Thurgood Marshall Quotes

Democracies are poor breeding grounds for terrorism and war.

I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society.

It will take years to bring Iraq the democracy it deserves.

Let's face it: however old-fashioned and out of date and devaluated the word is, we like the way of living provided by democracy.

I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

Democracy takes time. Dictatorship is quicker, but too many people get shot.

Democracy is the form of government in which the free are rulers.

Two Cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.

Democratic elements in a society by their very nature feel that they have to give their religious fundamentalist opposition freedom of expression and action, a handicap from which their fundamentalist opponents do not suffer.

Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered Expression

Governments pale in the face of truth. It’s the one thing they fear most.

Democracies need to be challenged, unlike dictatorships that fear broad challenge because it may cause them to buckle. Challenge in democracies is also rebirth.

We want democracy and peace.

Freedom only for supporters of the government, only for the members of one party - however numerous they may be - is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. Not because of any fanatical concept of 'justice' but because all that is instructive, wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends on this essential characteristic, and its effectiveness vanishes when 'freedom' becomes a special privilege.

Those who abhors democracy would rarely immigrate to an authoritarian state if they have to.

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

Free societies are societies in which the right of dissent is protected.

There is a danger in democracy itself.

Whether we are New Dealer, Old Dealer, Liberty Leaguer or Red, whether we agree or not, we still have the right to think and speak how we feel.

I like the noise of democracy.

Democracy is now going forth on a crusade against imperialism.

I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.

A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.

In our modern age - in the age of free information - I don't think there is any place for dictatorships.

We need to understand that an open society and free speech and press... really are the best weapons against al Qaeda and extremism.