Hugo Black (1886–1971) U.S. Supreme Court justice
Concurring in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).
Hugo Black (1886–1971) U.S. Supreme Court justice
Concurring in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).
George Seldes (1890–1995) American journalist
Lords of the Press (1938)
Incorporates the famous observation of Joseph de Maistre that "every nation gets the government it deserves."
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
Nelson Mandela on freedom of expression, At the international press institute congress (14 February 1994). Source: From Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations © 2010 by Nelson R. Mandela and The Nelson Mandela Foundation http://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/mini-site/selected-quotes <br class="br">1990s
Fisher Ames (1758–1808) American politician
Letter to George Richards Minot (June 12, 1789), reported in Fisher Ames, Seth Ames, John Thornton Kirkland, Works of Fisher Ames: With a Selection from His Speeches and Correspondence (1854), p. 54.
Mike Pence (1959) 48th Vice President of the United States
World Press Freedom Day (May 4, 2009)
2000s
“Once I have refused to press that button because of Heinz, I can never press it.”
Christopher Isherwood book Christopher and His Kind
Source: Christopher and His Kind (1976), p. 335
Context: Suppose, Christopher now said to himself, I have a Nazi Army at my mercy. I can blow it up by pressing a button. The men in that Army are notorious for torturing and murdering civilians — all except for one of them, Heinz. Will I press the button? No — wait: Suppose I know that Heinz himself, out of cowardice or moral infection, has become as bad as they are and takes part in all their crimes? Will I press that button, even so? Christopher's answer, given without the slightest hesitation, was: Of course not.
That was a purely emotional reaction. But it helped Christopher think his way through to the next proposition. Suppose that Army goes into action and has just one casualty, Heinz himself. Will I press the button now and destroy his fellow criminals? No emotional reaction this time, but a clear answer, not to be evaded: Once I have refused to press that button because of Heinz, I can never press it. Because every man in that Army could be someone's Heinz and I have no right to play favorites. Thus Christopher was forced to recognize himself as a pacifist — although by an argument which he could only admit to with the greatest reluctance.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Speech at the Printing Trade Festival (1845).
1840s
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
You Get It In Black And White, Collier's, 28 December 1935
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol IV, Churchill at Large, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 323. ISBN 0903988453
The 1930s
Harry V. Jaffa (1918–2015) American historian and collegiate professor
2000s, The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate (2002), Q&A