"I would hope to inspire in my listeners a feeling of freedom - of speech, thought and political activity"
About this Quote
The phrase "a feeling of freedom" is a smart, slightly slippery move. Freedom here isn't declared as a policy platform; it's staged as an interior experience that can be sparked by art, speech, or leadership. That's both generous and strategic. If you can get people to feel freer, you've lowered the psychological cost of dissent: they might speak up, think laterally, act publicly. It's a ladder from private emotion to collective consequence.
Then comes the escalation: "speech, thought and political activity". He names the classic civil-liberties triad but orders it like a pipeline. Speech is social and audible; thought is quieter and harder to police; political activity is where ideals collide with power. The subtext is that culture is upstream of politics. He's implying that what happens in a room, a venue, a broadcast, can reverberate into civic life.
The context reads like an artist or communicator defending art's public utility, especially in climates where expression is constrained or commodified. It's a pitch for art as rehearsal space for democracy - not comfort, not escape, but permission.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hall, John. (2026, January 16). I would hope to inspire in my listeners a feeling of freedom - of speech, thought and political activity. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-would-hope-to-inspire-in-my-listeners-a-feeling-125161/
Chicago Style
Hall, John. "I would hope to inspire in my listeners a feeling of freedom - of speech, thought and political activity." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-would-hope-to-inspire-in-my-listeners-a-feeling-125161/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I would hope to inspire in my listeners a feeling of freedom - of speech, thought and political activity." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-would-hope-to-inspire-in-my-listeners-a-feeling-125161/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.








