Top 100 Quotes About Freedom Of Thought
#1. Whatever the rationale, the suppression of unorthodox cancer therapies and the sustained persecution of their proponents by government and colleagues runs counter to freedom of thought, much less freedom of choice.
Marilyn Ferguson
#2. Those who take refuge behind theological barbed wire fences, quite often wish they could have more freedom of thought, but fear the change to the great ocean of truth as they would a cold bath.
Luther Burbank
#3. Don't exercise your freedom of speech until you have exercised your freedom of thought.
Tim Fargo
#4. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love.
Salman Rushdie
#5. The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.
Salman Rushdie
#6. How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.
Soren Kierkegaard
#7. However much we champion freedom of thought, we actually spend much of our time censoring input. We seek out publications that mirror or support our prior views and largely avoid those that don't.
Robert Trivers
#8. In such a way is freedom of thought lost ... By small cuts. By small acts of disapproval. By a thousand discouragements of spirit.
Alexander McCall Smith
#9. Disputes among natural philosophers are of use to science, as the quarrels of the great, and the clamors of the little, are necessary to freedom of thought and the advancement of learning.
Hal Hellman
#10. Here is the best wish for the New Year: Let there be more freedom of thought throughout the world! Fields need rain; truths need freedom of thought!
Mehmet Murat Ildan
#11. In any society freedom of thought will probably be of direct significance only for a small minority.
Friedrich Hayek
#12. The more people come together, the more borders will be opened and people and opinions get together, the more unrenouncable tolerance will be a fundamental part of our social life. Without tolerance there is no religious liberty, no freedom of conscience and no freedom of thought.
Thomas Klestil
#13. It is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing or worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man.
Pope Leo XIII
#14. Tolerance and freedom of thought are the veritable antidotes to religious fanaticism.
Baron D'Holbach
#15. America's greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.
Benazir Bhutto
#16. If we have confidence in our own beliefs, we should not fear freedom of thought.
Bill Vaughan
#17. A man is allowed sufficient freedom of thought, provided he knows how to choose his subject properly ... But the scene is changed as you come homeward, and atheism or treason may be the names given in Britain to what would be reason and truth if asserted in China.
Edmund Burke
#18. They [the Pilgrims] believed in freedom of thought for themselves and for all other people who believed exactly as they did.
Will Cuppy
#19. Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.
Bergen Evans
#20. Thus freedom of thought, in any valuable sense, includes freedom of speech.
John B. Bury
#21. You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.
W. Somerset Maugham
#22. Freedom of speech is useless without freedom of thought.
Spiro T. Agnew
#23. I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech - alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized
society.
H.L. Mencken
#24. The ideal of progress, freedom of thought, and the decline of ecclesiastical power go together.
J. B. Bury
#25. We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.
Bertrand Russell
#26. Freedom of thought is meaningless without the freedom to act.
Marty Rubin
#27. I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.
Jalal Talabani
#28. The only conception of freedom I can have is that of the prisoner or the individual in the midst of the State. The only one I know is freedom of thought and action.
Albert Camus
#29. The apple which tempts my characters is the one that will remove the knowledge of good and evil. I suppose it's something of a reversal of the conventional Eden story: Freedom of thought is perhaps the greatest good, and needs to be fought for and sacrificed for.
John Christopher
#30. The first amendment protects free speech, but if you don't have freedom of thought, do you really have freedom of speech?
Rob Kampia
#31. I'm a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought.
Jimmy Wales
#32. Rock n' roll to me is all about freedom of thought and to be whatever you want to be.
Noel Gallagher
#33. I have been raised to believe in freedom of thought and speech. If a minority wishes to accept that position it's their right. What I fear is that this minority may seem to be larger than it truly is. What is strange is that there are still people who believe the world is not a globe.
Richard Leakey
#34. Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science.
Charles Darwin
#35. Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of identity. This is my Holy Trinity, each one an intrinsic aspect of my god: Freedom, the Holiest of Holies. Yes it bloody well is. It is absolutely sacred and inviolable, beyond any negotiation or compromise, now and forever. Amen.
Pat Condell
#36. One man's blasphemy doesn't override other people's free-speech rights, their freedom to publish, freedom of thought.
Dan Savage
#37. It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either.
