165 Freedom Of Thought Quotes

Following is our list of freedom of thought quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about what is freedom.

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Famous Freedom Of Thought Quotes

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt. — Bergen Evans

There are two good things in life -- freedom of thought and freedom of action. — W. Somerset Maugham

A person becomes truly free only when they are able to think and express their own thoughts. — Alexei Navalny

Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought is great and swift and free. — Bertrand Russell

Freedom of thought and freedom of speech in our great institutions are absolutely necessary for the preservation of our country. The moment either is restricted, liberty begins to wither and die. — John Peter Altgeld

This I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. — John Steinbeck

The mind is free and the slightest thought has great influence. It is therefore important that you think enlightened thoughts. — Moroccan Proverbs

Our greatest human freedom is that, despite whatever our physical situation is in life, WE ARE ALWAYS FREE TO CHOOSE OUR THOUGHTS! — Viktor E. Frankl

Great thoughts are against all doctrines of conformity — Austin Osman Spare

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

True freedom is where an individual's thoughts and actions are in alignment with that which is true, correct, and of honor - no matter the personal price. — Bryant H. McGill

Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. — William O. Douglas

The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible. — Salman Rushdie

True freedom comes from being able to challenge and question the ideas that dominate our culture. — Bret Weinstein

I was a freethinker before I knew how to think. — George Bernard Shaw

Short Freedom Of Thought Quotes

  • Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. — Hypatia
  • This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. — Euripides
  • Great minds think for themselves. — Immanuel Kant
  • Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. — Rosa Luxemburg
  • The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next. — Matthew Arnold

Freedom Of Thought Image Quotes

Freedom of thought quote Don't exercise your freedom of speech until you have exercises your freedom of thought.
Don't exercise your freedom of speech until you have exercises your freedom of thought.

Inherit The Wind Quotes

No kid in the world, no woman in the world should ever raise a hand against a no-good daddy. That's already been taken care of: A Man Who Destroys His Own Home Shall Inherit the Wind. — Dick Gregory

An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. — Clarence Darrow

How do you know that God didn't speak to Charles Darwin? — Jack Lemmon

Freedom of thought quote Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your
Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy, Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

The man who has everything figured out is probably a fool. — Jerome Lawrence

Is it possible to be overzealous, to destroy that which you hope to save-so that nothing is left but emptiness. — Jerome Lawrence

Stories are meant to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. — Finley Peter Dunne

Freedom of thought quote Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.
Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.

You never push a noun against a verb without trying to blow up something. — H. L. Mencken

Darwin was Wrong! Man's still an ape. — Jerome Lawrence

I may be rancid butter, but I'm on your side of the bread. — Gene Kelly

When I did Inherit the Wind, I learned about teaching school. I also found out what a fundamentalist was. — Dick York

What Is Freedom Quotes

What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and he might weep when they are gone. — St. Catherine of Siena

If yet your blood does not rage, then it is water that flows in your veins. For what is the flush of youth, if it is not of service to the motherland. — Chandra Shekhar Azad

The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. — Jim Morrison

Freedom of thought quote Don't exercise your freedom of speech until you have exercised your freedom of thought.
Don't exercise your freedom of speech until you have exercised your freedom of thought.

I don't mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom. It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes, deep inside yourself, you'll feel good no matter what. — Jiddu Krishnamurti

If it is right for men to fight for their freedom, and God knows what the human race would be like today if men had not, since time began, fought for their freedom, then it is right for women to fight for their freedom and the freedom of the children they bear. — Emmeline Pankhurst

Freedom is what we all seek, but it's what we do with that freedom that ultimately defines our character. In the end, a man's character cements his fate, good or bad. — Sonny Barger

Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought — Abraham Lincoln

Life is a sum of all your choices". So, what are you doing today? — Albert Camus

It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions - you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism. — Noam Chomsky

Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness. - Frank Tyger

Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness. — Frank Tyger

Free Thought Quotes

A society with too few independent thinkers is vulnerable to control by disturbed and opportunistic leaders. A society which wants to create and maintain a free and democratic social system must create responsible independence of thought among its young. — John Dewey

