Einstein, Albert - Essay (1953-05-23), "Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 4, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962] | WIST Quotations

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. [Wenige sind imstande, von den Vorurteilen der Umgebung abweichende Meinungen gelassen auszusprechen; die Meisten sind sogar unfähig, überhaupt zu solchen Meinungen zu gelangen.]…

Shaw, George Bernard - Mrs. Warren's Profession, Preface (1893) | WIST Quotations

All censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships.

Stevenson, Adlai - Speech (1952-10-07), "Safeguards Against Communism," Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan | WIST Quotations

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

Russell, Bertrand - Lecture (1949-01-16), "The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature," Reith Lecture, "Authority and the Individual" No. 4, BBC Radio | WIST Quotations

Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided…

Why the ‘heterodox’ university failed

La Rochefoucauld, Francois - Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶234 (1665-1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)] | WIST Quotations

It is generally pride rather than lack of intelligence which prompts men to dispute so obstinately generally accepted opinions; they find all the front seats taken on the popular side, and do not wish to sit behind. [C’est plus souvent par orgueil que par défaut de lumières qu’on s’oppose avec…

Essay (1954), "The Necessity of Freedom," Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent - Commager, Henry Steele | WIST Quotations

We do not protect freedom in order to indulge error. We protect freedom in order to discover truth. We do not maintain freedom in order to permit eccentricity to flourish; we maintain freedom in order that society may profit from criticism, even eccentric criticism. We do not encourage dissent for…

Speech (1925-06-17), Battle of Bunker Hill 150th Anniversary, Faneuil Hall, Boston Massachusetts - Hughes, Charles Evans | WIST Quotations

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. Sometimes misquoted, "... the right to be free." When we lose the right to be different, we lose the right to be free.