{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship", "heading": "Quotes about censorship", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship.md", "quotes_count": 27, "authors_count": 19, "parent": { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom", "heading": "Quotes about freedom" }, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "cfc36e1e-de6d-4332-82fd-e44ca9e80eed", "slug": "in-short-fahrenheit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-c-hines/unbound/in-short-fahrenheit", "text": "In short, Fahrenheit 451 was never meant to be an instruction manual.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jim C. Hines", "slug": "jim-c-hines", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-c-hines" }, "book": { "title": "Unbound", "slug": "unbound", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-c-hines/unbound" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 355, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_C._Hines#Unbound_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:21" }, { "id": "f6e5ca9d-764a-412a-8fd5-6740584993ef", "slug": "it-hardly-matters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alberto-manguel/a-history-of-reading/it-hardly-matters", "text": "It hardly matters why a library is destroyed: every banning, curtailment, shredding, plunder or loot gives rise (at least as a ghostly presence) to a louder, clearer, more durable library of the banned, looted, plundered, shredded or curtailed. Those books may no longer be available for consultation, they may exist only in the vague memory of a reader or in the vaguer-still memory of tradition and legend, but they have acquired a kind of immortality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alberto Manguel", "slug": "alberto-manguel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alberto-manguel" }, "book": { "title": "A History of Reading", "slug": "a-history-of-reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alberto-manguel/a-history-of-reading" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "libraries", "slug": "libraries", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/libraries" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alberto_Manguel#A_History_of_Reading_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:09" }, { "id": "9dc0ef91-6347-4ef8-9c5d-2066b2fdcb8d", "slug": "as-centuries-of-dictators", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alberto-manguel/a-history-of-reading/as-centuries-of-dictators", "text": "As centuries of dictators have known, an illiterate crowd is easiest to rule; since the craft of reading cannot be untaught once it has been acquired, the second-best recourse is to limit its scope.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alberto Manguel", "slug": "alberto-manguel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alberto-manguel" }, "book": { "title": "A History of Reading", "slug": "a-history-of-reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alberto-manguel/a-history-of-reading" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alberto_Manguel#A_History_of_Reading_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:09" }, { "id": "17f871f4-a83e-4fc8-b450-855b8b7ab06a", "slug": "they-only-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/they-only-have", "text": "They only have one book in Sendero, and it tells them to burn all the other books.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neal Stephenson", "slug": "neal-stephenson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson" }, "book": { "title": "The Diamond Age", "slug": "the-diamond-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_First", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:12" }, { "id": "0b41b7c2-3e13-4df9-b319-08888849d824", "slug": "nobody-has-to-read", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-good-man-jesus-and-the-scoundrel-christ/nobody-has-to-read", "text": "Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if they open it and read it, they don't have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or sold, or bought, or read.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Pullman", "slug": "philip-pullman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman" }, "book": { "title": "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ", "slug": "the-good-man-jesus-and-the-scoundrel-christ", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-good-man-jesus-and-the-scoundrel-christ" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" }, { "name": "freedom of speech", "slug": "freedom-of-speech", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom-of-speech" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman#The_Good_Man_Jesus_and_the_Scoundrel_Christ_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:38" }, { "id": "17e91d2b-ee68-4804-841f-ba884cb95cf5", "slug": "anti-intellectualism-has-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/anti-intellectualism-has-been", "text": "Anti-intellectualism … has been present in some form and degree in most societies; in one it takes the form of the administering of hemlock, in another of town-and-gown riots, in another of censorship and regimentation, in still another of Congressional investigations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Hofstadter", "slug": "richard-hofstadter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter" }, "book": { "title": "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life", "slug": "anti-intellectualism-in-american-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 20, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "intelligence", "slug": "intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Hofstadter#Anti-Intellectualism_in_American_Life_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:34" }, { "id": "a6a76345-e29f-4ed7-bbd4-e3ac794df8a1", "slug": "a-copy-of-dantes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/vile-bodies/a-copy-of-dantes", "text": "A copy of Dante's Purgatorio excited his especial disgust.\"French, eh?\" he said. \"I guessed as much, and pretty dirty too, I shouldn't wonder. Now just you wait while I look up these here books\"—how he said it!—\"in my list. Particularly against books the Home Secretary is. If we can't stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop its being brought in from outside.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Evelyn Waugh", "slug": "evelyn-waugh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh" }, "book": { "title": "Vile Bodies", "slug": "vile-bodies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/vile-bodies" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh#Vile_Bodies_(1930)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:54" }, { "id": "7a3a2f87-d9b7-447e-9313-a2c6d8b6ea64", "slug": "in-countries-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/primo-levi/the-drowned-and-the-saved/in-countries-and", "text": "In countries and epochs in which communication is impeded, soon all other liberties wither; discussion dies by inanition, ignorance of the opinion of others becomes rampant, imposed opinions triumph. The well-known example of this is the crazy genetics preached in the USSR by Lysenko, which in the absence of discussion (his opponents were exiled to Siberia) compromised the harvests for twenty years. Intolerance is inclined to censor, and censorship promotes ignorance of the arguments of others and thus intolerance itself: a rigid, vicious circle that is hard to break.