William Orville Douglas Quotes

The Second Amendment reveals a profound principle of American government - the principle of civilian ascendency over the military

William Orville Douglas

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

William Orville Douglas

Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred.

William Orville Douglas

Free speech is not to be regulated like diseased cattle and impure butter. The audience that hissed yesterday may applaud today, even for the same performance.

William Orville Douglas

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

Ignorance and illiteracy are obviously not synonymous; even illiterate masses can cast their ballots with intelligence, once they are informed.

William Orville Douglas

One aspect of modern life which has gone far to stifle men is the rapid growth of tremendous corporations. Enormous spiritual sacrifices are made in the transformation of shopkeepers into employees. . . . The disappearance of free enterprise has led to a submergence of the individual in the impersonal corporation in much the same manner as he has been submerged in the state in other lands.

William Orville Douglas

The truth is that a vast restructuring of our society is needed if remedies are to become available to the average person. Without that restructuring the good will that holds society together will be slowly dissipated. . . . It is that sense of futility which permeates the present series of protests and dissents. Where there is a persistent sense of futility, there is violence; and that is where we are today.

William Orville Douglas

The search for static security-in the law and elsewhere-is misguided. The fact is . . . security can only be achieved through constant change, through discarding old ideas that have outlived their usefulness and adapting to current facts.