The First Amendment of the United States Constitution stands as a cornerstone of American democracy, enshrining the fundamental rights of freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. Since its ratification in 1791, this pivotal amendment has been a source of inspiration, debate, and protection for citizens’ liberties. Its profound impact extends far beyond the borders of the United States, influencing countless individuals and nations around the world in the pursuit of liberty and justice.
Throughout history, the First Amendment has been invoked in myriad contexts, from landmark legal battles to everyday expressions of dissent and creativity. Its enduring relevance is evidenced by the diverse array of voices who have championed its principles in the face of adversity, shaping the course of societal discourse and progress. From impassioned speeches to stirring writings, the words inspired by this constitutional guarantee serve as a testament to the enduring power of free expression and the resilience of democratic ideals. In exploring the rich tapestry of First Amendment quotes, we delve into the depths of human thought, resilience, and the unyielding pursuit of truth and justice. Discover the wisdom, courage, and diversity of perspectives encapsulated within these timeless quotations below.
As a consequence, the Court ruled that the limits on campaign spending violated the First Amendment, but it accepted the $1,000 limit on individual contributions on the ground that the need to avoid the appearance of corruption justified this limited constraint on speech. James L. Buckley
In hindsight, Watergate was a curse as well as a blessing for American journalism. The courageous reporting of the ‘Post’ and the ‘New York Times’ – coupled with the favourable Supreme Court rulings on publication of the Pentagon Papers – were landmarks for the interpretation of First Amendment rights and the freedom of the press. Lionel Barber
We all have the right of freedom of speech under the First Amendment. We all don’t have to agree with one another on our opinions. Everyone in my circle, that I run around with, we all feel the same about God, country, integrity and character. Luke Scott
I’m a big supporter of the Second Amendment. But I think I have a First Amendment right not to be shot. Michael Nutter
You may not be aware of a recent survey that showed that if the First Amendment were put to a popular vote today, it would fail by a 60% to 40% vote. James E. Rogers
I try to do that in this book without preaching – to try to do as you just said that you really have to defend the First Amendment rights of everybody. Floyd Abrams
The president is supposed to stand up for the First Amendment and stand up for the free press – not put us through the meat grinder. Jim Acosta
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Thurgood Marshall
Our 1 million members across the country will be watching closely to see if the video game industry hides behind a First Amendment veil in order to exploit children for the sake of corporate profit. Connie Sellecca
The First Amendment is very important, but it’s not everything. Anthony Lewis
No one respects the First Amendment more than I do. People have a right to express their concerns and their hopes and dreams to their government. Anthony Foxx
People may be due the benefits of a democratic electoral process. But in the United States, content curators appropriately have a First Amendment right to present their content as they see fit. Jonathan Zittrain
It does not help when an administration, in response to American attacks on American soil and American individuals, the administration ends up asking Americans to give up their First Amendment rights for which our service members are fighting. Louie Gohmert
So the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is out there preserving and fighting for, and sometimes winning and sometimes losing, the fight for First Amendment rights in comics and, more generally, for freedom of speech. Neil Gaiman
The First Amendment does not give you the right to commit a crime. Jeanine Pirro
No one has a First Amendment right to lie to a federal agency in order to claim an improper tax status in order to avoid legal disclosure requirements on political spending and thereby receive undue tax benefits. That’s a criminal false statement and possibly a fraud. Sheldon Whitehouse
And so popular culture raises issues that are very important, actually, in the country I think. You get issues of the First Amendment rights and issues of drug use, issues of AIDS, and things like that all arise naturally out of pop culture. Kurt Loder
In Cyberspace, the First Amendment is a local ordinance. John Perry Barlow
The First Amendment is first for a reason – it cannot be ignored by the D.C. City Council. James Lankford
There is a recognition that Second Amendment rights, like First Amendment and other rights, come with responsibilities and limitations. There is no reason both sides of the gun debate can’t support policies that both protect the right to legally own guns for sport and safety, and reduce the likelihood of mass fatalities. Randi Weingarten
