Zechariah Chafee, Jr. Quote - Liberty Quotes Blog

"The real value of freedom is not
to the minority that wants to talk,
but to the majority that does not want to listen."

by:	Zechariah Chafee, Jr. (1865-1957) American professor of law, judicial philosopher, civil rights advocate
Source:	The Blessings of Liberty
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Categories:	Democracy, Freedom, Respect, Speech
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Reader comments about this quote:

The majority is usually wrong. -- jim k, austin
Freedom is even more valuable to the minority who does not want to listen. -- Ken, Allyn, WA
Excellent distinction. As long as the ruling classes control public opinion, the lone voice of reason will sound like a nut nearly every time. As soon as the majority realizes it has been conned, the game is up. -- E Archer, NYC
It may be true but it is foolhardy of the majority not to listen, even if it is their right. With that attitude they might not long be the majority. -- Jack, Green, OH
The majority is often wrong but less often than the minority. The worst thing to majority rule is minority rule That is why Marie Antoinette, Soviet Communist Party etcetera lost their power. Those two minorities wanted to not only talk but to dictate and the majority did not want to listen. I never or seldom eat cake, I love bread. God Bless the majority. -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas
Those who forever have to set themselves at odds with the majority may very well be persons with a personal identity problem. They resolve this problem by being different just for the sake of being different because they feel inadequate to be like what they think every one else is like. Thus they get nose rings, tattoos etcetera. or take obtuse political positions. -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas
No one would eat the cake she referred to. That is if she actually said it. "Let them eat cake" meant let them eat the burnt scrapings that were cleaned out of the ovens at the end of the day. The majority is more often right than the minority but both are easily misled. Fortunately the majority eventually, in most cases, come to its senses. -- warren, olathe
I thought "Let them eat cake" referred to a shortage of preferred bread flower and a surplus of less preferred and inferior cake flower. I like your last sentence Warren, in a thinking and free society one should find himself in and out of majority and minority opinion on a regular basis. If not then one is probably not even really thinking at all. -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas
Amen. Great quote. -- Kevin Shearer

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