Chamber Quote by Harry Kalven

Libel actions, when we look at them in perspective, are an ornament of a civilized society. They have replaced, after all, at least in…

— Henry Anatole Grunwald

Every libel, which is called famosus libellus, is made either against a private man, or against a public person. If it be against a…

— Edward Coke

“If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy ... to promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce, and to break the chains of political…

— Thomas Paine

Criticism is, or ought to be, a judicious act.

— Amitava Kumar

I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offence.

— George Eliot

In the old days of literature, only the very thick-skinned - or the very brilliant - dared enter the arena of literary criticism. To…

— Joanne Harris

There is a certain justice in criticism.

— Stephen Spender

“Literary censorship should not be necessary within the parameters of the law because it's simply a reflection of prevailing social prejudices! Writing should challenge…

— Jack Tar

So I have no grounds to complain; on the contrary, writers should consider the condition of permanent controversiality to be invigorating, part of the…

— Gunter Grass

Excessive literary production is a social offense.

— George Eliot

“The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark,…

— George Orwell

“A bad composition carries its own punishment—contempt and ridicule; a good one excites envy and entails upon its author a thousand mortifications; he finds…

— Matthew Gregory Lewis