"Liberty of conscience is nowadays only understood to be the liberty of believing what men please, but also of endeavoring to propagate that belief as much as they can."
by:
Jonathan Swift
(1667-1745) Irish author
Source:
1715
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Reader comments about this quote:
Uh, that's NOT the quote. The ACTUAL quote is as follows: Liberty of Conscience is now-a-days not only understood to be the Liberty of believing what Men please, but also of endeavouring to propagate the Belief as much as they can, and to overthrow the Faith which the Laws have already established...
 -- Terry Berg, Occidental, CA     
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    Uh, Terry, the quote was limited to the words quoted rather than extended to the limit you indicated. Every quote is made in a limited context, or otherwise every word spoken in a given day would delineate a quote.
     -- David L. Rosenthal , Hollywood     
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    It's not so much whether the quote continues on, but that the "not" is omitted in the first part. Without the "not" this quote seems grammatically incoherent. That's why I would say it should be "Liberty of conscience is nowadays NOT only understood to be the liberty of believing what men please, but also of endeavoring to propagate that belief as much as they can..."
     -- Andy, Portland, OR     
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    Uh, David, the actual quote is exactly as I listed it. Perhaps you could like, um, look it up. It's the negation of the word 'only' that makes the difference - not the 'extension'. Hence the "...". Kudos Andy.
     -- Terry Berg, Occidental, CA     
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    What pleases men is to understand the process of life.  This fellow is referring to the ruling juvenile delinquents that run the world and apparently desire to display life something entirely different than the reality of strenuous productive efforts to produce a civilized environment.
     -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown     
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