Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.

The earliest exact wording located in the provided material appears in Richard L. Evans’s 1963 book "Faith in the Future" in a chapter about how speech functions as a kind of action that can help or harm others. Earlier sources (1917 Harvey O’Higgins; 1953 Brice Durbin) express the same idea with similar phrasing but not the exact modern sentence.

The line draws a distinction between having the right to speak and being shielded from social, professional, legal, or interpersonal reactions to what one says. It argues that speech is an act with effects, so responses and accountability can follow even when speech is permitted.

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. Speech is a form of action. It may hurt or heal.

They demand not only freedom of speech, but freedom from the consequences of speech.

It has never been our opinion that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech means freedom from consequence.

Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from the consequences that some words produce.