Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Epigraphs on First Amendment Law and Related Topics:
I'm looking for interesting or amusing epigraphs for various sections
of my First Amendment textbook -- quotes from books or poems that
touch on the topic but from a nonlegal perspective. Here are some
examples:
1. From the section on advocacy of violent conduct:
They never told the [raging] crowd to [flay] a woman�s hide,
They never marked a man for death�what fault of theirs he died? --
They only said �intimidate,� and talked and went away --
By God, the boys that did the work were braver men than they!
Their sin it was that fed the fire -- small blame to them that
heard --
The boys get drunk on rhetoric, and madden at a word -- ...
If words are words, or death is death, or powder sends the ball,
[They] spoke the words that sped the shot -- the curse be on [them]
all.
-- Rudyard Kipling, �Cleared�
2. From the section on Communist advocacy:
Sam Goldwyn said, �How�m I gonna do decent pictures when all my
good writers are in jail?� Then he added, the infallible Goldwyn,
�Don�t misunderstand me, they all ought to be hung.� Mr. Goldwyn
didn�t know about �hanged.� That�s all there is to say.
-- Dorothy Parker, Interview, in Writers at Work
3. From the section on fighting words:
Trampas (Walter Huston): �Now who�s talkin� to you?� Virginian
(Gary Cooper): �I�m talking to you, Trampas.� Trampas: �When I want
to know anything from you I�ll tell you, you long-legged
son-of-a-�.� Virginian pulls out gun. Virginian: �If you want to
call me that, smile.� Trampas: �With a gun against my belly I -- I
always smile.� -- Owen Wister, The Virginian
I don't insist that I agree with the sentiment behind the epigraph (if
there is such a sentiment), so long as I think it's interesting or
amusing.
Can any of you suggest such epigraphs that are related to various free
speech issues, religious freedom issues, church-state issues, and the
like? If so, please post them in the comments. Thanks!
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