“The success of any legal system is measured by its fidelity to the universal ideal of justice.”

Those who serve upon our juries have maintained a standard of fairness and excellence and demonstrated a vision toward the administration of justice that is a wellspring of inspiration.

To separate children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.

Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism.

Before this distinguished assembly and the world, the bells today proclaim the joyous tidings of the completion of this quietly soaring tower.

I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.

In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.

It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defence, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties which make the defence of our nation worthwhile.

Our War of the Revolution was, in good measure, fought as a protest against standing armies.

Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.

Racial discrimination in public education is unconstitutional. All provisions of federal, state or local law requiring or permitting such discrimination must yield to this principle.

We are now at the point where we must decide whether we are to honour the concept of a plural society which gains strength through diversity, or whether we are to have bitter fragmentation that will result in perpetual tension and strife.

Ben Franklin may have discovered electricity- but it is the man who invented the meter who made the money.

If it is a mistake of the head and not the heart don’t worry about it, that’s the way we learn.

The censor’s sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression.

A republic is not an easy form of government to live under, and when the responsibility of citizenship is evaded, democracy decays and authoritarianism takes over.

A man’s usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can.

We’re not metaphysicians, we’re not idealists, we’re dialectical materialists. And we deal with what reality is, whether we like it or not.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.

If the nation is not capable of preserving itself and reproducing, if it loses it vital bearings and ideals, then it doesn’t need foreign enemies – it will fall apart on its own.

Religion is simply an ideal. It is an ideal force that tends to free the human being from material bonds.

Anger is an emotion that is very energetic. It is an ideal emotion to turn it around to make it work as a positive force.

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.