Thurgood Marshall Quotes

Quotes about:

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  To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Democracy, Foundation, Injustice

  474 Copy quote
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  Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Mean, Equal

  Deborah Hitzeroth, Thurgood Marshall, Sharon Leon (1997). “Thurgood Marshall”

  548 Copy quote
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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.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Believe, Hard Work, Men

  499 Copy quote

• We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Jobs, Blow, America

  Thurgood Marshall, J. Clay Smith, Jr. (2003). “Supreme Justice: Speeches and Writings”, p.15, University of Pennsylvania Press

  614 Copy quote

• 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

  Teacher, Appreciation, Retirement

  548 Copy quote

• I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories... We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust... We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Memories, Powerful, America

  Thurgood Marshall's acceptance speech for the Liberty Medal at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, genius.com. July 4, 1992.

  520 Copy quote

• The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Country, Greatness, Compassion

  "Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238". U.S. Supreme Court case, supreme.justia.com. June 29, 1972.

  431 Copy quote
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  Do what you think is right and let the law catch up.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Thinking, Law

  "Michael Steele’s Thurgood Marshall Fail" by David Corn And Suzy Khimm, www.motherjones.com. June 29, 2010.

  341 Copy quote
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  In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Freedom

  286 Copy quote

• 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

  Law, Democracy, Needs

  300 Copy quote

• Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Frustration, Race, Color

  Thurgood Marshall's speech at the National Convention of Alpha Phi Alpha in St. Louis, Missouri (August 15, 1966) as quoted in "St. Louis Globe-Democrat" (p. 1), August 17, 1966.

  304 Copy quote
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  The Ku Klux Klan never dies. They just stop wearing sheets because sheets cost too much.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Ku Klux Klan, Prejudice, Cost

  333 Copy quote

• What is the quality of your intent? Certain people have a way of saying things that shake us at the core. Even when the words do not seem harsh or offensive, the impact is shattering. What we could be experiencing is the intent behind the words. When we intend to do good, we do. When we intend to do harm, it happens. What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Respect, Impact, People

  310 Copy quote

• History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Inspirational, Rights, Historical

  "Neither Liberty, Nor Safety" by Virginia Postrel, reason.com. June 1989.

  288 Copy quote

• 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

  Mother, Baby, Children

  298 Copy quote

• 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

  Freedom, Men, Black History

  237 Copy quote

• Truth is more than a mental exercise.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Exercise, Truth Is

  45 Copy quote

• 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

  Race, Color, Law

  149 Copy quote

• To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as fundamental today.

  Thurgood Marshall

  War, Rights, Government

  "RNC uses Thurgood Marshall speech to attack Supreme Court nominee Kagan" by Russell Berman, thehill.com. May 11, 2010.

  154 Copy quote

• 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

  Business, Book, Mean

  Stanley v. Georgia (1969)

  27 Copy quote

• Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Doors, Doe, Process

  Thurgood Marshall, Mark V. Tushnet (2001). “Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences”, p.375, Chicago Review Press

  187 Copy quote

• We must dissent from the fear.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Racism And Prejudice, Mistrust, Dissent

  Thurgood Marshall, J. Clay Smith, Jr. (2003). “Supreme Justice: Speeches and Writings”, p.15, University of Pennsylvania Press

  50 Copy quote

• Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Men, Giving, Freedom Of Speech

  Thurgood Marshall, Mark V. Tushnet (2001). “Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences”, p.11, Chicago Review Press

  85 Copy quote

• Our Constitution is the envy of the world, as it should be for it is the grand design of the finest nation on earth.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Envy, Design, Democracy

  20 Copy quote

• None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.

  Thurgood Marshall

  Teacher, Soulmate, Teaching

  56 Copy quote

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