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We can always stick together when we are losing, but tend to find means of breaking up when we’re winning.

Thurgood Marshall

Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Hands History
Classifications and distinctions based on race or color have no moral or legal validity in our society. They are contrary to our constitution and laws.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Color Constitution Law Moral Ourselves Race Society
It is a historic step toward eliminating the shameful practice of racial discrimination in the selection of juries.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Discrimination History Practice Race Selection Shame
A man can make what he wants of himself if he truly believes that he must be ready for hard work and many heartbreaks.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Believe Hard Work Heart Broken Himself Man True
Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Color Excuse Frustration Law Race
I’m the world’s original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Enough Myself Thinking World
Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Equality Justice Law Place Time
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
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
The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Ability Compassionate Country Greatness Time
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
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

Color Himself Man Missing World
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

Change Democracy Law Oneself Recognition Response Society
Today’s Constitution is a realistic document of freedom only because of several corrective amendments. Those amendments speak to a sense of decency and fairness that I and other Blacks cherish.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Black Constitution Enjoyment Fair Myself Ourselves Talk
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
Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Access Function

We can always stick together when we are losing, but tend to find means of breaking up when we’re winning.

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We can always stick together when we are losing, but tend to find means of breaking up when we’re winning.

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