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. — Benjamin Franklin

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. - Buddha

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. — Buddha

True empathy is always free of any evaluative or diagnostic quality. This comes across to the recipient with some surprise. "If I am not being judged, perhaps I am not so evil or abnormal as I have thought". — Carl Rogers

Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater. Keep your thoughts free from hate, and you need have no fear from those who hate you. — George Washington Carver

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. — Evelyn Beatrice Hall

It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears. - Louis D. Brandeis

It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears. — Louis D. Brandeis

If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

You are free to think thoughts of worry or joy, and whatever you choose will attract the same kind back to you. Worry attracts worry. Joy attracts joy. — Rhonda Byrne

I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought. — Helen Keller

Independence Of Thought Quotes

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority. — Benjamin Franklin

Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism, are all too frequently those who . . . ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism-the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought. — Margaret Chase Smith

Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else. — Albert Einstein

I'm a modern woman in the sense of I take care of myself, I'm fiercely independent, and I'm really ambitious. Yet I have these old-school thoughts in my mind. — Eva Mendes

The right to criticize: the right to hold unpopular beliefs; the right to protest; the right of independent thought. The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood... Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. — Margaret Chase Smith

We have learned that beneath the surface of an ordinary everyday normal casual conscious existence there lies a vast dynamic world of impulse and dream, a hinterland of energy which has an independent existence of its own and laws of its own: laws which motivate all our thoughts and our actions. — Robert Edmond Jones

Cubism is not a manner but an aesthetic, and even a state of mind; it is therefore inevitably connected with every manifestation of contemporary thought. It is possible to invent a technique or a manner independently, but one cannot invent the whole complexity of a state of mind. — Juan Gris

Persons grouped around a fire or candle for warmth or light are less able to pursue independent thoughts, or even tasks, than people supplied with electric light. In the same way, the social and educational patterns latent in automation are those of self-employment and artistic autonomy. — Marshall McLuhan

The time has come for people of reason to say: Enough is Enough! Religious faith discourages independent thought, it's divisive and it's dangerous. — Richard Dawkins

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste. — Voltaire

Freedom Of Expression Quotes

A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself -- to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart — Leo Buscaglia

Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth. — Liu Xiaobo

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. — Noam Chomsky

Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression, as their speech and actions are determined by divine revelation and not based on people's desires. — Anjem Choudary

If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. — Louis D. Brandeis

Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players... they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure. — Arsene Wenger

I certainly was one of the instigators in the 1960s of freedom of expression. - Sally Kirkland

I certainly was one of the instigators in the 1960s of freedom of expression. — Sally Kirkland

A person who doesn't breathe deeply reduces the life of his body. If he doesn't move freely, he restricts the life of his body. If he doesn't feel fully, he narrows the life of his body. And if his self-expression is constricted, he limits the life of his body. — Alexander Lowen

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. — Salman Rushdie

Freedom Of Speech Quotes

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech - Idi Amin

There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech — Idi Amin

We want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action. — Sarojini Naidu

Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear. — St. Catherine of Siena

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. — Thomas Jefferson

I had a right to my own political opinions. I am a Southern woman, born with Revolutionary blood in my veins. Freedom of speech and of thought were my birthright, guaranteed, signed and sealed by the blood of our fathers. — Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Without general elections, without freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, without the free battle of opinions, life in every public institution withers away, becomes a caricature of itself, and bureaucracy rises as the only deciding factor. — Rosa Luxemburg

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy. - Walter Cronkite

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy. — Walter Cronkite

Silence is golden but when it threatens your freedom it's yellow. — Edmund Burke

Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Intellectual Freedom Quotes

Don't join the book burners! — Dwight D. Eisenhower

What I was utterly convinced of, and still am, is the idea that the only responsibility the free intellectual has is vis-a-vis himself. He is not responsible to either a political party or a ruler. — Tawfiq al-Hakim

I think the freedom to express one's views is more important than intellectual property. — Shepard Fairey

Intellectual freedom means the right to re-examine much that has been long taken for granted. A free man must be a reasoning man, and he must dare doubt what a legislative or electoral majority may most passionately assert. — Robert H. Jackson

