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
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of individual freedom and the dangers of government overreach into personal beliefs and thoughts.
Thurgood Marshall highlights the foundational principle of American democracy that prioritizes personal liberties. He argues that a government possessing the authority to influence or dictate human thought undermines the very essence of freedom, which is crucial to a just society. The quote serves as a reminder of the need to protect individual autonomy against authoritarian control.
Themes
FreedomGovernmentThoughtControlIndividuality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about civil liberties in a college class on political science.
More from Thurgood Marshall
All quotes βI 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
I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.
Thurgood MarshallRead
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And I watch my words from a long way off. They are more yours than mine. They climb on my old suffering like ivy.
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