The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn’t any.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the philosophical writings of Cicero.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
If we can’t stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop its being brought in from outside.
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–66) British Novelist, Essayist, Biographer
Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
As well almost kill a man, as kill a good book; for the life of the one is but a few short years, while that of the other may be for ages.—Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself; kills as it were, the image of God.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest of cowardice.
—Holbrook Jackson (1874–1948) British Journalist, Writer, Publisher
Here we have bishops, priests, and deacons, a Censorship Board, vigilant librarians, confraternities and sodalities, Duce Maria, Legions of Mary, Knights of this Christian order and Knights of that one, all surrounding the sinner’s free will in an embattled circle.
—Sean O’Casey (1880–1964) Irish Dramatist, Memoirist
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there.
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–87) American Playwright, Diplomat, Journalist, Diplomat, Elected Rep
Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
It is folly for an eminent person to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected by it.—All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age, have passed through this fiery persecution.—There is no defence against reproach but obscurity; it is a kind of concomitant to greatness, as satires and invectives were an essential part of a Roman triumph.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Censor, n. An officer of certain governments, employed to suppress the works of genius. Among the Romans the censor was an inspector of public morals, but the public morals of modern nations will not bear inspection.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
No member of society has the right to teach any doctrine contrary to what society holds to be true.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Every burned book enlightens the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world. If the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself, seconded by the applauses of the public. A man is more sure of his conduct, when the verdict which he passes upon his own behavior is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
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 Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
The crime of book purging is that it involves a rejection of the word. For the word is never absolute truth, but only man’s frail and human effort to approach the truth. To reject the word is to reject the human search.
—Max Lerner (1902–92) Russian-born American Journalist
When truth is no longer free, freedom is no longer real: the truths of the police are the truths of today.
—Jacques Prevert (1900–77) French Poet, Screenwriter
Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Instead of asking—“How much damage will the work in question bring about?” why not ask—“How much good? How much joy?”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
I never heard of anyone who was really literate or who ever really loved books who wanted to suppress any of them. Censors only read a book with great difficulty, moving their lips as they puzzle out each syllable, when someone tells them that the book is unfit to read.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer