I’m the world’s original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.
THURGOOD MARSHALLSurely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman.
More Thurgood Marshall Quotes
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Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.
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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.
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The Constitution was a product of its times.
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Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.
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To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.
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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.
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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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Do what you think is right and let the law catch up.
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In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
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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.
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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]
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A man can make what he wants of himself if he truly believes that he must be ready for hard work and many heartbreaks.
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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.
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Our Constitution is the envy of the world, as it should be for it is the grand design of the finest nation on earth.
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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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The ban directly hampers the partys ability to spread its message and hamstrings voters seeking to inform themselves about the candidates and issues.
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Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
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The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.
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None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
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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.
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Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely.
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History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
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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.
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The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit – a spirit that demands self-expression .
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Surely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman.
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What is the quality of your intent?
THURGOOD MARSHALL