Thankfully, we live in country, unlike Russia, where we have First Amendment rights. Alan Colmes
I expect each and every USDA employee to uphold their fellow Americans’ First Amendment freedoms. Sonny Perdue
When I began we did not really have a lot of First Amendment law. It is really surprising to think of it this way, but a lot of the law – most of the law that relates to the First Amendment freedom of the press in America – is really within living memory. Floyd Abrams
The First Amendment allows Nazis and white extremists to do what they are going to do, and it allows for black extremists and all other types of extremists to do what they are going to do. I understand that, and I’m not opposed to that. Niger Innis
But I know newspapers. They have the first amendment and they can tell any lie knowing it’s a lie and they’re protected if the person’s famous or it’s a company. Steve Wozniak
The US constitution’s First Amendment rights only cover Americans, but I believe that in a democracy the competition of ideas and free speech should combat beliefs that it does not agree with – more speech and debate, not censorship. Joichi Ito
I want to regain my First Amendment rights. Laura Schlessinger
The DISCLOSE Act is a testament to the wisdom of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. The First Amendment sought to place political speech beyond the government’s control, and we can be glad that it did. Bradley A. Smith
There’s nothing in the First Amendment that even remotely talks about spending money for political contests, and to say that an individual can spend as much of his or her own money as he or she wants constitutionally without any limitation, I think is just absurd. Arlen Specter
I’m a believer in the Constitution and in the First Amendment. Not just for raising money but also for freedom of speech. Matt Bevin
The government argues that First Amendment rights are outweighed by the need to prosecute those who transmit classified information and documents. Noam Chomsky
The idea that corporations have the same First Amendment protections of free speech as people is troubling. Corporations are not people. They don’t attend our schools, get married and have children. They don’t vote in our elections. Hank Johnson
Remember: the ratings system is a voluntary infringement of First Amendment rights, an uneasy bargain between the needs of parents, the needs of artists, and the needs of large media corporations to make profits. Any time we chip away at the First Amendment, we should at least do it with some reverence. Marshall Herskovitz
I urge the citizens of Ferguson who have been peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights to join with law enforcement in condemning the actions of looters, vandals and others seeking to inflame tensions and sow discord. Eric Holder
In the U.S., free speech and the press are protected by the First Amendment. It has a clarity unmatched by modern legislators and declares that ‘Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or the press.’ Jacob Rees-Mogg
I do believe that supporting our First Amendment rights and supporting local law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. Steve Clevenger
Privacy is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution as freedom of speech is in the First Amendment. Larry Flynt
The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason – our most cherished right. But it often creates muddy and uncomfortable situations, ones that are the source of great drama and national self-reflection. Rod Lurie
An M.P. once suggested I be put in the Tower of London for saying derogatory things about the royals. There’s no First Amendment in my country. Tracey Ullman
We are strong supporters of First Amendment rights, and we believe free speech is a two-way street. While anyone is free to be an anti-Muslim bigot, on campus or off, CAIR is free to challenge their bigotry by speaking out against the promotion of hatred and intolerance. Ibrahim Hooper
It would be a sorry world in which corporations engaged in fraud could pull the screen of the First Amendment over any investigation of their scheme. Sheldon Whitehouse
The First Amendment is not an altar on which we must sacrifice our children, families, and community standards. Obscene material that is not protected by the First Amendment can and must be prohibited. Orrin Hatch
The First Amendment says nothing about your getting paid for saying anything. It just says you can say it. I don’t believe that if a corporation pulls all the money out of you or a network pulls their money away or you get fired, you’re being censored. Penn Jillette
Any time someone carries a picket sign in front of the White House, that is the First Amendment in action. Julian Bond
Donald Trump and the First Amendment, it’s not a beautiful match; it’s not a match made in heaven. Between the free speech rights that he has not defended and the freedom of the press, which he has not defended, it’s problematic. Megyn Kelly
