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"In my mind, prison became associated with love.
Whenever I heard of a man who was or had been in prison, I felt my heart beating beneath
my ribs." |
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Nawal Al SAADAWI
Egyptian author, on the jailing of intellectuals
|
|
"He who learns, and makes no use of his learning, is a
beast of burden with a load of books. Does the ass comprehend whether he carries on his
back a library or a bundle of faggots? " |
|
Moslih Eddin SAADI
Persian poet (1184-1291)
|
|
"Just as the office worker dreams of murdering his
hated boss and so is saved from really murdering him, so it is with the author; with his
great dreams he helps his readers to survive, to avoid their worst intentions. And
society, without realizing it respects and even exalts him, albeit with a kind of
jealousy, fear and even repulsion, since few people want to discover the horrors that lurk
in the depths of their souls. This is the highest mission of great literature, and there
is no other." |
|
Ernesto SÁBATO
Argentinian novelist and literary critic (1911-)
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|
"You say that my way of thinking cannot be tolerated?
What of it? The man who alters his way of thinking to suit others is a fool. My way of
thinking is the result of my reflections. It is part of my inner being, the way I am made.
I do not contradict them, and would not even if I wished to. For my system, which you
disapprove of, is also my greatest comfort in life, the source of all my happiness - it
means more to me than my life itself." |
|
(Donatien Alphonse François comte de Sade) Marquis de SADE
French writer and libertine (1740-1814)
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|
"All of the books in the world contain no more information than is
broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have
equal value." |
|
Carl SAGAN
American astronomer and popularizer of science (1934 -)
|
|
"... literacy is the way which turns slavery into freedom. There are
many types of slavery and many types of freedom. But reading keeps being the way." |
|
Carl SAGAN
American astronomer and popularizer of science (1934 -)
|
|
"The censure of those who are opposed to us, is the highest
commendation that can be given us." |
|
Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis de
SAINT-ÉVREMOND
French critic, writer, and soldier (1616?-1703)
|
|
"I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind." |
|
Antoine de SAINT-EXUPÉRY
French aviator and writer (1900-1944)
|
|
"Intellectual freedom is the only guarantee of a
scientific - democratic approach to politics, economic development, and culture." |
|
Andrei Dmitrievich SAKHAROV
Soviet nuclear physicist and human-rights advocate (1921-1989)
|
|
"Intellectual freedom is essential to human society.
Freedom of thought is the only guarantee against an infection of people by mass myths,
which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be transformed into
bloody dictatorships." |
|
Andrei Dmitrievich SAKHAROV
Soviet nuclear physicist and human-rights advocate (1921-1989)
|
|
"A library is thought in cold storage." |
|
Herbert Louis SAMUEL
British statesman (1870-1963)
|
|
"Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the
limits of the world." |
|
Arthur SCHOPENHAUER
German philosopher, b. Danzig (1788-1860)
|
|
"All truth passes through three stages: First it is
ridiculed, Second it is violently opposed, Third it is accepted as being
self-evident." |
|
Arthur SCHOPENHAUER
German philosopher, b. Danzig (1788-1860)
|
|
"It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in
the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper." |
|
Jerry SEINFELD
American comedian and actor (1955-)
|
|
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking
makes it so." |
|
William SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet, 1602
English dramatist and poet (1564-1616)
|
|
"Art made tongue-tied by authority." |
|
William SHAKESPEARE
English dramatist and poet (1564-1616)
|
|
"The ultimate form of censorship is
assassination." |
|
George Bernard SHAW
Irish playwright and critic (1856-1950)
|
|
"Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to
read any books except the books that nobody reads." |
|
George Bernard SHAW
Irish playwright and critic (1856-1950)
|
|
"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." |
|
George Bernard SHAW
Irish playwright and critic (1856-1950)
|
|
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." |
|
George Bernard SHAW
Irish playwright and critic (1856-1950)
|
|
"He who would acquire fame must not show himself afraid
of censure. The dread of censure is the death of genius." |
|
William Gilmore SIMMS
American novelist (1806-1870)
|
|
"People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share,
And no one dare disturb the Sound of Silence." |
|
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL
Sounds of Silence
American folk-rock duo 1962-1970
|
|
"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they
infect the soul with evil." |
|
SOCRATES
Greek philosopher of Athens (469-399 B.C.)
|
|
"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them
think." |
|
SOCRATES
Greek philosopher of Athens (469-399 B.C.)
|
|
"In our country, the lie has become not just a moral
category but a pillar of the State." |
|
Aleksandr Isayevich SOLZHENITSYN
Russian writer (1918-)
|
|
"Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by
the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the
sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory." |
|
Aleksandr Isayevich SOLZHENITSYN
Russian writer (1918-)
|
|
"A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in
his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor
ones." |
|
Aleksandr Isayevich SOLZHENITSYN
Russian writer (1918-)
|
|
"I am confident, of course, knowing that I shall
fulfill my tasks as a writer in any circumstances, and from my grave even more
successfully and incontestably than when I live. No one can bar truth's course, and for
its progress I am prepared to accept even death. But perhaps repeated lessons will teach
us, at least, not to arrest a writer's pen during his lifetime." |
|
Aleksandr Isayevich SOLZHENITSYN
Russian writer (1918-)
|
|
"The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of
criticism." |
|
Wole SOYINKA
Nigerian playwright, poet, novelist, and political activist (1934-)
|
|
"Censorship is the unintended underlining through the
intended crossing out (Zensur ist ungewollte Unterstreichung durch gewollte Streichung
)." |
|
Martin SPERR
German playwright
|
|
"The most tyrannical of governments are those which
make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts." |
|
Baruch SPINOZA
"Ethics" (1677)
Dutch philosopher (1632–77)
|
|
"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let
our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas." |
|
Joseph Vissarionovich STALIN
Soviet Communist leader and head of the USSR (1879–1953)
|
|
"This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the
individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the
freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight
against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual." |
|
John STEINBECK
American writer (1902-1968)
|
|
"A free society is one where it is safe to be
unpopular." |
|
Adlai Ewing STEVENSON
Vice President of the United States (1835-1914)
|
|
"Freedom rings where opinions clash." |
|
Adlai Ewing STEVENSON
Vice President of the United States (1835-1914)
|
|
"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive." |
|
Robert Louis STEVENSON
Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist (1850-1894)
|
|
"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in
itself." |
|
Potter STEWART
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1915-1985)
|
|
"Freedom of the press, or, to be more precise, the
benefit of freedom of the press, belongs to everyone -- to the citizen as well as the
publisher. ... The crux is not the publisher's 'freedom to print'; it is, rather, the
citizen's 'right to know.' " |
|
Arthur Sulzburger
1990
American newspaper publisher
|
