Banned Books Week

Supreme Court Quotes About the First Amendment and Freedom of Speech

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”      -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 109 S.Ct. 2533, 105 L.Ed.2d 342 (1989)

“Civil government cannot let any group ride roughshod over others simply because their consciences tell them to do so."  -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. “Bob” Jackson, Douglas et al. v. City of Jeannette et al., 319 U.S. 157, 63 S.Ct. 877, 87 L.Ed. 1324 (1943)

“The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.” -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States, et al., Appellants v. American Civil Liberties Union et al., 521 U.S. 844, 117 S. Ct. 2329, 138 L.Ed.2d 874 (1997).

“The function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute.  It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it invites a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging.  It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it passes for acceptance of an idea.” -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Orville Douglas, in Terminello v. Chicago (1949).

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” ― Joseph Brodsky

“Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

"He who destroys a good book kills reason itself." ― John Milton

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” ― Benjamin Franklin

"Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance." ― Lyndon B. Johnson

"I hate it that Americans are taught to fear some books and some ideas as though they were diseases..." ― Kurt Vonnegut

"If we want truth, every man ought to be free to say what he things without fear." ― Erasmus

“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession

“The burning of a book is a sad, sad sight, for even though a book is nothing but ink and paper, it feels as if the ideas contained in the book are disappearing as the pages turn to ashes and the cover and binding--which is the term for the stitching and glue that holds the pages together--blacken and curl as the flames do their wicked work. When someone is burning a book, they are showing utter contempt for all of the thinking that produced its ideas, all of the labor that went into its words and sentences, and all of the trouble that befell the author...” ― Lemony Snicket, The Penultimate Peril

“All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States -- and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!” ― Kurt Vonnegut

“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.” ― Judy Blume

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself." ― Potter Stewart

"The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame." ― Oscar Wilde

"Every burned book enlightens the world." ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” ― Ray Bradbury

“Torch every book. Burn every page. Char every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible. And therein lies your real fear." ― Ellen Hopkins

Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.

Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; January 29, 2019.

Inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.

Although the Articles of the Library Bill of Rights are unambiguous statements of basic principles that should govern the service of all libraries, questions do arise concerning application of these principles to specific library practices. See the documents designated by the Intellectual Freedom Committee as Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights.