It’s a great quote from John F Kennedy. It’s particularly applicable to today’s times when anyone can immediately post their opinions and thought to the world. One thing hasn’t changed, with voice comes consequence. Here are a few more of my favorite quotes regarding voice.
“What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold — but that the words we use really do matter, because there’s this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike.” -Bill Clinton
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. ” -Soren Kierkegaard
“Freedom is not worth having if it doesn’t include the freedom to make mistakes” Ghandi
“While we are free to choose are actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions” Stephen R. Covey
“It is the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits, freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and wisdom to never use either” Mark Twain
Woodrow Wilson was once asked how long it took him to write a speech. He answered, ‘That depends. If I am to speak 10 minutes, I need a week for preparation. If 15 minutes, 3 days. If half hour, two days. If an hour, I am ready now.”
Isn’t this just a comment thread from reddit?
@Jeff,
Yes, I thought it was quite timely to yesterday’s discussions. I added some of my own quotes (two are from reddit) to take it from from the discussion of the killings to the general thought of freedom and implications of words. All ideas have to start somewhere.
No one knows everything…… at least I get something interesting today from you Shane, love the last one… perfectly fit the title quote.