Mental slavery is mental death, and every man who has given up his intellectual freedom is the living coffin of his dead soul. — Robert Green Ingersoll

Intellectual freedom is the only guarantee of a scientific - democratic approach to politics, economic development, and culture. — Andrei Sakharov

Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. — Virginia Woolf

There is nothing wrong with intellectual differences flowing from freedom of thought as long as such differences remain confined to intellectual debates. — Pervez Musharraf

My father had retained an emotional affection for the ceremonial of his parental home, without allowing it to influence his intellectual freedom — Franz Boas

The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable. — C. Vann Woodward

Freedom Of Religion Quotes

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty. — Chief Joseph

To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men, their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism and religious dogmas. — Brock Chisholm

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. — Thomas Jefferson

This I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. — John Steinbeck

People need to free their minds of racial prejudice and believe in equality for all and freedom regardless of race. It would be a good thing if all people were treated equally and justly and not be discriminated against because of race or religion or anything that makes them different from others. — Rosa Parks

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. — Ronald Reagan

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. — Mahatma Gandhi

Religion is like a pair of shoes.....Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes. — George Carlin

Freedom of religion does not entitle your religion to have a privileged position within the public sphere. — Gad Saad

As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion. — Butterfly McQueen

Liberty Of Speech Quotes

The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people. - Louis D. Brandeis

The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people. — Louis D. Brandeis

Just as the strength of the Internet is chaos, so the strength of our liberty depends upon the chaos and cacophony of the unfettered speech the First Amendment protects. — Stewart Dalzell

Manchester is a city which has witnessed a great many stirring episodes, especially of a political character. Generally speaking, its citizens have been liberal in their sentiments, defenders of free speech and liberty of opinion. — Emmeline Pankhurst

The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax — Thomas Paine

Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating the Jewish state. It runs a theocratic totalitarian state in Gaza, with no individual liberty, and no freedom of speech or press. — Dennis Prager

If our hard-earned liberty, our desire to be irreverent of the old and to question the new, can be reduced to one, basic, and indispensable right, it must be the right to free speech. — Maajid Nawaz

Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have, or the views they express, or the words they speak or write. — Hugo Black

When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional right to free speech, it acts lawlessly; and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all. — William O. Douglas

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the suffocating influence of orthodoxy and standardized thought. They weighed the compulsions for restrained speech and thought against the abuses of liberty. They chose liberty. — William O. Douglas

Freedom Of Speech And Expression Quotes

If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. — William J. Brennan

There's a time and a place for getting a smart mouth. — J. K. Rowling

Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth. — Liu Xiaobo

It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. — Abe Fortas

Whether it's people walking off 'The View' when Bill O'Reilly makes a statement about radical Islam or Juan Williams being fired for expressing his opinion, over-reaching political correctness is chipping away at the fundamental American freedoms of speech and expression. — Eric Cantor

A bunch of bong-smoking, America-bashing, flag-burning, yoga-posing, incense-burning, dolphin-saving, salmon-eating hypocrites. These are the sensitive, liberal people who are always yelling about people's freedom of speech and expression, unless you happen to say something that pisses them off. — Richard Jeni

In order for the State in the person of school officials to justify prohibition of a particular expression of opinion, it must be able to show that its action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint. — Abe Fortas

I'm a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought. — Jimmy Wales

Freedom of expression is actually a way for people to know themselves better, and to understand themselves better. Because without it, you become a stranger to yourself. — Lucien Bourjeily

There is a time and a place for creativity. — William Redington Hewlett

People Writing About Freedom Of Thought

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Read quotes by Bergen Evans

Bergen Evans

24 159
Read quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham
quotes on life, love and love and marriage

496 3471
Read quotes by Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny
quotes on war, peace and democracy

85 52
Read quotes by Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell
quotes on happiness, life and war

1131 8798
Read quotes by John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck
quotes on love, war and death

674 4167
Read quotes by Moroccan Proverbs

Moroccan Proverbs
quotes on wisdom, culture and intrigue

111 1

More Freedom Of Thought Quotes

Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. — Frederick Douglass

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. — John Adams

Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin. — John Green

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. — John Adams

Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality. — Ben Shapiro

We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought. — Bertrand Russell

Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom. You don't have to be swept away by your feeling. You can respond with wisdom and kindness rather than habit and reactivity. — Henepola Gunaratana

