William O. Douglas Quotes

The problem in the world is the oppression of man by man; it this which threatens existence.

We are living in tumultuous times, and our focus should be fighting against the oppression and injustices that are against us - not battling those who are on the same side of seeking justice and peace.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

I didn't wake up and decide to become an activist. But you couldn't help notice the inequities, the injustices. It was all around you.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Inequality of any kind, once considered a normal, natural part of human existence, came to be seen in the course of the twentieth century as increasingly illegitimate.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

The margins don't get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them.

When we talk of freedom and opportunity for all nations, the mocking paradoxes in our own society become so clear they can no longer be ignored.

Repression or oppression never yet succeeded in crushing the truth or redressing a wrong.

A heavy aristocracy and corruption are two bridles in the mouths of a people which will prevent them from making any effectual efforts against their masters.

Social injustice is such a familiar phenomenon ... that it is readily regarded as something natural, even by its victims.

Equality is a monster.

Oppression makes a wise man mad.

Liberty without equality is a name of noble sound and squalid result.

Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

… injustice breeds injustice

All inequality that has no special utility to justify it is injustice.

The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion

How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates, 'freedom and justice for all,' that is so unjust to so many of the people living there?

I am not the least bit surprised that injustice persists. I'm also not surprised that resistance to injustice persists.

People are dying in vain because this country isn't holding their end of the bargain up as far as, you know, giving freedom and justice and liberty to everybody.

I feel there are injustices in the world that I'll stand up for, and I think that it's important to realize that the world is filled with these kinds of issues.

I've always hated oppression.