“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime . . . .”

       — Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, dissenting Ginzberg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463 (1966)

“I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which others knowledge is to be built.”

     - George Washington

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed."
     - Benjamin Franklin

“Information is the currency of democracy.”

     - Thomas Jefferson

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”          

     - Benjamin Franklin

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.”

     - Benjamin Franklin

"Don't join the book burners... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book."

     - Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance."

     - Lyndon Baines Johnson

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."

     - Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too."

     - Voltaire

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

     - Mark Twain

“[I]t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.”

     - Judy Blume