Top 69 Quotes About Freedom Of Opinion
#1. All these schools of though gradually transformed into legal institutions, the diversity of ideas and freedom of opinion that characterized their early development gave way to rigid formalism, strict adherence to precedent, and an almost complete stultification of independent though
Reza Aslan
#2. No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
James K. Polk
#3. Freedom in education has many aspects. There is first of all freedom to learn or not to learn. Then there is freedom as to what to learn. And in later education there is freedom of opinion.
Bertrand Russell
#4. The intolerant man will not rely on persuasion, or on the worth of the idea. He would deny to others the very freedom of opinion or of dissent which he so stridently demands for himself. He cannot trust democracy.
Robert Kennedy
#5. Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.
Bertrand Russell
#6. Freedom of opinion is like health; both are individual, and no good general conception can be set up of either of them.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#7. In the long, fierce struggle for freedom of opinion, the press, like the Church, counted its martyrs by thousands.
James A. Garfield
#8. Thus the essence of freedom of opinion is not in mere toleration as such, but in the debate which toleration provides: it is not in the venting of opinion, but in the confrontation of opinion.
Walter Lippmann
#9. Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and I am sure ... we both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves.
Thomas Jefferson
#10. I try to exist in a world where there is freedom of opinion, where you're allowed to make jokes. I don't want to live in some PC world where no-one's allowed to say anything.
Boy George
#11. Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?
William E. Simon
#12. Of course, there are dangers in religious freedom and freedom of opinion. But to deny these rights is worse than dangerous, it is absolutely fatal to liberty.
Harry S. Truman
#13. I believe in, and will to the best of my ability fight for, equal rights and freedom of opinion for everyone, regardless of colour, religion, nationality, orientation - you know the rest.
Binyavanga Wainaina
#14. Slavery tolerates no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech, no freedom of opinion.
Hinton Rowan Helper
#15. Hence from all we have hitherto said, it is clear beloved Catholics that we cannot approve the opinions which some [Protestants, Jews, and other heretics] comprise under the head of Americanism [freedom].
Pope Leo XIII
#16. In my humble opinion, those who come to engage in debates of consequence, and who challenge accepted wisdom, should expect to be treated badly. Nonetheless, they must stand undaunted. That is required. And that should be expected. For it is bravery that is required to secure freedom.
Clarence Thomas
#17. That the Op-Ed page is very important in readers' and the nation's perception of the Times, the perception of its editorial positions, and of its implicit editorial positions as expressed by the publisher's choice of people who are given the freedom to write opinion columns.
Daniel Okrent
#19. The heaviest restriction upon the freedom of public opinion is not the official censorship of the Press, but the unofficial censorship by a Press which exists not so much to express opinion as to manufacture it.
Dorothy L. Sayers
#20. Our idea is that a state is strong when the people are politically conscious. It is strong when the people know everything, can form an opinion of everything, and do everything consciously.
Vladimir Lenin
#21. Any country where there is no freedom of speech is no more than a Kingdom of Animals where only the powerful speaks!
Mehmet Murat Ildan
#22. This war is being played in the realm of public opinion and has dire consequences for our soldiers in Iraq, the future of our country, and freedom around the world.
John Doolittle
#23. Slave power crushes freedom of speech and of opinion. Slave power degrades labor. Slave power is arrogant, is jealous and intrusive, is cruel, is despotic, not only over the slave but over the community, the state.
Elizabeth Van Lew
#24. To respect the opinions of those who stand against you is nothing short of courageous.
Raif Badawi
#25. We can either have a free Parliament or a free people. Personal freedom requires that all authority is restrained by long-run principles which the opinion of the people approves.
Friedrich August Von Hayek
#26. The only way you will ever be free is when you decide you have had enough of living up to the standards other people force upon you through shame. Never wear their chains of judgment when they can't break free of their own.
Shannon L. Alder
#27. Performance of one's duties should be independent of public opinion.
Mahatma Gandhi
#28. I don't care if my opinion falls on the right or the left. I'm more of what I call a passionate centrist. I just believe what I believe. I'm not trying to prove anything for the right or the left. Which gives me freedom to make jokes about either side, too.
Larry Wilmore
#29. No man voluntarily expresses his opinion without some intent to make a difference, and even if he does, he shouldn't.
Criss Jami
#30. Democracy feeds on argument, on the discussion as to the right way forward. This is the reason why respecting the opinion of others belongs to democracy.
Richard Von Weizsaecker
#31. I have lost the freedom of not having an opinion.
Umberto Eco
#32. Beware: open-mindedness will often say, 'Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion.
Criss Jami
#33. The tyranny of necessity grants its slaves three kinds of freedom: opinion free from intellect, entertainment free from art, and orgies free from love.
Karl Kraus
#35. At the root of our civilization, there is the freedom of each person of thought, of belief, of opinion, of work, of leisure.
Charles De Gaulle
#36. Freedom of teaching and of opinion in book or press is the foundation for the sound and natural development of any people.