Mark Twain
#38. No body of knowledge needs an organizational policy. Organizational policy can only impede the advancement of knowledge. There is a basic incompatibility between any organization and freedom of thought.
William S. Burroughs
#39. A thinker can truly think only when there is true freedom of thought.
Debasish Mridha
#40. Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.
Graham Greene
#41. People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Soren Kierkegaard
#42. Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum.
Samuel Adams
#43. Freedom of thought is the only good that is perhaps more precious than peace, for the simple reason that, without it, peace would merely be another name of servitude.
Andre Comte-Sponville
#44. I want to have freedom of thought and expression - not get beaten down into some corporate existence, where there's so much risk of embracing the truth that you feel like you can't do it.
D.A. Wallach
#45. People hardly ever make use of the freedom which they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as compensation.
Soren Kierkegaard
#46. Where the realm of freedom of thought and action begin, the determination of individuals according to generic laws ends.
Rudolf Steiner
#47. No political party can or ought to exist when one of its corner-stones is opposition to freedom of thought and to the right to worship God "according to the dictate of one's own conscience," or according to the creed of any religious denomination whatever.
Ulysses S. Grant
#48. It is vain to fight totalitarianism by adopting totalitarian methods. Freedom can only be won by men unconditionally committed to the principles of freedom. The first requisite for a better social order is the return to unrestricted freedom of thought and speech.
Ludwig Von Mises
#49. Reason like science, grows by way of mutual criticism; the only possible way of planning its growth is to develop those institutions that safeguard. the freedom of thought
Karl Popper
#50. One may always attempt as much insight, love, freedom of thought and expression, justice and tolerance as possible for oneself and the very few people who share one's truest life. To be a 'free lord' in secret is better than being a public slave, a willing accomplice of repression and injustice.
Hakim Bey
#51. The fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
#52. The freedom of thought is a sacred right of every individual man, and diversity will continue to increase with the progress, refinement, and differentiation of the human intellect.
Felix Adler
#53. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Eleanor Roosevelt
#54. Let nobody be afraid of true freedom of thought. Let us be free in thought and criticism; but, with freedom, we are bound to come to the conclusion that science is not antagonistic to religion, but a help to it.
Lord Kelvin
#55. Freedom of thought and freedom of speech in our great institutions are absolutely necessary for the preservation of our country. The moment either is restricted, liberty begins to wither and die ...
John Peter Altgeld
#56. There is nothing wrong with intellectual differences flowing from freedom of thought as long as such differences remain confined to intellectual debates.
Pervez Musharraf
#57. But now, I, August Comte, have discovered the truth. Therefore, there is no longer any need for freedom of thought or freedom of the press. I want to rule and to organize the whole country.
Auguste Comte
#58. True Freedom is freedom of thought & of action. How many of us can claim to be truly free?
Anno Nomius
#59. In our democratic society, the library stands for hope, for learning, for progress, for literacy, for self-improvement and for civic engagement. The library is a symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and hence, is a symbol for democracy itself.
Vartan Gregorian
#61. My fear was actually the cause of my inability to trust people. Fear of being deceived. Fear of being lied to. My fear of people was stealing from me the freedom of thought.
Otsuichi
#62. The freedom of thought and expression is one of the most sacred rights in this country.
Eliot Engel
#63. America's forefathers had a vision of a spiritually enlightened utopia, in which freedom of thought, education of the masses, and scientific advancement would replace the darkness of outdated religious superstition.
Dan Brown
#64. I always strive for freedom: freedom of thought and expression.
Lykke Li
#65. Organized religion provides a model of the way all organizations, from the state down to the village garden club, end a price in terms of a member's freedom of thought and action.
Robert Shea
#66. The real stumbling-block of totalitarian regimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth.
Simone Weil
#69. The moment of realization is: When what you thought you couldn't be without, becomes a part of the past, rather than the start of the future.
Melody Carstairs
#70. We're not mindless golems, designed to think exactly the same thing. To try to suppress those thoughts is no better than slavery, and being free to say what you want, write what you want or draw what you want, as long as it doesn't offend anyone... That's no freedom at all.
T.J. Dixon
#71. Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four.
