Jacob K. Javits Quotes

Let us do justice to them [the Jews].... Let us open to them every career in which ability and energy can be displayed. Till we have done this, let us not presume to say that there is no genius among the countrymen of Isaiah, no heroism among the descendants of the Maccabees.

If you wish the Jews to become better men and useful citizens, then banish every humiliating restriction, open to them every avenue of gaining a livelihood.

Freedom and opportunity are precious gifts and the purpose of our politics is to expand them, for all our people.

When Hegel later became a man of influence' he insisted that the Jews should be granted equal rights because civic rights belong to man because he is a man and not on account of his ethnic origins or his religion.

The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

… the color of the skin is a condition entirely to be disregarded … I have little patience with … any other tests than those of regularity, character, manhood, and intelligence.

History shows that the more open the intellectual environment, the better minorities will do.

Americans do not care what your origins are. They care what your destination is.

I saw America as a land of opportunity, not a bastion of racism or sexism.

If one black man aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, and open liberal-minded whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of white racists by making them look like the ignorant fools that they are truly are, imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals can accomplish.

I want everyone to live to their full potential without having to fear someone will try to knock them down or discriminate against them.

I hope I stand for antibigotry, anti-Semitism, antiracism. This is what drives me.

Mainstream American society finds it easiest to be tolerant when the outsider chooses to minimize the differences that separate him from the majority. The country club opens its doors to Jews. The university welcomes African-Americans. Heterosexuals extend the privilege of marriage to the gay community.

I think that's what all New Zealanders who are fair-minded want - a good chance for everybody to get ahead, whether it's education or housing.

In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being.

I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.'

If you scratch below the surface and ask what really makes me tick, it's the liberalism of trying to promote freedom and opportunity. Promoting social mobility is one of the keys to that.

We beg you to save young America from the blight of race prejudice. Do not bind the children within the narrow circles of your own lives.

This country is just that great that the opportunities are there for a Hispanic president, a black president or any other race for a president, yes.

Liberalism, above all, means emancipation - emancipation from one's fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty.

Race prejudice can't be talked down, it must be lived down.

I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, and anti-racism.

America is a great country. We are so wealthy. But our one remaining challenge is to fulfill the potential of all our people. And the only way we can do that is to try to bring everybody together to a higher place.

What are the American ideals? They are the development of the individual for his own and the common good; the development of the individual through liberty; and the attainment of the common good through democracy and social justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.