Meiklejohn's position is that free speech in a democracy is not an absolute flowing from the boundless source of some presumed 'natural right.' It is a practical necessity of 'self-government by universal suffrage,' for if the citizens are not permitted to argue out the issues of government, how can they be what they must be in a democracy - the rulers as well as the ruled?

There is no crime in the cynical American calendar more humiliating than to be a sucker.

We demand of our political life greater certainty and greater perfection than we demand of our personal life.

Do not confuse your vested interests with ethics. Do not identify the enemies of your privilege with the enemies of humanity.

To deaden yourself against any hurt is to deaden yourself also against the hurt of others.

We cannot live by power, and a culture that seeks to live by it becomes brutal and sterile. But we can die without it.

The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt.