Earl Warren Quotes

When the rights of any individual or group are chipped away, the freedom of all erodes.

Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism.

We are now at the point where we must decide whether we are to honour the concept of a plural society which gains strength through diversity, or whether we are to have bitter fragmentation that will result in perpetual tension and strife.

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.

Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile, I caught hell for.

To separate children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.

To get what you want, STOP doing what isn't working.

A republic is not an easy form of government to live under, and when the responsibility of citizenship is evaded, democracy decays and authoritarianism takes over.

Citizenship is the right to have rights.

It is doubtful that congress would pass the Bill of Rights if it were introduced today.

I'm very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. "Don't complain about growing old - many, many people do not have that privilege."

The success of any legal system is measured by its fidelity to the universal ideal of justice.

Churchmen are quick to defend religious freedom; lawyers were never so universally aroused as by President Roosevelt's Court bill; newspapers are most alert to civil liberties when there is a hint of press censorship in the air. And educators become perturbed at every effort to curb academic freedom. But too seldom do all of these become militant when ostensibly the rights of only one group are threatened. They do not always react to the truism that when the rights of any individual or group are chipped away, the freedom of all erodes.

I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses.

In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.

In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.

Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests.

If Nixon is not forced to turn over tapes of his conversations with the ring of men who were conversing on their violations of the law, then liberty will soon be dead in this nation. If Nixon gets away with that, then Nixon makes the law as he goes along - not the Congress nor the courts. The old Court you and I served so long will not be worthy of its traditions if Nixon can twist, turn and fashion the law as he sees fit.

To summarize: Americans have one of the greatest legal systems, but not a monopoly of the sense of justice, which is universal; nor have we a permanent copyright on the means of securing justice, for it is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.

Ben Franklin may have discovered electricity- but it is the man who invented the meter who made the money.

In The Field Of Public Education, The Doctrine Of 'Separate But Equal' Has No Place

The fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication constitute a greater danger to the privacy of the individual.

A society, in the process of moving forward, often appears to be tearing itself apart. Certainly, an age of rapid change, such as ours, produces many paradoxes. But perhaps the most tragic paradox of our time is to be found in the failure of nation-states to recognize the imperatives of internationalism.

The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.

It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defence, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties which make the defence of our nation worthwhile.