FastSaying

The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the suffocating influence of orthodoxy and standardized thought. They weighed the compulsions for restrained speech and thought against the abuses of liberty. They chose liberty.

Related Quotes

The court is really the keeper of the conscience, and the conscience is the Constitution.
— William Orville Douglas
ConscienceConstitutionCourt
The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.
— William Orville Douglas
BacksConstitutionDesigned
The critical point is that the Constitution places the right of silence beyond the reach of government.
— William Orville Douglas
BeyondConstitutionCritical
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.
— William Orville Douglas
AmericanDangerousFree
The function of the prosecutor under the federal Constitution is not to tack as many skins of victims as possible against the wall. His function is to vindicate the rights of the people as expressed in the laws and give those accused of crime a fair trial.
— William Orville Douglas
ConstitutionFederalFunction