Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom, whatever can be warranted by the laws of your country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Do not let fear or false pretenses of politeness stop you from publishing freely; such pretenses are often hypocrisy.
- In plain terms
- Fear and false politeness shouldn't stop free publishing; they're hypocrisy.
- What can you take from it?
- Publish boldly, ignoring pretentious excuses.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you balance freedom with responsibility?
Another view
Irresponsible publishing can cause real harm.
More from John Adams
The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.
Permalink to quote #67 Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.
Permalink to quote #69 Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creato…
Permalink to quote #66
Related quotes
I am not a giant physically; I shrink from pain and filth and vermin and foul air, like any other man of refinement; also, I freely admit, when I see a line of…
Upton SinclairUpton Sinclair quote #8 Newspapers across the country and the world have published cartoons that have gone beyond reasonable differences of opinion and expanded into the realm of anti…
Gordon SmithGordon Smith quote #8 They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink F…
James Russell LowellJames Russell Lowell quote #10