No matter whose lips that would speak, they must be free and ungagged. The community which dares not protect its humblest and most hated member in the free utterance of his opinions, no matter how false or hateful, is only a gang of slaves. If there is anything in the universe that can’t stand discussion, let it crack.
Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) American abolitionist, orator
Speech (1863)
in Laird Wilcox, ed., The Degeneration of Belief
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty—power is ever stealing from the many to the few…. The hand entrusted with power becomes … the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continual oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot: only by unintermitted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.
Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) American abolitionist, orator
Speech in Boston (28 Jan 1852)
If there is anything that cannot bear free thought, let it crack.
Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) American abolitionist, orator
Speech, Pilgrim Society, Plymouth (Dec 1855)
Full text.
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