Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Thurgood MarshallRead
I'm the world's original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Thurgood Marshall emphasizes the importance of patience and gradual change over time.
In this quote, Thurgood Marshall reflects on the concept of gradualism, suggesting that meaningful progress in life takes time and cannot be rushed. He implies that after a lifetime of experiences and changes over nearly a century, one should appreciate the slow, steady advancements rather than expect immediate outcomes.
Themes
GradualChangeProgressPatienceExperience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of persistence in social justice movements.
More from Thurgood Marshall
All quotes βThe 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
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 MarshallRead
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
Thurgood MarshallRead
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Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of.
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The worst men often give the best advice.
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The man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder (and worship), were he President of innumerable Royal Societies, and carried the whole Mecanique Celeste and Hegel's Philosophy, and the epitome of all Laboratories and Observatories with their results, in his single head, is but a Pair of Spectacles behind which there is no Eye. Let those who have Eyes look through him, then he may be useful.
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By surviving passages of doubt and depression on the vocational journey, I have become clear about at least one thing: self-care is never a selfish act -- it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give it the care it requires, we do so not only for ourselves but for the many others whose lives we touch.
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Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights.
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Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.
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