The Copy Book › Free Speech and Conscience

Passages defending the right and obligation of every citizen to judge whatever is good and true, and to talk back to those who govern him.

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Character and Conduct

No Offence

The people who oil the wheels of society are not the people who never give offence, they are the people who never take any.

by Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

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Free Speech and Conscience

Who Can Refute a Sneer?

Clever people have realised that it is easier to get people on your side by mockery than by persuasion.

by William Paley 1743-1805

Free Speech and Conscience

Question More

Ordinary people put too much faith in the judgment of experts, which is bad for us and bad for the experts.

by N.L. Clay 1905-1991

Free Speech and Conscience

Order and Method

Taking the trouble to express ourselves more clearly helps us to think more clearly too.

by Hugh Blair 1718-1800

American Civil War

‘If They Can Stand It I Can’

However loud his critics shouted their disapproval, Abraham Lincoln would neither deprive them of free speech nor change his opinions.

by Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865

Liberty and Prosperity

The Boldness of Junius Mauricus

Pliny admired Julius Mauricus because he spoke his mind, and Emperor Nerva because he let him.

by Pliny the Younger ?62-?114

Free Speech and Conscience

Of Hares, Hounds and Red Herrings

In January 1807, newspapers breathlessly reported that Napoleon Bonaparte’s rampage across Europe was at an end — but was it true?

by William Cobbett 1762-1835

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# Free Speech and Conscience