William Douglas
William Douglas
Served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1939 to 1975.
ProfessionSupreme Court Justice
Date of Birth16 October 1898
CityMaine, MN
cope either government imagination jeopardy leaders means moral opportunity people realize required revolution tools unable
If the government is in jeopardy, it is not because we are unable to cope with revolutionary situations. Jeopardy means that either the leaders or the people do not realize they have all the tools required to make the revolution come true. The tools and the opportunity exist. Only the moral imagination is missing.
along certainly cheat decent explore foot friendly high horseback influence man mean men met mountains raised trails wholesome work
Mountains have a decent influence on men. I have never met along the trails of the high mountains a mean man who would cheat and steal. Certainly most men who are raised there or who work there are as wholesome as the mountains themselves. Those who explore them or foot or horseback usually are open, friendly men.
censorship community excite expression freedom juries matter offensive provided punish relates standards tendency test turns worst
Any test that turns on what is offensive to the community's standards is too loose, too capricious, too destructive of freedom of expression to be squared with the First Amendment. Under that test, juries can censor, suppress, and punish what they don't like, provided the matter relates to "sexual impurity" or has a tendency "to excite lustful thoughts." This is community censorship in one of its worst forms.
brave honorable inferior less retreats ways
Honorable retreats are no ways inferior to brave charges, as having less fortune, more of discipline, and as much valor.
boards charge leave people planning wisdom
I've often thought that if our zoning boards could be put in charge of botanists, of zoologists and geologists, and people who know about the earth, we would have much more wisdom in such planning than we have when we leave it to the engineers.
ballots cast ignorance illiteracy illiterate masses obviously
Ignorance and illiteracy are obviously not synonymous; even illiterate masses can cast their ballots with intelligence, once they are informed.
beauty lost sat thoughts
I sat some minutes, lost in my thoughts of the beauty of the place.
concerned government
Government should be concerned with anti-social conduct, not with utterances.
aware both change however lest neither remains seemingly twilight victims
As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
choice dissent human law laws police responsive society state suppressed vast
There are only two choices: A police state in which all dissent is suppressed or rigidly controlled; or a society where law is responsive to human needs. If society is to be responsive to human needs, a vast restructuring of our laws is essential.