None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
THURGOOD MARSHALLSome years ago I said in an opinion that if this country is a melting pot, then either the Afro-Americans didn’t get in the pot or he didn’t get melted down.
More Thurgood Marshall Quotes
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It is now well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas.This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society.
THURGOOD MARSHALL -
What is the quality of your intent?
THURGOOD MARSHALL -
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 -
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 -
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 -
The ban directly hampers the partys ability to spread its message and hamstrings voters seeking to inform themselves about the candidates and issues.
THURGOOD MARSHALL -
Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.
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.
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Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.
THURGOOD MARSHALL -
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 -
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 United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.
THURGOOD MARSHALL -
Truth is more than a mental exercise.
THURGOOD MARSHALL -
Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
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The process of democracy is one of change. Our laws are not frozen into immutable form, they are constantly in the process of revision in response to the needs of a changing society.
THURGOOD MARSHALL