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Here shall the Press the People's right maintain,
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain;
Here Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw,
Pledged to Religion, Liberty, and Law.

— Joseph Story

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Journalism

More quotes by Joseph Story

Every free man has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public; to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press.

Commentaries on the Consitution (1833)

He who seeks equity must do equity.

Indeed, in a free government, almost all other rights would become utterly worthless, if the government possessed an uncontrollable power over the private fortune of every citizen.

Commentaries on the Consitution (1833)

I will not say with Lord Hale, that "the law will admit of no rival, and nothing to go even with it;" but I will say, that it is a jealous mistress, and requires a long and constant courtship. It is not to be won by trifling favours, but by a lavish homage.

Be brief, be pointed, let your matter stand
Lucid in order, solid and at hand;
Spend not your words on trifles but condense;
Strike with the mass of thought, not drops of sense;
Press to close with vigor, once begun,
And leave, (how hard the task!) leave off, when done.

All Joseph Story quotes →

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Journalists who make mistakes get sued for libel; historians who make mistakes get to publish a revised edition.

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In a world where everyone is a publisher, no one is an editor and that is the danger we face today.

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Every newspaper editor owes tribute to the devil.

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Attribution

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