But the case against the university is that it is chiefly a handmaiden of the state or of industry or, worse yet, of the military-industrial complex. - William O. Douglas

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."

[The One Un-American Act, Speech to the Author's Guild Council in New York, on receiving the 1951 Lauterbach Award (December 3, 1952)]

"We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government."

[Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 341 (1966) (dissenting)]

He was, however, speaking to a representative of government, the police. And it is to government that one goes 'for a redress of grievances,' to use an almost forgotten phrase of the First Amendment. But it is said that the purpose was 'to cause inconvenience and annoyance.' Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet.