Felix Frankfurter Quotes

I have sworn to uphold the Constitution ... and a free press is absolutely vital to the freedom of this country.

We need a free media, not just freedom of speech.

Freedom of press and freedom of speech: What a blessing for a country while in the hands of honest, patriotic men; what a curse if in the hands of designing demagogues.

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.

There is no democracy without journalism.

Our liberty depends on freedom of the press.

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.

Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of achieving a free society.

I keep telling myself to calm down, to take less of an interest in things and not to get so excited, but I still care a lot about liberty, freedom of speech and expression, and fairness in journalism.

Freedom of the press and a free society either prosper together or perish together.

If you don't think a television news show represents the truth, you can turn off your TV. If you don't think a magazine represents the truth, you can cancel your subscription. You have the right to expose yourself to whatever information you want. But to have the government prescribing what the truth is or limiting the information available for the citizen is contrary to the 1st Amendment.

… the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. 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. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

Of all times in time of war the press should be free.

The right to insult members of the government is inviolable.

Flaws and all, I believe the free press is our country's most important institution - one I am more than happy to defend. One I did, in fact, defend for 37 years.

A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society. ... A great society is simply a big and complicated urban society.

A free press is one of the pillars of democracy.

The only security of all is in a free press.

The basis of our governments 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 a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.

The Liberty of the press consists in the right to publish with impunity truth with good motives for justifiable ends, though reflecting on government, magistracy, or individuals.

Freedom of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forego.

A free press is the immune system of representative democracy.

We have a First Amendment for good reasons. We need a free press because without an educated electorate we cannot have a functioning democracy.

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

Journalism is the protection between people and any sort of totalitarian rule. That's why my hero, admittedly a flawed one, is a journalist.