Freedom is not a luxury that we can indulge in when at last we have security and prosperity and enlightenment; it is, rather, antecedent to all of these, for without it we can have neither security nor prosperity nor enlightenment.

America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation.

If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent.

In the long run [censorship] will create a generation incapable of appreciating the difference between independence of thought and subservience.

Whether history will judge this war to be different or not we cannot say. But this we can say with certainty: A government and a society that silences those who dissent is one that has lost its way.

We cannot have a society half slave and half free; nor can we have thought half slave and half free. If we create an atmosphere in which men fear to think independently, inquire fearlessly, express themselves freely, we will in the end create the kind of society in which men no longer care to think independently or to inquire fearlessly.

History is organized memory, and the organization is all important!