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

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

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Freedom

More quotes by Henry Steele Commager

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)

If you are going to penalize disloyalty, you must first determine what loyalty is; if you are going to silence nonconformity, you must determine what conformity is—and to what it conforms.

Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954)

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Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

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There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Attribution

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.