Quotes from William O. 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.

The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think.

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.

The use of violence as an instrument of persuasion is therefore inviting and seems to the discontented to be the only effective protest.

The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth.

We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.

The Court's great power is its ability to educate, to provide moral leadership.

I do not know of any salvation for society except through eccentrics, misfits, dissenters, people who protest.

Man must be able to escape civilization if he is to survive. Some of his greatest needs are for refuges and retreats where he can recapture for a day or a week the primitive conditions of life.

The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think.

The day should come when all of the forms of life... will stand before the court - the pileated woodpecker as well as the coyote and bear, the lemmings as well as the trout in the streams.

One who comes to the Court must come to adore, not to protest. That's the new gloss on the 1st Amendment.

We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.

The right to dissent is the only thing that makes life tolerable for a judge of an appellate court... the affairs of government could not be conducted by democratic standards without it.

Religious experiences which are as real as life to some may be incomprehensible to others.

It seemed to me that I had barely reached the Court when people were trying to get me off.

Freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society -- once the right to travel is curtailed, all other rights suffer.

The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

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.

The association promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association for as noble a purpose as any involved in any prior decisions.

We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet.

The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.

The 5th Amendment is an old friend and a good friend. one of the great landmarks in men's struggle to be free of tyranny, to be decent and civilized.