Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.

Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always be the last resort of the boob and the bigot.

If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands, they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free.

Free speech, exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where people are themselves free.