In order to enjoy the inestimable benefits that the liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils it creates:
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Free press brings benefits but also inevitable downsides that must be accepted.
- In plain terms
- Accept the bad parts of free press to get the good parts.
- What can you take from it?
- Trade-offs are necessary to maintain press freedom.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What price is worth paying for free speech?
- How do you handle negative media?
Another view
Some harms from free press may be too severe to tolerate.
More from Alexis de Tocqueville
In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclin…
Permalink to quote #56 In politics... shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
Permalink to quote #58 In democratic ages men rarely sacrifice themselves for another, but they show a general compassion for all the human race. One never sees them inflict pointles…
Permalink to quote #55
Related quotes
It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks.
TacitusTacitus quote #7 The struggle is always between the individual and his sacred right to express himself and the power structure that seeks conformity, suppression, and obedience.
William O. DouglasWilliam O. Douglas quote #22 Milne: No matter how imperfect things are, if you've got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable. Ruth: I'm with you o…
Tom StoppardTom Stoppard quote #27