I understand you, and I shall not attempt to make you change your mind. I am too old to want to improve the world. I have told you what I think, and that is all. I shall remain your friend even if you act contrary to my convictions, and I shall help you even if I disagree with you. — Milan Kundera

Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear-and doubt. Self-discipline allows a pitcher to feel his individuality, his inner strength, his talent. He is master of, rather than a slave to, his thoughts and emotions. — Harvey Dorfman

Demanding domestic security in times of war invites carelessness in preserving civil liberties and the right of privacy. Frequently the people are only too anxious for their freedoms to be sacrificed on the altar of authoritarianism thought to be necessary to remain safe and secure. — Ron Paul

We thought the church had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics... but instead there is a terrible resurgence. These are ugly signs for freedom of expression. — Dario Fo

Why, of course, the people don't want war. — Hermann Goring

Picture the prince, such as most of them are today: a man ignorant of the law, well-nigh an enemy to his people's advantage, while intent on his personal convenience, a dedicated voluptuary, a hater of learning, freedom and truth, without a thought for the interests of his country, and measuring everything in terms of his own profit and desires. — Desiderius Erasmus

In a free society, people should have the right to criticize a religion; they should have the right to do so, and of course their criticisms are themselves open to criticism; that is the essence of freedom of speech and thought. — Gad Saad

In our democratic society, the library stands for hope, for learning, for progress, for literacy, for self-improvement and for civic engagement. The library is a symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and hence, is a symbol for democracy itself. — Vartan Gregorian

I'm flying by the seat of my pants, never creating with a thought to what's up ahead! — Akira Toriyama

Nothing is more seductive for a man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering. — Fyodor Dostoevsky

But now, I, August Comte, have discovered the truth. Therefore, there is no longer any need for freedom of thought or freedom of the press. I want to rule and to organize the whole country. — Auguste Comte

We are personally responsible for our own state of consciousness. As Soul unfolds toward total freedom, It understands total responsibility must be accepted for every thought and action. — Harold Klemp

It is vain to fight totalitarianism by adopting totalitarian methods. Freedom can only be won by men unconditionally committed to the principles of freedom. The first requisite for a better social order is the return to unrestricted freedom of thought and speech. — Ludwig von Mises

It is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing or worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man. — Pope Leo XIII

America's greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought. — Benazir Bhutto

Those... who find delight in freedom from attachment in the renunciation of clinging, free from the inflow of thoughts, they are like shining lights, having reached final liberation in the world. — Buddha

The thought of a happiness that comes from outside the person, brings him sadness. But the recognition in the value of one's will and the freedom granted by its uplifting, brings great joy. — Abraham Isaac Kook

It is all up to us. We are the ones who have to keep looking at our thoughts, looking for the nature of our mind. there is nobody else in control of our lives, our experiences, our freedom or our bondage. — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum. — Samuel Adams

Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science. — Charles Darwin

A man of distinguished, beautiful eloquence, and persistent, over pressing thought... Ameen Rihani was one of the foremost pioneers of modern illumination. He firmly believed in the significance of reviving the Arab spirit and protecting the freedom of thought and the freedom of human conscience. — Mikhail Naimy

I, in my own mind, have always thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land...Any person with the courage, with the desire to tear up their roots, to strive for freedom, to attempt and dare to live in a strange and foreign place, to travel halfway across the world was welcome here. — Ronald Reagan

My business in life has been to think and learn, and to speak out with absolute freedom what I have thought and learned. The freedom is itself a positive and never-failing enjoyment to me, after the bondage of my early life. — Harriet Martineau

Free inquiry entails recognition of civil liberties as integral to its pursuit, that is, a free press, freedom of communication, the right to organize opposition parties and to join voluntary associations, and freedom to cultivate and publish the fruits of scientific, philosophical, artistic, literary, moral and religious freedom. — Paul Kurtz

Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality [whatever that means] were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie. — Antonin Scalia

In Conclusion

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