In a totally sane society, madness is the only freedom.

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

The only security of all is in a free press.

Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.

"Two things form the bedrock of any open society — freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have a free country."

[<i>Don’t allow religious hooligans to dictate terms</i> (<i>The Times of India</i>, January 16, 2008)]

The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

The great safeguard of society and of domestic life was, that opinions were not acted on. Sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.

A society that puts equality — in the sense of equality of outcome — ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. Though a by-product of freedom, greater equality is not an accident. A free society releases the energies and abilities of people to pursue their own objectives. It prevents some people from arbitrarily suppressing others. It does not prevent some people from achieving positions of privilege, but so long as freedom is maintained, it prevents those positions of privilege from becoming institutionalized; they are subject to continued attack by other able, ambitious people. Freedom means diversity but also mobility. It preserves the opportunity for today's disadvantaged to become tomorrow's privileged and, in the process, enables almost everyone, from top to bottom, to enjoy a fuller and richer life.

"Man's right to know, to learn, to inquire, to make bona fide errors, to investigate human emotions must, by all means, be safe, if the word "freedom" should ever be more than an empty political slogan."

"The first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum."
(Adlai E. Stevenson, 1900-1965, American Lawyer, Politician)

Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive.

Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.