[T]he peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing thehuman race . . . those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprivedvof the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. John Stuart Mill
1869

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It …

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. Noah Webster

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws …

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood..; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant chances that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what is will be tomorrow. James Madison
Federalist #62 (1751-1836)[The Internal Revenue Code is 11,200 pages of small print, with 2.8 million words as of the early 1990s]