Here are some great quotations about the First Amendment:

“Newspapering is not just the most important thing, it is the only thing.” — Mary McGrory, journalist, 1998

“Knowing about the world is not a luxury; it is an urgent necessity. But instead of stepping up the coverage of international affairs, American newspapers and television networks are steadily cutting back.” — Pamela Constable, reporter, The Washington Post, 2007

“Liberty is the one thing no man can have unless he grants it to others.” — Ruth Benedict, anthropologist, 1942

“The shackles of restraint are melted in the light of truth.” — Marvin L. Pickering, plaintiff in 1968 Supreme Court case Pickering v. Board of Education, 2001

“A free flow of information is freedom’s foundation.” — Peter S. Prichard, Newseum, 1997

“Freedom to think requires not only freedom of expression but also freedom from the threat of orthodoxy and being outcast and ostracized.” — Helen Foster Snow, writer, 1967

“The press is not the focal point of civic life. It never was. It is a tool of civic life. It is a necessary tool.” — Michael Schudson, educator, author, 1999

“There’s something contagious about demanding freedom.” — Robin Morgan, writer, Ms. magazine, 1970

“Once you pull the trigger and file a First Amendment lawsuit, it is a war.” — Keen Umbehr, First Amendment advocate, 1997

“Protecting our nation’s leaders from harm is important. Protecting our nation’s leaders from dissent is unconstitutional.” — Witold Walczak, civil liberties lawyer, 2003

“How many idealists and crusaders have developed as the result of seeing unvarnished truth at a young age.” — Thomas Leavitt, chief executive officer, NextShift, 1997