Top 140 Censorship Quotes

There is a fine line between censorship and good taste and moral responsibility.

I was always meant to study the humanities; I was no good at math or sciences. When it came time for me to work, it was Soviet times, and journalism wasn’t that free or interesting of a space. There was a lot of censorship; it was difficult.

I worry about censorship in many parts of the world.

The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.

Censorship in all its forms must be challenged.

The twentieth century had produced a literature in Ireland that kept a tense distance from the sources of faith – and for good reason. Irish writing had suffered a terrible censorship in the twentieth century.

The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.

I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.

Stopping leaks is a new form of censorship.

I have a very serious censorship office inside my head; it censors things that I could tell you that you would never forget, and I don’t want to be the person to stick that in your brain.

I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at the fearful magic of print.

It is a misuse of words if you say ‘content censorship’. But no censorship does not mean there is no management.

The twentieth century had produced a literature in Ireland that kept a tense distance from the sources of faith – and for good reason. Irish writing had suffered a terrible censorship in the twentieth century.

Censorship of ideas or images or words is wrong.

I am seriously opposed to censorship of any sort.

Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.

I think media has lost its way. We must recognize that the proprietors of these organizations have put on a form of censorship. Basically, they’re more interested in celebrity, narcissism, rich people, good-looking people, and successful sportsmen.

I’m not interested in censorship. I like the First Amendment very much.

As a condition for entry into the Chinese market, Apple had to agree to the Chinese government’s censorship criteria in vetting the content of all iPhone apps available for download on devices sold in mainland China.

We get on the bandwagon in all sorts of ways – you know minor ways and major ways – like what you’ve just encountered which isn’t censorship exactly, it was something sort of uglier in a way.

Many filmmakers have had that experience. They make a movie, then out of nowhere, they either pass censorship or fail.

I would describe Los Angeles as actually not having taste. In New York, there’s taste. But you have to remember that taste is censorship. It’s a form of restriction.

You seldom get a censorship attempt from a 14-year-old boy. It’s the adults who get upset.

I’m thinking of sending out censorship packets: information to share with those who want to defend my books when they come under fire. I’ll tell why I wrote them and include reviews and letters of support from children and their parents.

There is clearly a constituency that appreciates the message that Google is sending, that it finds the Chinese government’s attitude to the Internet and censorship unacceptable.

At the State Department, where I oversaw our human rights diplomacy, I often confronted dictatorships like China about their censorship of the Internet, which they justified by claiming they were merely filtering out lies. Our government cannot and should not take that path.

There is no official censorship in literature, but I feel a certain fear when I see that a kind of self-censorship is developing in Poland. Authors are somehow afraid of expressing what they really think or feel because they fear political consequences.

Censorship no longer works by hiding information from you; censorship works by flooding you with immense amounts of misinformation, of irrelevant information, of funny cat videos, until you’re just unable to focus.

Censorship feeds the dirty mind more than the four-letter word itself.

Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.

Chinese artists have been subversive over thousands of years, taking what they think of the government and embedding it in their art. There might be censorship of not going as far as they might.

The fact that we don’t have censorship on the Internet really gives you a lot of freedom, as makers and creative people do what they believe in.

The media may wish that the coordinated effort to control the outcome of the 2020 election through censorship, deplatforming, and removing scrutiny for mail-in ballots be downplayed or ignored, but some people aren’t allowing that to happen.

Censorship is saying: ‘I’m the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.’ But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.

China’s censorship and propaganda systems may be complex and multilayered, but they are obviously not well coordinated.

The censorship is such on television in the U.S. that films like mine don’t stand a chance.

Our censorship has sort of gotten a little too far. Too much censorship is just as bad as having none at all. Children need to be exposed to things, because if they don’t see it, eventually, it’s not like it’s not going to happen, but it’s just that there needs to be a balance.

If Trump publicly commits to embrace science, stops threatening censorship of the Internet, rejects fake news and denounces hate against our diverse employees, only then it would make sense for tech leaders to visit Trump Tower.

Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.

There shouldn’t be any censorship on making a film.

The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.

Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear.

The US constitution’s First Amendment rights only cover Americans, but I believe that in a democracy the competition of ideas and free speech should combat beliefs that it does not agree with – more speech and debate, not censorship.

The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.

I think the best thing in cases of censorship or things like this is to get as much media as possible.

There’s hardly any governmental censorship in Korea.

Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.

Censorship should never go. But we can always give a little more space to the director.

I feel instead of censorship, we need to self-regulate ourselves while producing any kind of content.

I’m not against censorship in principle. Not at all. Some things should be censored.

I discovered the National Coalition Against Censorship when I felt totally alone in my fight to protect intellectual freedom, and that group changed my life. I was no longer alone.

I don’t for one second think about the possibility of censorship when I am writing a new book. I know I am a person who cares about kids and who cares about truth and I am guided by my own instincts, and trust them.

Censorship is a really big deal, but online you don’t have anything. You have slightly more freedom.

Storytelling is the only studio movie where the censorship is perfectly clear, the only studio movie with a big red box covering up a shot. I take pride in that – and, of course, in having avoided the fate of Eyes Wide Shut.

The prime goal of censorship is to promote ignorance, whether it is done via lying and bowdlerized school texts or by attacking individual books.

Censorship should never go. But we can always give a little more space to the director.

Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.

One thing that success has taught me is censorship.

As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends.

Everyone has an opinion, and the guy screaming for censorship may be the next guy to have his ideas cut off.

I resent the fact that a parental warning sticker has to be included on an album as cover art. To me that’s censorship.

Music is an artform, and I always though art was beyond censorship. I thought this was a common view. Apparently, I was wrong.

The prime goal of censorship is to promote ignorance, whether it is done via lying and bowdlerized school texts or by attacking individual books.

My biggest thing has always been privacy. With an interview such as this where the questions are about me, I struggle to express myself. I have an immediate answer in my head of what I’d say, but sometimes I feel that it would be too honest. So these wheels of censorship start going around my head.