If the Constitution was a movie, the Preamble would be the trailer, the First Amendment the establishing shot, the 13th the crowd pleaser and the 14th the ultimate hero scene. Henry Rollins
The First Amendment is not without limits. Jerry Falwell
They ought to put an amendment to the First Amendment that says there shall also be freedom of hearing. Tom Smothers
We don’t have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets. Alan Dershowitz
Citizens United is a disgrace of a decision, holding that corporate money is corporate speech and entitled to the same First Amendment protection as human speech. As a result, corporations now can spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections – often in secret, without any public disclosure. Sheldon Whitehouse
The First Amendment rejects red tape, cover-up and double-speak. Roy Barnes
Tolerance is a one-way street in the Age of Obama. ‘Choice’ is in the eye (and iron fist) of the First Amendment usurper. Michelle Malkin
The courts are using the First Amendment to attack religion, when they should be using it to protect religion. Ernest Istook
The question about those aromatic advertisements that perfume companies are having stitched into magazines these days is this: under the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, is smelling up the place a constitutionally protected form of expression? Calvin Trillin
Americans don’t know the Constitution. More than half of those surveyed can’t name any of the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. Only a quarter can name all three branches of government. Elizabeth Flock
CNN is an American symbol of independent journalism and First Amendment free speech. My board and I are clear: CNN will remain completely independent from an editorial perspective. Randall L. Stephenson
Laws protecting the United States flag do not cut away at the freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment… Congress made this position clear upon passage of the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which prohibited desecration of the flag. Larry Craig
Even the president is not beyond the reach of the First Amendment. Hasan Minhaj
The First Amendment means everything to me. Julian Bond
In my view, a corporation is not a person. A corporation does not have First Amendment rights to spend as much money as it wants, without disclosure, on a political campaign. Bernie Sanders
The debate about the war seems pretty robust and free. Many publications, from the New Yorker to the Nation, feel perfectly comfortable printing anti-American articles and that’s fine. That’s what the First Amendment is all about. Rich Lowry
The right really dominates radio, and it’s amazing how much energy the right spends telling us that the press is slanted to the left when it really isn’t. They want to shut other people up. They really don’t understand the First Amendment. Roger Ebert
I’m a crusader. I really believe in the First Amendment, and I use it fully, and I pay a price for that. Al Goldstein
In 70s America, protest used to be very effective, but in subsequent decades municipalities have sneakily created a web of ‘overpermiticisation’ – requirements that were designed to stifle freedom of assembly and the right to petition government for redress of grievances, both of which are part of our first amendment. Naomi Wolf
The Internet, as a First Amendment medium, hinges on free expression, and that means free advertising. Jerry Yang
I remember when TV networks believed in the First Amendment. It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended. Bobby Jindal
It’s never a good thing to see a government agency talk in secret about the need to ‘control protestors’ – especially when that agency is charged with protecting the homeland against terrorists, not nonviolent demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceable dissent. Michael Hastings
The First Amendment does not guarantee the press a constitutional right of special access to information not available to the general public, nor does it cloak the inmate with special rights of freedom of speech. Pete Wilson
The health of our republic depends on shared principles like the First Amendment, but it is also built on the Teddy Roosevelt-like vigor of its citizens and local self-reliance. Ben Sasse
When you have mass surveillance, it’s impossible to meet the intent of the First Amendment because reporters can’t talk to sources because sources are afraid to talk. Pierre Omidyar
We have the First Amendment to rely on whenever an elected official tries to impinge on our rights to speak. Jeff Bewkes
That is our first amendment, freedom of speech. But I also believe that we have an obligation to the youth to be somewhat responsible in what we say on records. But I think that comes with age. I think that comes with artists growing up and becoming assured of who they are as people. Ja Rule
