Quotes on freedom of expression from Index on Censorship

Various artists and intellectuals have written for Index on Censorship over the years. Here are some quotes from them that we hope inspire you to speak out for those who can't.

1. Without the freedom
to criticise, question and
challenge the dominant
narrative, societies
cannot make progress.
Elif Shafak
Index on Censorship
December 2014
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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2. Where there is no
debate, it is hard to go on
remembering, every day,
that there is a suppressed
side to every argument.
Salman Rushdie
Index on Censorship
December 1983
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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3. A free press
has to be
more than
its own reward.
Amartya Sen
Index on Censorship
September 2013
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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4. Ideology wants to
convince you that
its truth is absolute.
A novel shows you that
everything is relative.
Milan Kundera
Index on Censorship
November 1977
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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5. A brief history of
censorship would
by no means be
brief.
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
Margaret Atwood
Index on Censorship
December 2010
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6. To be tolerant,
one must set the
boundaries of the
intolerable.
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
Umberto Eco
Index on Censorship
May/June 1994
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7. It has been rightly
pointed out that what
is most important is not so
much freedom of speech as
freedom after speech.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Index on Censorship
March 2012
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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8. All I am
trying to say
is that I want
to write
.
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
Vaclav Havel
Index on Censorship
January 1978
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9. In the majority 
of countries, 
literature continues 
to be the f nal bastion 
of freedom.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Index on Censorship
November 1978
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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10. The Word,
written or spoken,
is our precious
common property.
Nadine Gordimer
Index on Censorship
May 1997
Index on Censorship magazine has been publishing some of the world’s greatest writers since 1972
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