Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share Image
It's awfully hard to be the son of a great man and also of a half-crazy woman. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
The American people...have a stake in non-conformity. For they know that the American genius is non-conformist. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
We should not be surprised that the Founding Fathers didn't foresee everything, when we see that the current Fathers hardly ever foresee anything. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
We should not forget that our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
The justification and the purpose of freedom of speech is not to indulge those who want to speak their minds. It is to prevent… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
“A free society cherishes nonconformity. It knows that from the non-conformist, from the eccentric, have come many of the great ideas of freedom. A… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
A free society cherishes nonconformity. It knows from the non-conformist, from the eccentric, have come many of the great ideas. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
History is organized memory, and the organization is all important! — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
It seems fair to say that while the moral standards of the nineteenth century persisted almost unchanged into the twentieth, moral practices changed sharply,… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
In the long run [censorship] will create a generation incapable of appreciating the difference between independence of thought and subservience. — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
History, we can confidently assert, is useful in the sense that art and music, poetry and flowers, religion and philosophy are useful. Without it… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
Whether history will judge this war to be different or not we cannot say. But this we can say with certainty: A government and… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
We cannot have a society half slave and half free; nor can we have thought half slave and half free. If we create an… — Henry Steele Commager Copy Share
