But you know, a wizard with black hair and a thick mustache put a curse on Moscow, and Petrograd, too, so that no one would be able to tell the truth without lying. If a...

The German Censors —— —— —— —— ———— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— ———— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— ———— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— —— ————...

. . . I can see how the issue of exercising corporate control over users content is truly enraging here, on a site significantly made by these contributors. It’s unavoidable that we come to this,...

I agree that it’s a shame some books have to suffer ratings that clearly are invalid. However I can’t think of a way to prevent it, and I didn’t see any ideas in the thread...

Censors never go after books unless kids already like them. I don’t even think they know to go after books until they know that children are interested in reading this book, therefore there must be...

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.

girl”? Shame on you! If nothing offends you, you’re a saint or you’re psychotic. If a few things offend you, deal with them–fairly. If you’re often offended by things, you’re probably a self-righteous asshole and...

Isaac Deutscher was best known—like his compatriot Joseph Conrad—for learning English at a late age and becoming a prose master in it. But, when he writes above, about the ‘fact’ that millions of people ‘may’...

All the papers that matter live off their advertisements, and the advertisers exercise an indirect censorship over news.

Be passionate about what you write, believe in your ability to convey timeless ideas, and let no one tell you what what you’re capable of.

All of us can think of a book… that we hope none of our children or any other children have taken off the shelf. But if I have the right to remove that book from...

Books can be immensely powerful. The ideas in them can change the way people think. Yet it was the Nazis and Stalin’s officers who committed terrible crimes, and not Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto...

If the partridge didn’t call at the wrong moment, Neither the hunter nor the falcon would know of it. It follows from this point also, That everyone’s voice betrays him.

The crucifixion should never be depicted. It is a horror to be veiled.

The Motion Picture Association of America wipes the sweat off its brow and sings the PG-13 song.

Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.

By placing discretion in the hands of an official to grant or deny a license, such a statute creates a threat of censorship that by its very existence chills free speech.

Jeg har aldri i mitt liv skrevet “slibrig”; men jeg kunne gi anvisning på dristigere ting i mine bøker enn hva som stod i den tyske fortelling. De er å finne f.eks. både i “Sult”...

So yes, I say things I regret constantly, and I just can’t help it.

Have you ever gotten a bad review, Master Huud?””Hundreds of them.””Do they hurt?””Of course. But you get over it. Critics are just people, lad. They’re entitled to their opinions. They’re not the enemy.””Who is the...

It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.

Freiheit ist immer die Freiheit des AndersdenkendenFreedom is always, and exclusively, freedom for the one who thinks differently.

You have to be mad in the language you’re mad in.

Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always will be the last resort of the boob and the bigot.

As the voices fall silent, the individuals who make up the amorphous and always changing community must decide for themselves, as they always have. I can’t write a coda because I can’t speak for others....

To be clear, Goodreads staff have not been deleting any posts. A value we’ve always had here is that we don’t censor content (unless it’s against our policies – eg porn, etc). [April 1, 2013]

The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my...

The fact is that in any open society people constantly say things that other people don’t like. It’s completely normal that should happen. And in any confident, free society you just shrug it off and...

Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.

People trying to force their agenda on my by deciding how I’m permitted to speak is offensive.

In short, whoever does violence to truth or its expression eventually mutilates justice, even though he thinks he is serving it. From this point of view, we shall deny to the very end that a...

At CBS, I’m in your house. I’m mindful of that. When I do standup, you’re in my home and I can say what I want to.

The delay in the application of the policy to books has several explanations. For one thing, Blackshirts were not, nor have they yet become, bookworms; and the intellectual bread of Mussolini himself is made, usually,...

It’s a prior restraint; it’s state censorship.

In general, opinions contrary to those commonly received can only obtain a hearing by studied moderation of language, and the most cautious avoidance of unnecessary offence, from which they hardly ever deviate even in a...

Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.

This excerpt includes both a cautionary tale of being caught en flagrante and a stirring defense of getting fucked.Redeeming social value, indeed.

The censor pretends he is protecting tender hearts, shielding children from sex and violence, keeping the righteous in the right path, guarding against temptation, preserving virtue. How? by burning books, tearing out tongues, stretching necks,...

I’ve been quoting the book [on Peter Sutcliffe] constantly in rehearsals. Some members of the cast have stated their disapproval that it should even have been written. Some of the women have expressed more –...

Any given censor is a fool. The very fact that he is a censor indicates that.

To prohibit the reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves.

Where the truth is censored, the truth grows claws.

[M]an is not permitted without censure to follow his own thoughts in the search of truth, when they lead him ever so little out of the common road.

We appreciate your coming to us with a copy of your letter to your sister, but it was unnecessary. Your offense was known to us even before the letter’s receipt by your sister. Effective as...

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Irreverence is our only sacred cow.