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William O. Douglas

William O. Douglas Quotes

Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

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“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

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Author:William O. Douglas
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“A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it invites a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it passes for acceptance of an idea.”

PeopleMayIdeasGovernmentPurposeChallengesLibertyConditionsEffectsAcceptanceSpeechFunctionPrejudiceProfoundStrikesInvitesFree SpeechDisputesDissatisfactionProvocativeUnrestPreconceptionsSystems Of Government
Author:William O. Douglas
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“We know by now that if we make technology the predestined force in our lives, man will walk to the measure of its demands. We know how leveling that influence can be, how easy it is to computerize man and make him a servile thing in a vast industrial complex. . . . This means we must subject the machine - technology - to control and cease despoiling the earth and filling people with goodies merely to make money.”

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Book:POINTS OF REBELLION
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“I realized that Eastern thought had somewhat more compassion for all living things. Man was a form of life that in another reincarnation might possibly be a horsefly or a bird of paradise or a deer. So a man of such a faith, looking at animals, might be looking at old friends or ancestors. In the East the wilderness has no evil connotation; it is thought of as an expression of the unity and harmony of the universe.”

MenMightFormUniverseEvilAnimalCompassionExpressionBirdHarmonyUnityEastI RealizedParadiseWildernessAnimal RightsAncestorPollutionReincarnationEcologyEasternLiving ThingsOld FriendsDeerSave Mother EarthConnotation
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“The concept of the public welfare is broad and inclusive ... the values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary. It is within the power of the legislature to determine that the community should be beautiful as well as healthy, spacious as well as clean, well balanced as well as carefully patroled.”

ShouldWellsBeautifulSpiritualValuesCommunityEnvironmentHealthyConceptsCleanDetermineWelfareBroadsInclusionAestheticBalancedLegislatureMonetaryPublic Welfare
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“One aspect of modern life which has gone far to stifle men is the rapid growth of tremendous corporations. Enormous spiritual sacrifices are made in the transformation of shopkeepers into employees... The disappearance of free enterprise has led to a submergence of the individual in the impersonal corporation in much the same manner as he has been submerged in the state in other lands.”

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“I learned early that the richness of life is found in adventure. Adventure calls on all the faculties of mind and spirit. It develops self-reliance and independence. Life then teems with excitement. But man is not ready for adventure unless he is rid of fear. For fear confines him and limits his scope. He stays tethered by strings of doubt and indecision and has only a small and narrow world to explore.”

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“Only when there is a wilderness can man harmonize his inner being with the wavelengths of the earth. When the earth, its products, its creatures, become his concern, man is caught up in a cause greater than his own life and more meaningful. Only when man loses himself in an endeavor of that magnitude does he walk and live with humanity and reverence.”

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“Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order, to efficiency of operation, to scientific advancement and the like.”

WayGivingShouldReasonBigsGovernmentFormLawOrderPowerfulRecordsSecurityBrotherReason WhyOperationsPrivacyEfficiencyNational SecurityAdvancementPrivate SectorLaw And OrderWorld GovernmentOne World GovernmentScientific AdvancementPowerful Government
Book:POINTS OF REBELLION
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“Once the government can demand of a publisher the names of the purchasers of his publication, the free press as we know it disappears. Then the spectre of a government agent will look over the shoulder of everyone who reads. ... Fear of criticism goes with every person into the bookstall. The subtle, imponderable pressures of the orthodox lay hold. Some will fear to read what is unpopular, what the powers-that-be dislike. ... fear will take the place of freedom in the libraries, book stores, and homes in the land.”

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“The Constitution and the Bill of Rights we designed to get the government off the backs of the people -- all the people. Those great documents guarantee to us all the rights to personal and spiritual self-fulfillment. But that guarantee is not self-executing. As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we all must be most aware of the change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.”

PeopleDoeSelfGovernmentSpiritualDarknessRightsAirConstitutionVictimRemainsBillsOppressionInstanceFulfillmentGuaranteesTwilightDocumentsBill Of RightsExecutingNightfallSelf Fulfillment
Author:William O. Douglas
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“This freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society, setting us apart. Like the right of assembly and the right of association, it often makes all other rights meaningful-knowing, studying, arguing, exploring, conversing, observing and even thinking. Once the right to travel is curtailed, all other rights suffer, just as when curfew or home detention is placed on a person.”

ThinkingPersonsHomeLawSufferingKnowingStudyRightsMovementEssenceArguingMeaningfulSettingSettingsAssociationExploringObservingAssemblyFree SocietyDetentionCurfew
Author:William O. Douglas
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“We have a system which, though far from perfect, is strong with idealism. It gives elbow room for men of all races and all beliefs. It is vital and dynamic. And it works. We have the means of shaping the world in our pattern. If we do, freedom will be assured for all men. The decision is in the hands of this generation. It is a challenge to our political competence. For Western civilization it is the greatest challenge of all time.”

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Author:William O. Douglas
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