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Primo Levi", "slug": "primo-levi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/primo-levi" }, "book": { "title": "The Drowned And The Saved", "slug": "the-drowned-and-the-saved", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/primo-levi/the-drowned-and-the-saved" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Primo_Levi#The_Drowned_and_the_Saved_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:33" }, { "id": "209a35df-35b9-4de6-b5d4-a8c01ecc2bcb", "slug": "where-there-is-official", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd/where-there-is-official", "text": "Where there is official censorship it is a sign that speech is serious. Where there is none, it is pretty certain that the official spokesmen have all the loud-speakers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paul Goodman", "slug": "paul-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "Growing Up Absurd", "slug": "growing-up-absurd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 40, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Goodman#Growing_Up_Absurd_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:40" }, { "id": "0339616c-c57d-42aa-9a84-2d714c44b56f", "slug": "nothing-could-be-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd/nothing-could-be-more", "text": "Nothing could be more stupid than for the communications commission to give to people who handle the means of broadcasting the inventing of what to broadcast, and then, disturbed at the poor quality, to worry about censorship.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paul Goodman", "slug": "paul-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "Growing Up Absurd", "slug": "growing-up-absurd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Goodman#Growing_Up_Absurd_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:40" }, { "id": "830403f2-c707-4c98-bfd5-7f45956b810d", "slug": "i-began-to-sense", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/i-began-to-sense", "text": "I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy...censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Past Through Tomorrow", "slug": "the-past-through-tomorrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 401, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#The_Past_Through_Tomorrow_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:56" }, { "id": "566c0365-8553-400b-95ac-cc7236ee68f9", "slug": "during-war-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism/during-war-all", "text": "During war all institutions and organs of the State and of public opinion become, directly or indirectly, weapons of warfare. This is particularly true of the Press. No government carrying on a serious war will allow publications to exist on its territory which, openly or indirectly support the enemy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leon Trotsky", "slug": "leon-trotsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky" }, "book": { "title": "Terrorism and Communism", "slug": "terrorism-and-communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky#Terrorism_and_Communism_(1920)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:45" }, { "id": "4b131e12-66c2-49cc-8550-9964b36ed195", "slug": "we-are-fighting", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism/we-are-fighting", "text": "We are fighting. We are fighting a life-and-death struggle. The Press is a weapon not of an abstract society, but of two irreconcilable, armed and contending sides. We are destroying the Press of the counter-revolution, just as we destroyed its fortified positions, its stores, its communications and its intelligence system.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leon Trotsky", "slug": "leon-trotsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky" }, "book": { "title": "Terrorism and Communism", "slug": "terrorism-and-communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky#Terrorism_and_Communism_(1920)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:45" }, { "id": "ca5f16c8-7e91-42cc-87ac-718d32ce9f5f", "slug": "they-began-by-controlling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/they-began-by-controlling", "text": "They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressures; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "The Martian Chronicles", "slug": "the-martian-chronicles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury#The_Martian_Chronicles_(1950)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:10" }, { "id": "5ddbae9a-b202-403a-a3e3-2ff6737e4837", "slug": "all-the-excitements", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/unacknowledged-legislation/all-the-excitements", "text": "All the excitements of a prohibited book had their usual effect, one of which, as always, is to expose the fact that the censors don't know what they are talking about.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "Unacknowledged Legislation", "slug": "unacknowledged-legislation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/unacknowledged-legislation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Unacknowledged_Legislation:_Writers_in_the_Public_Sphere_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:05" }, { "id": "1cd23188-b7e8-4d6e-989b-7efab6cbfac0", "slug": "it-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/for-the-sake-of-argument/it-is-not", "text": "It is not enough to \"have\" free speech. People must learn to speak freely. Noam Chomsky remarked in the sixties about the short-life ultra-radicals on campus who thought that Marx should have been burning down the British Museum rather than writing and thinking in it. The less political descendants of that faction have now tried to reduce life to a system of empowerment etiquette, and have wasted a lot of their own time and everyone else's in the process. But the real bridle on our tongues is imposed by the everyday lying and jargon, sanctioned and promulgated at the highest levels of media and politics, and not by the awkward handful who imagine themselves revolutionaries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "For the Sake of Argument", "slug": "for-the-sake-of-argument", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/for-the-sake-of-argument" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#For_the_Sake_of_Argument:_Essays_and_Minority_Reports_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:04" }, { "id": "fb38a181-cbfe-49af-8aa7-864c8b18bc70", "slug": "and-on-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country/and-on-the", "text": "And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to the names of persons who have checked out those titles.