Dissent Quotes

Free societies are societies in which the right of dissent is protected.

Science exists, moreover, only as a journey toward troth. Stifle dissent and you end that journey.

It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.

Dissent is the native activity of the scientist, and it has got him into a good deal of trouble in the last years. But if that is cut off, what is left will not be a scientist. And I doubt whether it will be a man.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.

In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.

Throughout the lead-up to the war, CNN worked hard to air all sides of the story. We had a regular segment called Voices of Dissent in which we spent time covering antiwar protests and interviewing those who were opposed to the war with Iraq.

There are men - now in power in this country - who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression as long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

So now is the time, more than ever, for those who truly value all the principles of democracy, especially including dissent, to be the most forceful in speaking up, standing up and speaking out.

The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual.

In addition to removing our democratically elected government, Israel wants to sow dissent among Palestinians by claiming that there is a serious leadership rivalry among us. I am compelled to dispel this notion definitively.

May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity - much less dissent.

We may be so eager to protect the right to dissent that we lose sight of the difference between dissent and subversion.

Down through the centuries, this trick has been tried by various establishments throughout the world. They force people to get involved in the kind of examination that has only one aim and that is to stamp out dissent.

The aspects of patriotism that hush dissent, encourage going along, and sanction comfortable distancing and compliance with what is indecent and unacceptable... those aspects are too fundamental to ignore or gloss over.

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.

People may believe that there can be a society where dissent is not permitted, but which is nonetheless not a fear society because everyone agrees with one another and therefore no one wants to dissent.

It's much easier to make jokes about sensitive issues if there is some dissent, some conflict.

The human rights record within China seems to rise and fall over time, but it's very clear that in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and since then, there's been a greater intolerance of dissent and the human rights record of China has been going in the wrong direction.

In contrast, fear societies are societies in which dissent is banned.

Discussion in America means dissent.

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.

Neither with those nor with the others, with all I agree and dissent; in all part of truth and part of error must be seen.