George Orwell
#72. The ending of sorrow is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge is always within the shadow of ignorance. Meditation is freedom from thought and a movement in the ecstasy of truth. Meditation is explosion of intelligence.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
#73. Actual freedom is freedom from dependency, attachment, from the craving for experience. Freedom from the very structure of thought is to be a light to oneself.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
#74. If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
#75. The development of science and of the creative activities of the spirit requires a freedom that consists in the independence of thought from the restrictions of authoritarian and social prejudice.
Albert Einstein
#76. I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.
George Carlin
#77. The first step away from being manipulated, and towards a more autonomous outlook, is to stand back from a set of responses and think.
Jonathan Glover
#78. I remember an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given leave to open any I liked. There were more doors than one person could ever open in a lifetime, I thought (and still think).
Stephen King
#79. Her ambitions were no longer specifically for happiness or financial security or freedom from disease (thought they included all three), but for something more general: the continuing certainty of things. She needed to know that she would carry on being herself.
Julian Barnes
#81. When I was 14-15
There was nothing to my life
but dancing and sex
I'd go to night clubs and dance
Then I'd meet someone and have sex
it was Fine and easy
nothing to do
BUT Think with my body
like a bird
I Thought I was Free
TrAcey Emin
Tracey Emin
#82. (...) he was beginning to be himself. And now he wanted madly to be free to go on. A home, his work, and absolute freedom to move and to be, in her, with her, this was his passionate desire. He thought in a kind of ecstasy, living an hour of painful intensity.
D.H. Lawrence
#83. Through knowledge and understanding we will drive from the temple of freedom all who seek to establish over us thought control - whether they be agents of a foreign power or demagogues thirsty for personal power and public notice.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
#84. No matter what they say, we aren't free if we can't make our own choices.
Grace Fiorre
#85. I know the difference between reality and fantasy. Those with sick fantasies who know and respect this difference are much less dangerous than those with no fantasies at all, but who can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
T.J. Dixon
#86. Considering the great importance to the public liberty of the freedom of the press, and the difficulty of submitting it to very precise rules, the laws have thought it less mischievous to give greater scope to its freedom than to the restraint of it.
Thomas Jefferson
#87. The fortune my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.
Ayn Rand
#88. No book on this planet can give you the description of terms like religion, spirituality, divinity unless you discover it within the realm of your own mind.
Abhijit Naskar
#89. Freedom of speech is not only the right to say as you please, it is also the right to have what you say contested, and where it does not accord with reason - refuted, or with sense - ridiculed.
David Joseph Cribbin
#90. 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
#91. We teach people in order to open up their minds and release their captive powers. But we cannot predict the result. Freedom - we free their minds from superstition. We give the people the keys of the future to act therein as they wish.
Tayeb Salih
#92. I talk about freedom from the Rat Race, and they focus on toilets. That is the thought pattern that keeps most people poor. They criticize instead of analyze.
Robert T. Kiyosaki
#93. I walked slowly to enjoy this freedom, and when I came out of the mountains, I saw the sky over the prairie, and I thought that if heaven was real, I hoped it was a place I never had to go, for this earth was greater than any paradise.
Daniel J. Rice
#94. Let's stop and think for a moment. Is sacrifice a virtue? Can a man sacrifice his integrity? His honor? His freedom? His ideal? His convictions? The honesty of his feeling? The independence of his thought?
Ayn Rand
#95. Everything has boundaries. The same holds true with thought. You shouldn't fear boundaries, but you should not be afraid of destroying them. That's what is most important if you want to be free: respect for and exasperation with boundaries.
Haruki Murakami
#96. Books of the sages of the ages reflect upon in stages; like honey their words on the tongue give due savour."
{Source: A Green Desert Father}
Richard Mc Sweeney
#97. Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.
Voltaire
#98. MANDELA: a man deemed to be the greatest icon in Africa. his life thought me couple of lessons that always inspires me to strive hard for respect and to make an impact on humanity. may his footsteps continue to live for ever on the sands of time.
Victor Adeagbo
#99. The man who can keep order can rule the world, but the man who can bear disorder is truly free.
Gillian Cross
#100. When a people holds onto its language, it holds onto a semblance of freedom, like a man who holds onto his independence when he retains his own way of thinking. Language is the thought of a people.
Jose Rizal