There are lots of different ideas, lots of different opinions about the First Amendment Defense Act and what it should be. There were a lot of different forms of it while I was on the Hill. But I would say that I agree that the decision on gay marriage does mean that we need to take some steps to defend religious liberty. Evan McMullin
As to the media, they are protected by the First Amendment, as they should be. L. Neil Smith
I begin to feel like most Americans don’t understand the First Amendment, don’t understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don’t understand that it’s the responsibility of the citizen to speak out. Roger Ebert
The notion that the First Amendment has no limitations whatsoever is balderdash. Trey Gowdy
The first amendment makes it clear that we are free to practice religion without government interference. The Constitution also establishes the separation of church and state so that the laws we live by our never guided by religious zeal. Roxane Gay
There is never a shortage anywhere of lawyers eager to attack the First Amendment, as though it were nothing more than a clause in a lease from a crooked slumlord. Kurt Vonnegut
I have tried to help build a framework that recaptures the First Amendment as a principle to empower all Americans, politically and personally, through access to plentiful, diverse communications spaces. Marvin Ammori
A justice is not like a law professor, who might say, ‘This is my theory… and this is what I’m going to be faithful to and consistent with,’ and in twenty years will look back and say, ‘I had a consistent theory of the First Amendment as applied to a particular area.’ John Roberts
I would never jeopardize classified information. I served my country well and loyally, and I had to sue the C.I.A. on First Amendment grounds. Valerie Plame
The point is that knowledge of God is not prohibited under the First Amendment. Roy Moore
When you start punishing and censoring comedians, that’s a real bad sign of us as Americans losing our First Amendment rights. As a comedian, I’m gonna push the boundaries. Some things you’re going to love, and some things you’re going to hate. But this is America. Great people died for us to have this right. Byron Allen
In ‘Citizens United v. FEC’, the Supreme Court ruled that sections of the federal campaign finance law known as McCain-Feingold imposed unconstitutional restrictions on the First Amendment rights of corporations. Eric Schneiderman
If a corporation can express opinions and be protected in doing so by the First Amendment, then there’s no reason logically one wouldn’t think they could undertake to enjoy the other rights protected under the First Amendment. Ken Cuccinelli
The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech. Anthony Kennedy
The Defense Department’s plan to ban newspaper reporters from pool coverage of military operations is incredible. It reveals the administration to be out of touch with journalism, reality and the First Amendment. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger
I believe in the First Amendment. But I also believe we should be mindful of how other people feel. Theo Epstein
The First Amendment to the Constitution reflects that concept recognized in the Ten Commandments, that the duties we owe to God and the manner of discharging those duties are outside the purview of government. Roy Moore
They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree. Betsy DeVos
The First Amendment was designed to allow for disruption of business as usual. It is not a quiet and subdued amendment or right. Naomi Wolf
I can only assume that your editorial writer tripped over the First Amendment and thought it was the office cat. E. B. White
The First Amendment freedom of religion is as important today as when the Bill of Rights was first written. Arlen Specter
If you’re not going to offend somebody you don’t need the First Amendment. Larry Flynt
I believe that the Framers of the Constitution made their intent clear when they wrote the First Amendment. I believe they wanted to keep the new government from endorsing one religion over another, not erase the public consciousness or common faith. Nick Rahall
Oliver Darcy is a perpetual victim. He is constantly advocating for people to be banned and silenced. As a member of the media, Oliver Darcy should respect our First Amendment right. Laura Loomer
The First Amendment has the same role in my life as a citizen and a writer as the sun has in our ecosystem. Michael Chabon
I do believe that religious liberty, the First Amendment, gay rights, and transgender equality can all coexist. I’m also a constitutionalist, and we have to ensure anti-discrimination laws don’t violate First Amendment rights or religious freedom. Nancy Mace
That’s the best part of being in private practice, by the way: being able to say whatever I want. In the government I couldn’t talk to reporters and couldn’t speak to the public, and now I just feel free. I have a First Amendment right again, and I exercise it daily. Lisa Blatt
We still have a First Amendment that protects your business and free speech. Bill Flores
