“In a free state there should be freedom of speech and thought.”

“Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.”

Bergen Evans (1904–1978) American lexicographer

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

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

“Speech should be fruitful as well as free.”

Zechariah Chafee (1885–1957) American judicial philosopher and civil libertarian

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

“The church and civilization are antipodal; one means authority, the other freedom; one means conservatism, the other progress; one means the rights of God as interpreted by the priesthood, the other the rights of humanity as interpreted by humanity. Civilization advances by free thought, free speech, free men.”

Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) American abolitionist, writer

“People hardly ever make use of the freedom which they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as compensation.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

“In many respects, the United States is a great country. Freedom of speech is protected more than in any other country. It is also a very free society. In America, the professor talks to the mechanic. They are in the same category.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

“The NARROW-MINDED BIGOTS have given to this country and to the world freedom of speech, freedom of thought and action and religious liberty.”

William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951) American newspaper publisher

“First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”

Anthony Kennedy (1936) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States