William Shakespeare Quotes
There is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail.
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Washington Square Press, 1993, p. 33.
This is the earliest surviving attempt of the Romans to formulate a legal code.
He was the first American that who was assassinated by the Central Intelligence Agency by means of a drone attack. He was a major recruiter for Al Qaeda and he preached to 3 of the 9-11 terrorists.
This principle was incorporated into American law by the Supreme Court 1964 decision in Sullivan v. New York Times, where this argument drove the opinion.
First amendment protect speech and publication even if it is slanderous or libelous as long as the subject is a public figure or public official and the falsehoods or errors are not malicious.
This distinction is the basis for the Supreme Court Decision in New York Times v Sullivan where they ruled that the libel of a public figure is not to be punished unless it was malicious and not just defamatory. In England, a person can be sued for slandering a politician. Worse, truth is not an absolute defense in a libel suit in England as it is in the United States.
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. They also continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
