“No form and no degree of alleged liberty can justify calumny or the publication of calumnious material.”

— Fausto Cercignani

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Fausto Cercignani 65

Italian scholar, essayist and poet 1941

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“von Humboldt (seeing a newspaper containing slanderous falsehoods against Jefferson on the President's desk) : Why do you not have the fellow hung who dares to write these abominable lies?
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Jefferson : Let their actions refute such libels. Believe me, virtue is not long darkened by the clouds of calumny; and the temporary pain which it causes is infinitely overweighed by the safety it insures against degeneracy in the principles and conduct of public functionaries. When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.”

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“No form and no degree of alleged liberty can justify calumny or the publication of calumnious material.”

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Fausto Cercignani 65

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