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To criticize one’s country is to do it a service …. Criticism, in short, is more than a right; it is an act of patriotism — a higher form of patriotism, I believe, than the familiar rituals and national adulation.
— J. William Fulbright (1905-1995), American senator
The mob that would die for a belief seldom hesitates to inflict death upon any opposing heretical group.
— Ellen Glasgow (1874-1945), American writer
It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.
— Guido Bruno (1548-burned at the stake 1600), Italian philosopher
Be careful — with quotations you can damn anything.
— André Malraux (1901-1976), French writer, aviator
When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty.
— Arthur Ponsonby (1871-1946), British diplomat, writer
Americans have always had an ambivalent attitude toward intelligence. When they feel threatened, they want a lot of it, and when they don’t, they regard the whole thing as somewhat immoral.
— Vernon A. Walters, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Let no man think that we can deny civil liberty to others and retain it for ourselves …. When zealous agents of the Government arrest suspected “radicals” without warrant, hold them without prompt trial, deny them access to counsel and admission of bail, we have shorn the Bill of Rights of its sanctity as a shield to every American citizen.
— Robert M. Lafollete (1855-1925), American political and reform leader
The function of the press is very high. It is almost holy. To misstate or suppress the news is a breach of trust.
— Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941), U.S. Supreme Court Justice
“Some historian should really look at all of the proposals that have been put forth throughout the history of our country for possible constitutional amendments. Maybe at some point in time there was one that was sillier than this one, but I don’t know of one.”
— Former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO), in a speech on efforts to ban gay marriage
Those who are convinced they have a monopoly on The Truth always feel that they are only saving the world when they slaughter the heretics.
— Arthur M. Schlensinger Jr. (1917- ), American educator, historian
