namely, from his charity towards his neighbours; we cannot doubt that the
best government will allow freedom of philosophical speculation no less than
of religious belief. (38) I confess that from such freedom inconveniences
may sometimes arise, but what question was ever settled so wisely that no
abuses could possibly spring therefrom? (39) He who seeks to regulate
everything by law, is more likely to arouse vices than to reform them. (40)
It is best to grant what cannot be abolished, even though it be in itself
harmful. (41) How many evils spring from luxury, envy, avarice, drunkenness,
and the like, yet these are tolerated - vices as they are - because they
cannot be prevented by legal enactments. (42) How much more then should free
thought be granted, seeing that it is in itself a virtue and that it cannot
be crushed! (43) Besides, the evil results can easily be checked, as I will
show, by the secular authorities, not to mention that such freedom
is absolutely necessary for progress in science and the liberal arts: for no
man follows such pursuits to advantage unless his judgment be entirely free
and unhampered.

(20:44) But let it be granted that freedom may be crushed, and men be so
bound down, that they do not dare to utter a whisper, save at the bidding of
their rulers; nevertheless this can never be carried to the pitch of making
them think according to authority, so that the necessary consequences would
be that men would daily be thinking one thing and saying another, to the
corruption of good faith, that mainstay of government, and to the fostering
of hateful flattery and perfidy, whence spring stratagems, and the
corruption of every good art.

(20:45) It is far from possible to impose uniformity of speech, for the more
rulers strive to curtail freedom of speech, the more obstinately are
they resisted; not indeed by the avaricious, the flatterers, and other
numskulls, who think supreme salvation consists in filling their stomachs