“Freedom of expression is not a threat to order but its safeguard. Societies that fear ideas stagnate, while those that engage them evolve. Liberty thrives where debate is protected, not punished.”
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Li Keqiang (1955–2023) Premier of the People's Republic of China
Li Keqiang (2020) cited in " China faces dilemma as it tries to get back to work amid coronavirus outbreak fears following Lunar New Year https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3049407/china-faces-dilemma-it-tries-get-back-work-amid-coronavirus" on South China Morning Post, 6 February 2020. <br class="br">2020s
Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) American historian
Source: Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954), p. 18
“A society without the means to detect lies and theft soon squanders its liberty and freedom.”
Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist
Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) German philosopher and sociologist
"Thoughts on Religion," Critical Theory: Selected Essays (1995), p. 129.
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2003, Remarks on U.S.-British relations and foreign policy (November 2003)
Alberto Gonzales (1955) 80th United States Attorney General
Speech regarding Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism (November 20, 2006)
Anthony Lewis book Freedom for the Thought That We Hate
[186, Anthony, Lewis, w:Anthony Lewis, Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment, Basic Books, 2007, 0465039170]
“Liberal learning is both a safeguard against false ideas of freedom and a source of true ones.”
Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906–1963) American historian
Quoted by John F. Kennedy in a speech at Yale University (11 June 1962).
Samuel P. Huntington (1927–2008) American political scientist
Source: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996), Ch. 12 : The West, Civilizations, and Civilization, § 4 : The Commonalities Of Civilization, p. 321
Context: The futures of both peace and Civilization depend upon understanding and cooperation among the political, spiritual, and intellectual leaders of the world’s major civilizations. In the clash of civilizations, Europe and America will hang together or hang separately. In the greater clash, the global “real clash,” between Civilization and barbarism, the world’s great civilizations, with their rich accomplishments in religion, art, literature, philosophy, science, technology, morality, and compassion, will also hang together or hang separately. In the emerging era, clashes of civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace, and an international order based on civilizations is the surest safeguard against world war.