Skip to content

Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

— Louis Brandeis

Another quote →

Topics

More quotes by Louis Brandeis

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.

If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.

Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.

We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

All Louis Brandeis quotes →

You may also like

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

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

Robert Anton Wilson

Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.

Wilhelm Reich Philosophy : An Introduction to the Art of Wondering (2005)

Attribution

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