Judge Quotes

Life is made up of a series of judgments on insufficient data, and if we waited to run down all our doubts, it would flow past us.

It lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.

It is enough that we set out to mold the motley stuff of life into some form of our own choosing; when we do, the performance is itself the wage.

In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.

I shall ask no more than that you agree with Dean Inge that even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them.

A self-made man may prefer a self-made name.

Words are not pebbles in alien juxtaposition.

We may win when we lose, if we have done what we can; for by so doing we have made real at least some part of that finished product in whose fabrication we are most concerned: ourselves.

The aim of law is the maximum gratification of the nervous system of man.

Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution.

No doubt one may quote history to support any cause, as the devil quotes scripture.

Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers.

If we are to keep democracy, there must be a commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.

You would have a huge statelessness problem if you don't consider a child born abroad a U.S. citizen.

Who will take responsibility for raising the next generation?

When police or prosecutors conceal significant exculpatory or impeaching material, we hold, it is ordinarily incumbent on the state to set the record straight.

We had to go on and do the work of the court and we did.

So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.

She never envisioned a legal career for me, but she did think it was very important that I be able to support myself, and I think she would be pleased to see what has become of me.

Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that changed their abortion laws before Roe are not going to change back. So we have a policy that only affects poor women, and it can never be ot

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.

It is not women's liberation, it is women's and men's liberation.

It is not like I have gone crazy, I just don't want to take any chances. You never know what could happen.

I would not like to be the only woman on the court.

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman's equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.

Frankly, I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.

Dissents speak to a future age.

Arizona presents no specific reason for excepting capital defendants from the constitutional protections extended to defendants generally, and none is readily apparent.