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Free Thought Quotes

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Free Thought Quotes

“Free thought means fearless thought. It is not deterred by legal penalties, nor by spiritual consequences. Dissent from the Bible does not alarm the true investigator, who takes truth for authority not authority for truth. The thinker who is really free, is independent; he is under no dread; he yields to no menace; he is not dismayed by law, nor custom, nor pulpits, nor society-whose opinion appals so many. He who has the manly passion of free thought, has no fear of anything, save the fear of error.”

MeanDoeSpiritualLawReligionPassionOpinionAtheismAuthorityConsequenceIndependentErrorsFearlessCustomsYieldThinkerDreadPenaltiesNo FearDissentAlarmsMenaceManlyPulpitHave No FearInvestigatorsFree ThoughtDismayed
Book:English Secularism: A Confession of Belief
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“To later Romans Ennius was the personification of the spirit of early Rome; by them he was called "The Father of Roman Poetry." We must remember how truly Greek he was in his point of view. He set the example for later Latin poetry by writing the first epic of Rome in Greek hexameter verses instead of in the old Saturnian verse. He made popular the doctrines of Euhemerus, and he was in general a champion of free thought and rationalism.”

WritingFirstsMadeRememberSpiritFatherViewsExamplePoint Of ViewDoctrineGreekChampionLatinRomeVersesEpicRationalismFree ThoughtPersonification
Author:Quintus Ennius
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“Let’s be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can’t be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America’s campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who’re supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?”

ThinkingShouldBelieveMeanDoeIdeasReasonPoliticalBehindsHonestClaimsDebateSurrenderBeing HonestChampionHallsProfessorsScareSuperstitionsToleratePolitical CorrectnessCampusCorrectnessSuppressionFree Thought
Author:Charlton Heston
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“If there's one American belief I hold above all others, it's that those who would set themselves up in judgment on matters of what is "right" and what is "best" should be given no rest; that they should have to defend their behavior most stringently. ... As a nation, we've been through too many fights to preserve our rights of free thought to let them go just because some prude with a highlighter doesn't approve of them”

IfsShouldMatterFightingBeliefGivenNationsRightsBehaviorJudgmentShould HavePreservesFree ThoughtPrudes
Author:Stephen King
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“Pure Christianity and serious godliness fear not the scrutiny of a free thought, but despise the impotent malice of a prejudiced one.”

ChristianitySeriousPureDespiseMaliceGodlinessFear NotScrutinyFree Thought
Book:The Miscellaneous Writings of the Revd. Matthew Henry: Consisting of Sermons, Tracts and Biographical Sketches of Eminent Christians and Ministers. To which is Added the Sermon Preached on the Author's Death
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“A free thinker used to be a man who had been educated on ideas of religion, law, morality, and had arrived at free thought by virtue of his own struggle and toil; but now a new type of born freethinker has been appearing, who’ve never even heard that there have been laws of morality and religion, and that there are authorities, but who simply grow up with negative ideas about everything, that is savages.”

MenHas BeensIdeasLawUsedGrowsBornStruggleGrowing UpVirtueHeardTypeMoralityAuthorityNegativeEducatedUsed To BeThinkerSavagesToilBe A ManAppearingFreethinkerFree ThoughtMorality And ReligionFree Thinkers
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

PoliticsTeachingDangerousRevolutionSpeechDefeatLibertarianCivil RightsCensorshipFree SpeechFreedom Of SpeechRestrictionFirst AmendmentFreedom And LibertyFreedom Of ThoughtFreedom LibertyCivil LibertiesAmerican RevolutionBannedLimiting GovernmentRights And FreedomsLimited FreedomCensoredSubversionCensoringAmerican LibertyFree ThoughtBanned BooksLimiting FreedomCensorship In BooksAmerican FreedomBook BanningIntellectual FreedomPolitical RevolutionCensoring BooksFreedom To ReadFirst Amendment RightsRights In America
Author:William O. Douglas
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“Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

PeopleWantWarCountryMatterPoliticalReligionPoliticsEasyPeaceVoiceSimpleCommonLeaderDemocracyMilitaryDangerPolicyHuman RightsDetermineTrialsPropagandaCommunistNew WorldDragDictatorshipPatriotNaziParliamentVietnam WarFreedom And LibertyFascistsNew World OrderWorld OrderPolitical PowerDemocracies HaveExposingNo WarPacifistConspiracy TheoryPeacemakerPacifismHuman FreedomRights And FreedomsNwoBiddingReligion And PoliticsPolitical FreedomMedia ManipulationFree ThoughtPolitical IdeologyDemocracy FreedomCommon EnemyGoeringReligion PoliticsHistorical MilitaryDemocracy And Human RightsMedia PropagandaWar PropagandaPatriotism And WarPolitics And WarEngland And AmericaWar Of 1812Communist Leaders
Author:Hermann Goring
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“Only those who have lived all their lives under the dark clouds of vague, undefined fears can appreciate the joy of a doubting soul suddenly born into the kingdom of reason and free thought.”

SoulReasonJoyReligionBornDarkDoubtAtheismAppreciateCloudsKingdomsVagueFree ThoughtDark CloudsUndefined
Book:The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: In the school of anti-slavery, 1840 to 1866
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“Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion;.... leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate.”

MenMatterStatesSchoolChurchReligiousMoralForeverRightsTeachingSecurityColorPureEqualSpeechLaborPrivilegePresidentialContributionSentimentsFree SpeechEqual RightsAltarsNationalityChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSeparation Between Church And StatePrivate SchoolFree ThoughtRights And Privileges
Author:Ulysses S. Grant
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“The period of Catholic ascendancy was on the whole one of the most deplorable in the history of the human mind. . . . The spirit that shrinks from enquiry as sinful and deems a state of doubt a state of guilt, is the most enduring disease that can afflict the mind of man. Not till the education of Europe passed from the monasteries to the universities, not till Mohammedan science, and classical free thought, and industrial independence broke the sceptre of the Church, did the intellectual revival of Europe begin.”

MenMindHumansStatesWholeSpiritReligionChurchDoubtPeriodsDiseaseIntellectualEuropeCatholicIndependenceGuiltEndureUniversityBrokeHuman MindShrinksRevivalMonasteriesEnquiryFree ThoughtAscendancy
Author:William Edward Hartpole Lecky
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“I deny the right of Congress to force a slaveholding State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a free State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt it; and the right of free action, the right of free thought, the right of free judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than any other under a free government.”

PeopleWarStatesGovernmentWould BeActionEvilForceCommunityPrinciplesJudgingJudgmentGood ThingsCongressDenyBe GoodCivil WarUnwillingFree GovernmentVery TrueFree ThoughtFree State
Book:The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
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“In view of the tide of religiosity engulfing a once secular republic it is refreshing to be reminded by Freethinkers that free thought and skepticism are robustly in the American tradition. After all the Founding Fathers began by omitting God from the American Constitution.”

FatherViewsTraditionConstitutionRepublicTidesSkepticismSecularFoundingRefreshingFreethinkerFree ThoughtAmerican TraditionAmerican ConstitutionOmittingEngulfing
Author:Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
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