List of William O. Douglas Quotes

The Second Amendment Reveals A Profound Principle Of American Government - The Principle Of Civilian Ascendency Over The Military.

Hiking A Ridge, A Meadow, Or A River Bottom, Is As Healthy A Form Of Exercise As One Can Get. Hiking Seems To Put All The Body Cells Back Into Rhythm. Ten To Twenty Miles On A Trail Puts One To Bed With His Cares Unraveled.

The Court Is Really The Keeper Of The Conscience, And The Conscience Is The Constitution.

This Freedom Of Movement Is The Very Essence Of Our Free Society, Setting Us Apart. Like The Right Of Assembly And The Right Of Association, It Often Makes All Other Rights Meaningful-knowing, Studying, Arguing, Exploring, Conversing, Observing And Even Thinking. Once The Right To Travel Is Curtailed, All Other Rights Suffer, Just As When Curfew Or Home Detention Is Placed On A Person.

The Struggle Is Always Between The Individual And His Sacred Right To Express Himself And The Power Structure That Seeks Conformity, Suppression, And Obedience.

Christianity Has Sufficient Inner Strength To Survive And Flourish On Its Own. It Does Not Need State Subsidies, Nor State Privileges, Nor State Prestige. The More It Obtains State Support The Greater It Curtails Human Freedom.

My Faith Is That The Only Soul A Man Must Save Is His Own.

Man Is Whole When He Is In Tune With The Winds, The Stars, And The Hills... Being In Tune With The Universe Is The Entire Secrets.

The Right To Be Let Alone Is Indeed The Beginning Of All Freedom.

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 Such Planning Than We Have When We Leave It To The Engineers.

Only When There Is A Wilderness Can Man Harmonize His Inner Being With The Wavelengths Of The Earth. When The Earth, Its Products, Its Creatures, Become His Concern, Man Is Caught Up In A Cause Greater Than His Own Life And More Meaningful. Only When Man Loses Himself In An Endeavor Of That Magnitude Does He Walk And Live With Humanity And Reverence.

Trees Have Judicial Standing, And Probably Grass Too.

When A Legislature Undertakes To Proscribe The Exercise Of A Citizen's Constitutional Right To Free Speech, It Acts Lawlessly; And The Citizen Can Take Matters Into His Own Hands And Proceed On The Basis That Such A Law Is No Law At All.

A People Who Extend Civil Liberties Only To Preferred Groups Start Down The Path Either To Dictatorship Of The Right Or The Left.

Since When Have We Americans Been Expected To Bow Submissively To Authority And Speak With Awe And Reverence To Those Who Represent Us?

I Learned Early That The Richness Of Life Is Found In Adventure. Adventure Calls On All The Faculties Of Mind And Spirit. It Develops Self-reliance And Independence. Life Then Teems With Excitement. But Man Is Not Ready For Adventure Unless He Is Rid Of Fear. For Fear Confines Him And Limits His Scope. He Stays Tethered By Strings Of Doubt And Indecision And Has Only A Small And Narrow World To Explore.

The Way To Combat Noxious Ideas Is With Other Ideas. The Way To Combat Falsehoods Is With Truth.

A Function Of Free Speech Under Our System Of Government Is To Invite Dispute. It May Indeed Best Serve Its High Purpose When It Invites A Condition Of Unrest, Creates Dissatisfaction With Conditions As They Are, Or Even Stirs People To Anger. Speech Is Often Provocative And Challenging. It May Strike At Prejudices And Preconceptions And Have Profound Unsettling Effects As It Passes For Acceptance Of An Idea.

Those In Power Need Checks And Restraints Lest They Come To Identify The Common Good For Their Own Tastes And Desires, And Their Continuation In Office As Essential To The Preservation Of The Nation.

I Do Not Know Of Any Salvation For Society Except Through Eccentrics, Misfits, Dissenters, People Who Protest.

To Be Whole And Harmonious, Man Must Also Know The Music Of The Beaches And The Woods. He Must Find The Thing Of Which He Is Only An Infinitesimal Part And Nurture It And Love It, If He Is To Live.

The Liberties Of None Are Safe Unless The Liberties Of All Are Protected.

The Constitution And The Bill Of Rights We Designed To Get The Government Off The Backs Of The People -- All The People. Those Great Documents Guarantee To Us All The Rights To Personal And Spiritual Self-fulfillment. But That Guarantee Is Not Self-executing. As Nightfall Does Not Come All At Once, Neither Does Oppression. In Both Instances, There Is A Twilight When Everything Remains Seemingly Unchanged. And It Is In Such A Twilight That We All Must Be Most Aware Of The Change In The Air -- However Slight -- Lest We Become Unwitting Victims Of The Darkness.

Restriction Of Free Thought And Free Speech Is The Most Dangerous Of All Subversions. It Is The One Un-american Act That Could Most Easily Defeat Us.