Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Thurgood MarshallRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of personal freedom and the right to choose what one consumes in terms of literature and film.
Thurgood Marshall highlights the essence of the First Amendment by asserting that individuals should have the autonomy to make personal decisions about the books they read and the films they watch without government interference. This statement not only defends freedom of expression but also underscores the fundamental belief in individual rights and the boundaries of state power in matters of personal choice.
Themes
FreedomChoiceFirst AmendmentExpressionIndividuality
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about censorship, one might refer to this quote to argue against state control over personal choices.
More from Thurgood Marshall
All quotes →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 MarshallRead
I cannot accept this invitation [to celebrate the bicentenial of the Constitution], 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 MarshallRead
When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.
Thurgood MarshallRead
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
Thurgood MarshallRead
I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.
Thurgood MarshallRead
Similar quotes
It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. Of course this is the fate of most souls, reducing entire lives, no matter how vivid and wonderful, to those sad black names on withering family trees, with half a date dangling after and a question mark.
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Do not bury our glorious orthodoxy in the treacherous pit of a spurious conservatism.
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Understand that we are all co-creators of our respective destinies.
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Only in the last moment in history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.
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Scepticism is the first step towards truth.
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The more important the subject and the closer it cuts to the bone of our hopes and needs, the more we are likely to err in establishing a framework for analysis.
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