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But if our democracy is to flourish it must have criticism, if our government is to function it must have dissent. Only totalitarian governments insist upon conformity and they—as we know—do so at their peril.

— Henry Steele Commager Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954)

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More quotes by Henry Steele Commager

We do not protect freedom in order to indulge error. We protect freedom in order to discover truth.

Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954)

The most effective censorship is not, in fact, legal; in a democracy—as Tocqueville pointed out in Democracy in America—it is public opinion.

Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954)

The Bill of Rights was not written to protect governments from trouble. It was written precisely to give the people the constitutional means to cause trouble for governments they no longer trusted.

Two centuries ago our forefathers brought forth a new nation; now we must join with others to bring forth a new world order.

writing for the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia in A Declaration of INTERdependence (1976)

A nation that silences or intimidates original minds is left only with unoriginal minds and cannot hope to hold its own in the competition of peace or of war.

Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Henry Steele Commager (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.