Quotessence
Home / Authors / Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas Quotes

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleThinkingBlackIfsGovernmentConstitutionLawCourtLibertyBelieve

Famous Clarence Thomas Quotes

“A good argument diluted to avoid criticism is not nearly as good as the undiluted argument, because we best arrive at truth through a process of honest and vigorous debate. Arguments should not sneak around in disguise, as if dissent were somehow sinister... For it is bravery that is required to secure freedom.”

IfsShouldTruthProcessBlackJusticeCourageHonestSpeechArgumentCriticismBraveryDebateSecureDisguiseDissentVigorousSneakSinister
Author:Clarence Thomas
Create image

“The Constitution, in addition to delegating certain enumerated powers to Congress, places whole areas outside the reach of Congress' regulatory authority. The First Amendment, for example, is fittingly celebrated for preventing Congress from "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion or "abridging the freedom of speech." The Second Amendment similarly appears to contain an express limitation on the government's authority.”

FirstsWholeGovernmentCertainExampleExerciseSpeechAuthorityAreasConstitutionCongressLimitationAmendmentsFreedom Of SpeechFirst AmendmentSecond AmendmentPreventing
Author:Clarence Thomas
Create image

“The Constitution contains no 'dignity' Clause, and even if it did, the government would be incapable of bestowing dignity. ... Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the government denies them those benefits.”

IfsGovernmentWould BeHumanityLostLosesBenefitsDignityConstitutionSlaveDenyCampsDeniedIncapableRulingGay MarriageConfinedDissentClausesCourt DecisionInternmentInternment Camps
Author:Clarence Thomas
Create image

“My grandfather was a man, when he talked about freedom, his attitude was really interesting. His view was that you had obligations or you had responsibilities, and when you fulfilled those obligations or responsibilities, that then gave you the liberty to do other things. So the freedoms that we talk about today, the liberties that we talk about today were the benefits that you got from discharging your responsibilities.”

MenTodayInterestingViewsAttitudeResponsibilityLibertyBenefitsObligationGrandfatherFulfilledMy GrandfatherReally Interesting
Author:Clarence Thomas
Create image

“I would walk into the Carnegie Library and I would see the pictures of Booker T. and pictures of Frederick Douglass and I would read. I would go into the Savannah Public Libraries in the stacks and see all of the newspapers from all over the country. Did I dream that I would be on the Supreme Court? No. But I dreamt that there was a world out there that was worth pursuing.”

WorldCountryDreamWould BeWalksCourtLibraryNewspapersSupremeSupreme CourtPublic LibraryCarnegieSavannah
Author:Clarence Thomas
Create image

“Merely because I was black, it seemed, I was supposed to listen to Hugh Maskela instead of Carole King, just as I was expected to be a radical, not a conservative. I no longer cared to play that game ... The black people I knew came from different places and backgrounds - social, economic, even ethnic - yet the color of our skin was somehow supposed to make us identical in spite of our differences. I didn't buy it. Of course we had all experienced racism in one way or another, but that did not mean we had to think alike”

PeopleThinkingWayMeanDifferentPlayCoursesGamesSocialBlackDifferencesEconomicColorKingsRacismSkinsConservativeExpectedBackgroundsOne WayRadicalSpiteBlack PeopleIdenticalDifferent Place
Author:Clarence Thomas
Create image

“Any discrimination, like sharp turns in a road, becomes critical because of the tremendous speed at which we are traveling into the high-tech world of a service economy.”

WorldTurnsTechnologyEconomyCriticalSpeedDiscrimination
Book:Clarence Thomas -- Confronting the Future: Selections from the Senate Confirmation Hearings and Prior Speeches
Create image