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None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.

Thurgood Marshall

The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment. It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Death Fall Ignorance Life Poor Prison Privilege Society
We can always stick together when we are losing, but tend to find means of breaking up when we’re winning.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Break Lose Ourselves Togetherness Win
The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Ability Compassionate Country Greatness Time
Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Access Function
To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Democracy Foundation Injustice Ourselves
Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Equality Justice Law Place Time
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Alone Business Himself Home Law Man Meaning Movie Reading Rule See
I cannot accept this invitation for I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever ‘fixed’ at the Philadelphia Convention… To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start. [Progressive]
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Acceptance Believe Constitution Forever Government Myself Start
Surely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Fact Hairs Identify Man
Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Accomplishment Challenge Discrimination End Race Selection
We must dissent from the fear.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Fear One Liner
None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Help Journey Ourselves Parents Teacher
The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit – a spirit that demands self-expression .
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Expression Human Need Service Spirit
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Humanity Ourselves Pay Recognition Respect
A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Black Born Children Goal Myself Person Right True White Worth
Truth is more than a mental exercise.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Exercise Mental Truth

None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.

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None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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