Words matter. These are the best Louis D. Brandeis Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
The difference between a nation and a nationality is clear, but it is not always observed. Likeness between members is the essence of nationality, but the members of a nation may be very different. A nation may be composed of many nationalities, as some of the most successful nations are.
There are no shortcuts in evolution.
I abhor averages. I like the individual case. A man may have six meals one day and none the next, making an average of three meals per day, but that is not a good way to live.
To declare that in the administration of criminal law the end justifies the means to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure conviction of a private criminal would bring terrible retribution.
If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold.
Organisation can never be a substitute for initiative and for judgement.
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.
Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent.
Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.
Those who won our independence… valued liberty as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Neutrality is at times a graver sin than belligerence.
We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the man himself.
Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with patriotism. Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent.
In the frank expression of conflicting opinions lies the greatest promise of wisdom in governmental action.
Democracy rests upon two pillars: one, the principle that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the other, the conviction that such equal opportunity will most advance civilization.
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.
What is Americanization? It manifests itself, in a superficial way, when the immigrant adopts the clothes, the manners and the customs generally prevailing here. Far more important is the manifestation presented when he substitutes for his mother tongue the English language as the common medium of speech.
If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.
It is not wealth, it is not station, it is not social standing and ambition which can make us worthy of the Jewish name, of the Jewish heritage. To be worthy of them, we must live up to and with them. We must regard ourselves their custodians.
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.
Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
Behind every argument is someone’s ignorance.
During most of my life, my contact with Jews and Judaism was slight. I gave little thought to their problems, save in asking myself, from time to time, whether we were showing by our lives due appreciation of the opportunities which this hospitable country affords. My approach to Zionism was through Americanism.
