A Quote by Garry Wills

The whole point of free expression is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Garry Wills

Quote Topics

Criticism Exempt Expose Expression Free Free Expression Ideas Make Point Them Whole

Quote Author

Garry Wills
American - Author
Born: May 22, 1934

If you really look at my lyrics, nobody's exempt. Nobody's exempt from observation, criticism or what I think is correction.

Ice Cube

It is frequently said that speech that is intentionally provocative and therefore invites physical retaliation can be punished or suppressed. Yet, plainly no such general proposition can be sustained. Quite the contrary.... The provocative nature of the communication does not make it any the less expression. Indeed, the whole theory of free expression contemplates that expression will in many circumstances be provocative and arouse hostility. The audience, just as the speaker, has an obligation to maintain physical restraint.

Thomas I. Emerson

All I'm arguing for really is that we should have a conversation where the best ideas really thrive, where there's no taboo against criticizing bad ideas, and where everyone who shows up, in order to get their ideas entertained, has to meet some obvious burdens of intellectual rigor and self-criticism and honesty-and when people fail to do that, we are free to stop listening to them. What religion has had up until this moment is a different set of rules that apply only to it, which is you have to respect my religious certainty even though I'm telling you I arrived at it irrationally.

Sam Harris

Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale body is all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces which expose the whole movement.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression of an unmet need.

Marshall B. Rosenberg

That was one of the big problems in the [Black Panther] Party. Criticism and self-criticism were not encouraged, and the little that was given often wasn’t taken seriously. Constructive criticism and self-criticism are extremely important for any revolutionary organization. Without them, people tend to drown in their mistakes, not learn from them.

Assata Shakur

You’re not exempt from math if you’re a Republican, and you’re not exempt from math if you’re a Democrat. You’re not exempt from math if you’re a liberal, and you’re not exempt from math if you’re a conservative. You still have to do math.

Dave Ramsey

How odd that the proponents of free expression think 'free' only applies to them.

Greg Gutfeld

Open the curtains of your mind, my friend; let the world know who you are! Do not hide your ideas; set them free, let them free! Open the curtains! Feel no fear! If there is truth in your ideas, you become invincible!

Mehmet Murat Ildan

At some point free expression absolutism becomes childish and unserious.

Garry Trudeau

I have these brownies that I make that are just a home run with my family. I make them with almond butter, prune puree, walnuts, cocoa powder and whole-wheat flour, and I like them because they're delicious, but they're also guilt-free.

Tia Mowry

The whole time you're bouncing ideas off each other, you continue to try and push the songs as far as you can take them and make them the best that they can be.

Benji Madden

People thrive on positive reinforcement. They can take only a certain amount of criticism and you may lose them altogether if you criticize them in a personal way... you can make a point without being personal. Don't insult or belittle your people. Instead of getting more out of them you will get less

Bill Walsh

Once citadels of free expression and occasional revolutionary ideas, today many American colleges have endorsed political correctness.

John J. McLaughlin

In the end, the thing that's important about free expression is that it's the right from which all other rights are derived. If you can't articulate ideas and if you can't articulate critiques of other peoples' ideas, then you're powerless. What always increases the power of an authoritarian regime is whether it can successfully prevent people from expressing themselves.