H. L. Mencken Speech Quotations

My belief in free speech is so profound that I am seldom tempted to deny it to the other fellow. Nor do I make any effort to differentiate between the other fellow right and that other fellow wrong, for I am convinced that free speech is worth nothing unless it includes a full franchise to be foolish and even...malicious.

The net effect of Clarence Darrow's great speech yesterday seemed to be precisely the same as if he had bawled it up a rainspout in the interior of Afghanistan.

The American people, I am convinced, really detest free speech. At the slightest alarm they are ready and eager to put it down.

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech - alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized society.

Free speech is too dangerous to a democracy to be permitted

The common notion that free speech prevails in the United States always makes me laugh.