Albert Einstein
#37. Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.
A.J. Liebling
#38. The Bahraini people are eager to obtain facts to enable them to shape a comprehensive national opinion without division among its people. We confirm to all journalists and media personnel in the kingdom of Bahrain that their freedom is preserved and their rights are safeguarded.
Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa
#39. Every man - in the development of his own personality - has the right to form his own beliefs and opinions. Hence, suppression of belief, opinion and expression is an affront to the dignity of man, a negation of man's essential nature.
[Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment (1963)]
Thomas I. Emerson
#40. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.
[First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801]
Thomas Jefferson
#41. You are entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to dictate mine.
Michelle N. Onuorah
#42. My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass.
Christopher Hitchens
#43. If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.
[Freedom of the Park, Tribune, 7 December 1945]
George Orwell
#44. The greatest fallacy of democracy is that everyone's opinion is worth the same.
Robert A. Heinlein
#45. To assume you know someone well enough that you can and do predict their behavior and mental perspective is a gross and often tragic mistake, for it eliminates that person's freedom to create his or her own opinion and drastically affects the emerging picture of the relationship.
Meredith L. Young-Sowers
#46. My principles, and those always received by the republicans, do not admit to removing any person from office merely for a difference of political opinion. Malversations in office, and the exerting of official influence to control the freedom of election are good causes for removal.
Thomas Jefferson
#47. Through Jesus, you now have freedom to be the unique creation God designed you to be. You don't have to rely on anyone's opinion of you to find your worth. You are free to pursue Christ with abandon, to throw off the shackles of legalism and let God's glory shine through you.
Daniel Darling
#49. The arbitrary power of the Government is unlimited, and unexampled in history; freedom of the Press, of opinion and of movement are as thoroughly exterminated as though the proclamation of the Rights of Man had never been.
Arthur Koestler
#50. Usually in France we prefer to say bad things about the Nouvelle Vague, but I'm always impressed with its freedom and the fact of not making a film to give your opinion but just as a piece of art, which to me means the Nouvelle Vague.
Arnaud Desplechin
#51. The struggle for freedom is ultimately not resistance to autocrats or oligarchs but resistance to the despotism of public opinion.
Ludwig Von Mises
#52. But don't I have any freedom of speech?"
"In your own house. Not in mine."
"Don't I have a right to my own ideas?"
"At your own expense. Not at mine."
"Don't you tolerate any differences of opinion?"
"Not when I'm paying the bills.
Ayn Rand
#53. The sheriff listened uneasily to a sound, very uncommon at elections, of the populace expressing an opinion contrary to that of the lord of the soil.
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
#54. The greatest fear in the world is the opinion of others, and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd, you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.
Osho
#55. The dictator says "You are allowed to think as you want" but never write it down or talk about it. If you cross these borders we cannot guarantee your security
Bangambiki Habyarimana
#56. If enlightened public opinion was a bulwark of freedom, then leaders must labor ceaselessly to enlighten or manipulate it.
Richard Brookhiser
#57. You don't have true freedom until you allow a diversity of opinion and a diversity of voices.
Don Lemon
#58. The inquisition of public opinion overwhelms in practice the freedom asserted by the laws in theory.
Thomas Jefferson
#59. I believe the role that people like myself have played in the transformation of public opinion has been by persistently presenting a different point of view, a point of view which stresses the importance of private markets, of individual freedom, and the distorting effect of governmental policy.
Milton Friedman
#60. Everyone is by absolute natural right the master of his own thoughts, and thus utter failure will attend any attempt in a commonwealth to force men to speak only as prescribed by the sovereign despite their different and opposing opinions.
Baruch Spinoza
#61. This was freedom; to feel what the heart desired with no thought to the opinion of the rest ... She was free, for love liberates.
Paulo Coelho
#62. I have ever regarded the freedom of religious opinions and worship as equally belonging to every sect.
James Madison
#63. I think we each come out of the womb with some unique way of looking at the world and if we don't express it, we loose faith in ourselves.
Gloria Steinem
#64. If the freedom of religion, guaranteed to us by law in theory, can ever rise in practice under the overbearing inquisition of public opinion, [then and only then will truth]prevail over fanaticism.
Thomas Jefferson
#65. The Iliad represents no creed nor opinion, and we read it with a rare sense of freedom and irresponsibility, as if we trod on native ground, and were autochthones of the soil.
Henry David Thoreau
#66. Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element.
Rosa Luxemburg
#67. In a free country every man thinks he has a concern in all public matters,
that he has a right to form and a right to deliver an opinion on them. This it is that fills countries with men of ability in all stations.
Edmund Burke
#68. Every one has the right to refute any opinion. But no one has the right to prevent its expression.
Periyar E.V. Ramasamy
#69. In the long run the ideas of the majority, however detrimental they may be, will carry on. The future of mankind depends on the ability of the elite to influence public opinion in the right direction.
Ludwig Von Mises
