Walter Lippmann Liberty Quotations

Whereas each man claims his freedom as a matter of right, the freedom he accords to other men is a matter of toleration.

Private property was the original source of freedom. It still is its main bulwark.

A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking the principle of liberty in the main business of human life, that is to say, in the process by which men educate their responses and learn to control their environment.

For in the absence of debate unrestricted utterance leads to the degradation of opinion. By a kind of Greshams law the more rational is overcome by the less rational, and the opinions that will prevail will be those which are held most ardently by those with the most passionate will. For that reason the freedom to speak can never be maintained merely by objecting to interference with the liberty of the press, of printing, of broadcasting, of the screen. It can be maintained only by promoting debate.

In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.

In a democracy, the opposition is not only tolerated as constitutional, but must be maintained because it is indispensable.