Censorship Quotes

“Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.”

“A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.”

“They told me 'The Twist' was too suggestive. Can you believe that? Now look at what's on TV.”

“They're trying to shut me up. And I don't think they will.”

“I am, in fact, a man of such repute that my printers will not dare to print what I write, and they are always setting up a thousand lies that I never write.”

“If any word or expression is of such a nature as to raise a blush on the cheek of modesty, it is to be erased.”

“Censorship, and the stifling of debate, is a feature of totalitarian societies, not of free ones.”

“War is the ultimate in censorship.”

“The librarian is a guide, a navigator, a facilitator. He or she is not a censor.”

“Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there.”

“The second you have to censor yourself, you're not a healthy country.”

“Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.”

“Political correctness is a straitjacket on comedy.”

“The university is becoming a place where you are not supposed to say certain things.”

“I think censorship is a terrible thing. I think the only thing that should be censored is that which is harmful to children.”

“Censorship, in my view, is the worst evil that can befall a free society.”

“Books are feeders for brothels.”

“Obscenity is not a quality inherent in a book or picture, but is a function of the reader or beholder.”

“Many words and expressions are of so indecent a nature that it would be highly desirable that they should be altered.”

“Sex and obscenity are not synonymous.”