Pastoral Resources

Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.

Dissent is the native activity of the scientist, and it has got him into a good deal of trouble in the last years. But if that is cut off, what is left will not be a scientist. And I doubt whether it will be a man.

The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual.

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.

May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.

In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.

In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.

So now is the time, more than ever, for those who truly value all the principles of democracy, especially including dissent, to be the most forceful in speaking up, standing up and speaking out.

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

When a man fails to see the truth of certain generally accepted views, there is no law compelling him to provoke animosity by announcing his dissent.

There are men - now in power in this country - who do not respect dissent, who cannot cope with turmoil, and who believe that the people of America are ready to support repression as long as it is done with a quiet voice and a business suit.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.

We may be so eager to protect the right to dissent that we lose sight of the difference between dissent and subversion.

It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.

Science exists, moreover, only as a journey toward troth. Stifle dissent and you end that journey.

It's much easier to make jokes about sensitive issues if there is some dissent, some conflict.