Amendments Quote by William O. Douglas

“The First Amendment makes confidence in the common sense of our people and in the maturity of their judgement the great postulate of our democracy.”

William O. Douglas

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Amendments Common Common sense Confidence Democracy First amendment Firsts Judgement Maturity People

More by William O. Douglas

Common sense often makes good law.

William O. Douglas

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Inanimate objects are sometimes parties to litigation. A ship has a legal personality, a fiction found useful for maritime purposes. The corporation sole -…

William O. Douglas

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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…

William O. Douglas

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I've often thought that if planners were botanists, zoologists, geologists, and people who know about the earth, we would have much more wisdom in…

William O. Douglas

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I have the same confidence in the ability of our people to reject noxious literature as I have in their capacity to sort out…

William O. Douglas

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The liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are protected.

William O. Douglas

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A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it…

William O. Douglas

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At the constitutional level where we work, 90 percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting…

William O. Douglas

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To be whole and harmonious, man must also know the music of the beaches and the woods. He must find the thing of which…

William O. Douglas

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Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

William O. Douglas

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We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights-older than our political parties, older than our school system.

William O. Douglas

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It is our attitude toward free thought and free expression that will determine our fate. There must be no limit on the range of…

William O. Douglas

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Explore all 145 William O. Douglas quotes

More Amendments quotes

This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase…

Gore Vidal

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Anybody who pretends that how you read the 10th and 11th Amendment doesn't have a fundamental impact on the things we care about is…

Joe Biden

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I have a lot of guns on my ranch. I don't use them for hunting. I'm not a hunter. It's for protection. The Second…

Chuck Norris

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All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we…

Benjamin Franklin

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If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…

George Washington

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The First Amendment exists to protect our religious liberty--to ensure that all Americans are able to seek out worship God with all our hearts,…

Ted Cruz

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Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…

Thomas Jefferson

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As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize,... The people are confirmed by the next…

Tench Coxe

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The lessons of the First Amendment are as urgent in the modern world as the 18th Century when it was written. One timeless lesson…

Anthony Kennedy

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The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage…

Barack Obama