Censorship Quotes

"Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion."

"Did you ever hear anyone say, 'That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very damaging to me'?"

"There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance."

"Undermine their pompous authority, reject their moral standards, make anarchy and disorder your trademarks. Cause as much chaos and disruption as possible but don't let them take you ALIVE."

"Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced."

"The public have an insatiable curiousity to know everything, except what is worth knowing."

"Those expressions are omitted which can not with propriety be read aloud in the family."

"The condition every art requires is, not so much freedom from restriction, as freedom from adulteration and from the intrusion of foreign matter."

"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever."

"The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think."

"Would you approve of your young sons, young daughters -- because girls can read as well as boys -- reading this book? Is it a book that you would have lying around in your own house? Is it a book that you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?"

"No member of society has the right to teach any doctrine contrary to what society holds to be true."

"Right now I think censorship is necessary; the things they're doing and saying in films right now just shouldn't be allowed. There's no dignity anymore and I think that's very important."

"Those expressions are omitted which can not with propriety be read aloud in the family."

"Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion."

"Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art."

"When truth is no longer free, freedom is no longer real: the truths of the police are the truths of today."

"God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide."