--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The privilege against self-incrimination…" description: "\"The privilege against self-incrimination is one of the great landmarks in man's struggle to make himself civilized... The Fifth is a lone sure rock in ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/erwin-griswold-72369_civilized_the-privilege-against-self-incrimination_1307283.jpg" --- # The privilege against self-incrimination is one of the… ![“The privilege against self-incrimination is one of the great landmarks in man's struggle to make himself civilized... The Fifth is a lone sure rock in time of storm ... a symbol of the ultimate moral sense of the community, upholding the best in us.” quote by Erwin Griswold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/erwin-griswold-72369_civilized_the-privilege-against-self-incrimination_1307283.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/erwin-griswold-72369_civilized_the-privilege-against-self-incrimination_1307283.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/erwin-griswold-72369_civilized_the-privilege-against-self-incrimination_1307283.jpg) > “The privilege against self-incrimination is one of the great landmarks in man's struggle to make himself civilized... The Fifth is a lone sure rock in time of storm ... a symbol of the ultimate moral sense of the community, upholding the best in us.” [Erwin Griswold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-griswold/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being forced to incriminate themselves, serving as a cornerstone of civil liberties and societal morality. **In simple terms:** Self‑incrimination protection is a key civil right. Key Takeaway Guard your rights, uphold justice. Themes civil liberties justice individual rights Mood serious reflective Type legal historical When to use this quote - courtroom testimony - law school study - public policy debate - media reporting Key Concepts constitutional law morality civil society Questions to Reflect On - How does self‑incrimination protection shape public trust? - When might exceptions be justified? A Different Perspective Rights can be limited by national security concerns. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) [Civilized Fifth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-fifth-4313041/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Fifth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fifth/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Incrimination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incrimination-550667/) [Landmarks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/landmarks/) [Lone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lone/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Privilege](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/privilege/) [Privilege Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/privilege-self-2887433/) [Rocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rocks/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self Incrimination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-incrimination-550666/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Storm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storm/) [Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle/) [Symbols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbols/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Ultimate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ultimate/) ## Related quotes > [Well, if I used the privilege of self-incrimination at that time, I must have felt that perhaps there might be something that might incriminate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethel-rosenberg/well-if-i-used-the-privilege-of-self-incrimination-at-that-time-i/) [Ethel Rosenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethel-rosenberg/) > [Officers are taught to use all the tricks and lies that courts permit within the scope of the Fifth Amendment's shield against self-incrimination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-k-shipler/officers-are-taught-to-use-all-the-tricks-and-lies-that-courts-permit/) [David K. Shipler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-k-shipler/) > [Lawyers on TV always tell their clients not to say anything. The cops say that thing: 'Anything you say will be used against you.'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/lawyers-on-tv-always-tell-their-clients-not-to-say-anything-the-cops/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) > [“The cops say that thing:'anything you say will be used against you.' Self-incrimination. I looked it up. Three-point vocab word. So why does everyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/the-cops-say-that-thing-anything-you-say-will-be-used-against-you/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) > [“You never stop to think how the history of whiteness in America is one long scroll of affirmative action. 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They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-muschamp/a-building-does-not-have-to-be-an-important-work-of-architecture-to/) [Herbert Muschamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-muschamp/) > [If you are in the country, you should notice landmarks - that is, objects which help you to find your way or prevent you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-baden-powell/if-you-are-in-the-country-you-should-notice-landmarks-that-is-objects/) [Robert Baden-Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-baden-powell/) > [Routine shortens and variety lengthens time, and it is therefore in the power of men to do something to regulate its pace. A life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/routine-shortens-and-variety-lengthens-time-and-it-is-therefore-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Landscapes can be deceptive. Sometimes a landscape seems to be less a setting for the life of its inhabitants than a curtain behind which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/landscapes-can-be-deceptive-sometimes-a-landscape-seems-to-be-less-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [I did not kill my father, but I sometimes felt I had helped him on his way. And but for the fact that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-did-not-kill-my-father-but-i-sometimes-felt-i-had-helped-him-on-his/) [Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [The new Bournville College is not only a magnificent building and a great landmark but a source of pride for Longbridge and its communities.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/waqar-azmi/the-new-bournville-college-is-not-only-a-magnificent-building-and-a/) [Waqar Azmi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/waqar-azmi/) > [Sixty felt like a big landmark. Not in a dreadful sense, but none of the other birthdays have bothered me. It's got labels on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-walters/sixty-felt-like-a-big-landmark-not-in-a-dreadful-sense-but-none-of/) [Julie Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-walters/) > [But to carve the Grand Canyon, Earth required millions of years. To excavate Meteor Crater, the universe, using a sixty-thousand-ton asteroid traveling upward of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/but-to-carve-the-grand-canyon-earth-required-millions-of-years-to/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/of-all-the-bewildering-things-about-a-new-country-the-absence-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) ## More by Erwin Griswold > [The right to be let alone is the underlying principle of the Constitution's Bill of Rights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-griswold/the-right-to-be-let-alone-is-the-underlying-principle-of-the/) [Erwin Griswold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-griswold/) > [Indeed, that the Second Amendment poses no barrier to strong gun laws is perhaps the most well-settled proposition in American constitutional law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-griswold/indeed-that-the-second-amendment-poses-no-barrier-to-strong-gun-laws/) [Erwin Griswold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-griswold/) > [We have long had death and taxes as the two standards of inevitability. But there are those who believe that death is the preferable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-griswold/we-have-long-had-death-and-taxes-as-the-two-standards-of/) [Erwin Griswold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-griswold/) [Explore all 4 Erwin Griswold quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-griswold/) ## More Civilized quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Civilized nations are ones that simply can't endure wrongs or injustice except at home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-anderson/civilized-nations-are-ones-that-simply-can-t-endure-wrongs-or/) [Joseph Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-anderson/) > [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/) [Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/) > [War is not civilized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talib-kweli/war-is-not-civilized/) [Talib Kweli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talib-kweli/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. 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