On the web, “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use”
What book is that from? It is attributed to Kierkegaard but I can’t find the exact origin.
People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.
Soren Kierkegaard, as quoted in The Fitzhenry & Whiteside Book of Quotations (1981), p. 172.
Wikiquote had this source, but that doesn’t say where Fitzhenry & Whiteside got it.
It’s from the first part of “Either/Or”, “Διαψαλματα”.
The original Danish is:
Menneskene ere dog urimelige. De bruge aldrig de Friheder, de har, men fordre dem, de ikke har; de har Tænkefrihed, de fordre Yttringsfrihed.
My direct translation:
But Man is unreasonable. They never use the freedoms they have, but want those they do not have; They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.