“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”

—  Wole Soyinka

Source: The strong man syndrome https://www.thecable.ng/wole-soyinka-at-86/amp

Last update Sept. 20, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism." by Wole Soyinka?
Wole Soyinka photo
Wole Soyinka 11
Nigerian writer 1934

Related quotes

Natan Sharansky photo

“Freedom's skeptics must understand that the democracy that hates you is less dangerous than the dictator who loves you. Indeed, it is the absence of democracy that represents the real threat to peace.”

Natan Sharansky book The Case for Democracy

Page 95.
The Case for Democracy (2004, with Ron Dermer)

G. K. Chesterton photo

“What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but absence of self-criticism.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

"On Bright Old Things — and Other Things" in Sidelights on New London and Newer New York : And Other Essays (1932)

“The criticality of a resource can be measured as the ability of an organization to function in the absence of the resource or in the absence of the market for the output.”

Gerald R. Salancik (1943–1996) American organizational theorist

Source: The External Control of Organizations, 1978, p. 46

“The criticality of a resource can be measured as the ability of an organization to function in the absence of the resource or in the absence of the market for the output.”

Jeffrey Pfeffer (1946) American academic

Source: The External Control of Organizations, 1978, p. 46

Bliss Carman photo

“The greatest joy in nature is the absence of man.”

Bliss Carman (1861–1929) author

New York Times review of Mr. Carman's Prose; A Volume Of Little Essays By The Canadian Poet. (1903).

Milton Friedman photo

“Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men. The fundamental threat to freedom is power to coerce, be it in the hands of a monarch, a dictator, an oligarchy, or a momentary majority. The preservation of freedom requires the elimination of such concentration of power to the fullest possible extent and the dispersal and distribution of whatever power cannot be eliminated — a system of checks and balances.”

Milton Friedman book Capitalism and Freedom

Source: Capitalism and Freedom (1962), Ch. 1 The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom, p. 15

John R. Commons photo

“Liberty is absence of restraint. Freedom is participation in government.”

John R. Commons (1862–1945) United States institutional economist and labor historian

Source: Legal foundations of capitalism. 1924, p. 111

John Hospers photo

“Liberty (or freedom) is the absence of coercion by other human beings.”

John Hospers (1918–2011) American philosopher and politician

Source: Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow, (1971), p. 10

Hugo Chávez photo

“The grand destroyer of the world, and the greatest threat … is represented by U. S. imperialism.”

Hugo Chávez (1954–2013) 48th President of Venezuela

Hugo Chávez during his television/radio show ¡Aló Presidente! on August 21, 2005. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9032793/
2005

Nikolai Berdyaev photo

“The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power… the Kingdom of God is anarchy.”

Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) Russian philosopher

Slavery and Freedom (1939), p. 147
Context: There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism. … The religious truth of anarchism consists in this, that power over man is bound up with sin and evil, that a state of perfection is a state where there is no power of man over man, that is to say, anarchy. The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power... the Kingdom of God is anarchy.

Related topics