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "A Man Without a Country", "slug": "a-man-without-a-country", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/a-man-without-a-country" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#A_Man_Without_a_Country_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:46" }, { "id": "aa9dc65a-d377-49e4-ae13-951635fad36a", "slug": "who-is-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/bluebeard/who-is-more", "text": "Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Bluebeard", "slug": "bluebeard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/bluebeard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 168, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Bluebeard_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:42" }, { "id": "3240f10a-e406-4361-bf17-a695c2e5961c", "slug": "information-is-antifragile", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/antifragile/information-is-antifragile", "text": "Information is antifragile; it feeds more on attempts to harm it than it does on efforts to promote it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "Antifragile", "slug": "antifragile", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/antifragile" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 49, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#Antifragile:_Things_That_Gain_from_Disorder_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:33" }, { "id": "ee2bb245-745d-426a-b634-47bbcc0a2787", "slug": "political-correctness-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea/political-correctness-in-the", "text": "Political correctness, in the extreme versions worthy of the name, is antithetical to almost all surprising advances in thought. We might call it eumemics, since it is, like the extreme eugenics of Social Darwinists, an attempt to impose myopically derived standards of safety and goodness on the bounty of nature. Few today — but there are a few — would brand all genetic counseling, all genetic policies, with the condemnatory title of eugenics.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", "slug": "darwins-dangerous-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Darwin's_Dangerous_Idea_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:29" }, { "id": "477d0a48-4380-4058-b399-c5121256dd86", "slug": "art-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/salman-rushdie/knife/art-is-not", "text": "Art is not a luxury. It stands at the essence of our humanity, and it asks for no special protection except the right to exist. It accepts argument, criticism, even rejection. It does not accept violence. And in the end, it outlasts those who oppress it. The poet Ovid was exiled by Augustus Caesar, but the poetry of Ovid has outlasted the Roman Empire. The poet Mandelstam's life was ruined by Joseph Stalin, but his poetry has outlasted the Soviet Union. The poet Lorca was murdered by the thugs of General Franco, but his art has outlasted the fascism of the Falange.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Salman Rushdie", "slug": "salman-rushdie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/salman-rushdie" }, "book": { "title": "Knife", "slug": "knife", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/salman-rushdie/knife" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie#Knife:_Meditations_After_an_Attempted_Murder_(2024)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:27" }, { "id": "65063e59-5b9b-4645-8c7e-e9f642275b19", "slug": "what-is-going", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day/what-is-going", "text": "What is going on in the Un-American Activities Committee worries me primarily because little people have become frightened and we find ourselves living in the atmosphere of a police state, where people close doors before they state what they think or look over their shoulders apprehensively before they express an opinion. I have been one of those who have carried the fight for complete freedom of information in the United Nations. And while accepting the fact that some of our press, our radio commentators, our prominent citizens and our movies may at times be blamed legitimately for things they have said and done, still I feel that the fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do. In our country we must trust the people to hear and see both the good and the bad and to choose the good. The Un-American Activities Committee seems to me to be better for a police state than for the USA. (29 October 1947)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "My Day", "slug": "my-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#My_Day_(1935%E2%80%931962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "061dba0e-70eb-496d-b3de-2ed600a3e681", "slug": "i-have-waited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day/i-have-waited", "text": "I have waited a while before saying anything about the Un-American Activities Committee's current investigation of the Hollywood film industry. I would not be very much surprised if some writers or actors or stagehands, or what not, were found to have Communist leanings, but I was surprised to find that, at the start of the inquiry, some of the big producers were so chicken-hearted about speaking up for the freedom of their industry. One thing is sure — none of the arts flourishes on censorship and repression. And by this time it should be evident that the American public is capable of doing its own censoring. Certainly, the Thomas Committee is growing more ludicrous daily. (29 October 1947)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "My Day", "slug": "my-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#My_Day_(1935%E2%80%931962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "00dfa1b6-c5e3-419b-bff9-9c9e80fb0210", "slug": "one-of-the-best", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day/one-of-the-best", "text": "One of the best ways of enslaving a people is to keep them from education... The second way of enslaving a people is to suppress the sources of information, not only by burning books but by controlling all the other ways in which ideas are transmitted. (11 May 1943)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "My Day", "slug": "my-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/my-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#My_Day_(1935%E2%80%931962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "e6c360e8-4bec-4747-bffc-15fc0627672e", "slug": "in-america-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/in-america-the", "text": "In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" }, { "name": "public opinion", "slug": "public-opinion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/public-opinion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "42bbf3d4-67e0-48f8-978a-75c4982f3d7b", "slug": "it-took-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot/it-took-the", "text": "It took the Church until 1832 to remove Galileo's work from its list of books which Catholics were forbidden to read at the risk of dire punishment of their immortal souls.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Pale Blue Dot", "slug": "pale-blue-dot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/pale-blue-dot" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 43, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Pale_Blue_Dot:_A_Vision_of_the_Human_Future_in_Space_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:28" }, { "id": "d22579a2-55f0-48f4-adb7-a717f1e5c959", "slug": "the-suppression-of-uncomfortable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/the-suppression-of-uncomfortable", "text": "The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 91, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "censorship", "slug": "censorship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/censorship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" } ] }