There seems to be so much talk of Freedom of Speech lately and so when I came across this picture of Winston Churchill amongst my late father’s photographs, I wondered whether Winston had anything to say on the subject.
It turns out he did.
“Everyone is in favour of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”
― Winston Churchill
The original remark was made in the UK Parliament on the 13th October, 1943 during the second world war. The full statement in Hansard was,
“Indeed Parliamentary democracy has flourished under party government. That is to say, it has flourished so long as there is full freedom of speech, free elections and free institutions.
So we must beware of a tyranny of opinion which tries to make only one side of a question the one which may be heard. Everyone is in favour of it. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.”
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