Immanuel Kant Quotes

The public use of a man's reason must be free at all times…. But I hear people clamor on all sides: Don't argue! The military officer says: Don't argue, drill! The tax collector: Don't argue, pay! The minister: Don't argue, believe!

The public use of man's reason must always be free, and it alone can cause enlightenment.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

Thus the public use of reason and freedom is nothing but a dessert, a sumptuous dessert.

Well, where there is freedom doubt itself must be free.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

There will always be some people who think for themselves, even among the self-appointed guardians of the great mass who, after having thrown off the yoke of immaturity themselves, will spread about them the spirit of a reasonable estimate of their own value and of the need for every man to think for himself.

Have no respect whatsoever for authority; forget who said it and instead look what he starts with, where he ends up, and ask yourself, "Is it reasonable?

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

Liberty of thinking, and of expressing our thoughts, is always fatal to priestly power…

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

There are good reasons for being obedient, but being unable to be disobedient is not one of the best reasons.

To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must be allowed to say, write and publish whatever they want. Freedom of expression is the most basic, but fundamental, right. Without it, human beings are reduced to automatons.

Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.

As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost and science can never regress.

Only the educated are free.

I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men.

Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him.

Enlightenment values of individual freedom are manifested best in individual acts of criticism and defiance.

The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.

An unexamined faith is not worth having, for fundamentalism and uncritical certitude entail the rejection of one of the great human gifts: that of free will, of the liberty to make up our own minds based on evidence and tradition and reason.

You must avoid letting anyone usurp your freedom of thought in any way, whether on religious or other grounds. People must use their minds and think and there are situations where the use of the intellect is necessary so that excessive fantasy or fancy can be held in check.

The long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.