions, and to examine and animadvert upon all political institutions ... [is] a right as clear and certain, so interwoven with our other liberties, so necessary, in fact to their existence, that without is we must fall at once into despotism and anarchy.

Democracy without a free press is inconceivable.

I don't think that our Founders would believe that America could long prosper if the people were not readers.

The press in India, I believe, is more free, and happily so, than perhaps media anywhere in the world. Right? Which is a good thing.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be ... The People cannot be safe without information. When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe.

We... are not really free if we can't control our own government and its policies. And we will never do that if we remain ignorant.

A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.

Most people associate reading with laying on the beach. They don't see that it's crucial for a democracy!

We believe that the remedy to any harm resulting from press freedom lies in press freedom itself.

Being a reporter is at the very core of a democracy, being a free person in a free society.

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost

A free press can of course be good or bad, but most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

The press must be free; it has always been so and much evil has been corrected by it. If Government finds itself annoyed by it, let it examine its own conduct and it will find the cause.

No government ought to be without censors: & where the press is free, no one ever will.

The basis of our government's being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.

A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both ... And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives.

Free and open communications is the best guarantee of democracy.

What good is freedom of the press if people can't read a newpaper?

Our press has too much freedom …. Democracy is a very lovely thing for a developed people.

Printing means democracy because it brings knowledge within the reach of the common people, and knowledge, in the long run, is sure to make good its claim to power.

The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among people.