Echoes

Whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.

I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.

Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.

Stubborn and ardent clinging to one's opinion is the best proof of stupidity.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Must you value what others value, avoid what others avoid? How ridiculous!

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided.

Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none.

Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.

Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds… to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.