Earl Warren Quotes
1891 - 1974
More Earl Warren Quotes
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports section records people's accomplishments; the front page nothing but man's failures.
Earl Warren— As quoted in Sports Illustrated (22 July 1968)Variants:I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.As quoted in Best Sports Stories : 1975 (1976) by Irving T. Marsh
We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place.
Earl Warren— 1954 Ruling to declare segregated schools unconstitutional, 17 May.
The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one ofthevital personal rights essentialtotheorderly pursuit of happiness by free men.
Earl Warren— 1957 2 Jun. Unanimous ruling against aVirginian law forbidding intermarriage of blacks and whites.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
Earl Warren— 1968 In Sports Illustrated,'Scorecard', 22 Jul.
If it is a mistake of the head and not the heart don't worry about it, that's the way we learn.
Earl Warren— As quoted in Earl Warren : A Great American Story (1948) by Irving Stone, p. 64
Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism.
Earl Warren— Address to National Press Club in Washington DC, as quoted in Freedom and Union (April 1952)Variants:Most people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism.As quoted in Politics and Policies : The Continuing Issues (1970) by Duane W. Hill, p. 170
Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism.
Earl Warren— As quoted in Encarta Book of Quotations (2000) edited by Bill Swainson, p. 969
You sit up there, and you see the whole gamut of human nature. Even if the case being argued involves only a little fellow and $50, it involves justice. That's what is important.
Earl Warren— Interview in 1953 after being appointed to the Supreme Court, as quote in Earl Warren : A Political Biography (1967) by Leo Katcher, p. 315
Liberty, not communism, is the most contagious force in the world.
Earl Warren— Speech at Columbia University (14 January 1954)
We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
Earl Warren— Writing for the court, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the State has undertaken to provide it, is a right that must be made available to all on equal terms.
Earl Warren— Writing for the court, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
The abhorrence of society to the use of involuntary confessions does not turn alone on their inherent untrustworthiness. It also turns on the deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that, in the end, life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.
Earl Warren— Writing for the court, Spano v. New York 360 U.S. 321 (1959).
The censor's sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression.
Earl Warren— Dissent in Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago 365 U.S. 43 (1961).
In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.
Earl Warren— Speech at the Louis Marshall Award Dinner of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Americana Hotel, New York City (11 November 1962)
The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.
Earl Warren— Speech at the Louis Marshall Award Dinner of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Americana Hotel, New York City (11 November 1962)
The fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication constitute a greater danger to the privacy of the individual.
Earl Warren— Concurring in the judgment, Lopez v. United States 373 U.S. 427 (1963)
Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests.
Earl Warren— Reynolds v. Sims (1964), on the subject of state Senate apportionment.
I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.
Earl Warren— As quoted in The Norton Book of Sports (1992) by George Plimpton, p. 470
A society, in the process of moving forward, often appears to be tearing itself apart. Certainly, an age of rapid change, such as ours, produces many paradoxes. But perhaps the most tragic paradox of our time is to be found in the failure of nation-states to recognize the imperatives of internationalism.
Earl Warren— Writing in Saturday Review (23 October 1971), p. 16
If Nixon is not forced to turn over tapes of his conversations with the ring of men who were conversing on their violations of the law, then liberty will soon be dead in this nation. If Nixon gets away with that, then Nixon makes the law as he goes along not the Congress nor the courts. The old Court you and I served so long will not be worthy of its traditions if Nixon can twist, turn and fashion the law as he sees fit.
Earl Warren— Speaking to William O. Douglas on the afternoon of the day he died (9 July 1974) as quoted in The Court Years, 1939-1975 : The Autobiography of William O. Douglas (1980), p. 514
I'm very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. "Don't complain about growing old many, many people do not have that privilege."
Earl Warren— Statement on celebrating his 83rd birthday (March 1974), as quoted in The Reader's Digest (1980) Vol. 116, p. 43
We may not know the whole story in our lifetime.
Earl Warren— On the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, quoted in Minute by Minute (1985)
I hate banks. They do nothing positive for anybody except take care of themselves. They're first in with their fees and first out when there's trouble.
Earl Warren— As quoted in The Book of Business Quotations (1991) by Eugene Weber, p. 20
Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile, I caught hell for.
Earl Warren— As quoted in Do It : Let's Get Off Our Buts (1992) by Peter John Roger McWilliams
Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests.
Earl Warren— Earl Warren, Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 562 (1964).
[Many agricultural counties] are far more important in the life of the State than their population bears to the entire population of the State. It is for this reason that I have never been in favor of restricting their representation in our State Senate to a strictly population basis. It is the same reason that the founding fathers of our country gave balanced representation to the States of the Union, equal representation in one House and proportionate representation based upon population in the other.
Earl Warren— Earl Warren, governor of California, speech at Merced, California (October 29, 1948), as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle (October 30, 1948), p. 3. Warren was asking for a "no" vote on a proposition which would reconstitute the state senate on the basis of population.
The only reason that there has been no sabotage or espionage on the part of Japanese-Americans is that they are waiting for the right moment to strike.
Earl Warren— Testimony on Internment of people of Japanese Ancestry before the House Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration (Tolan Committee) in 1941; of this statement Warren later said, in The Memoirs of Earl Warren (1977):
