The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen. Louis D. Brandeis More Quotes by Louis D. Brandeis More Quotes From Louis D. Brandeis We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both. Louis D. Brandeis power wisdom country Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means - to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal - would bring terrible retributions. Louis D. Brandeis teacher men mean The only title in our democracy superior to that of President is the title of citizen. Louis D. Brandeis titles democracy president Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. Louis D. Brandeis independent freedom men Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done. Louis D. Brandeis perseverance motivation fear Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. Louis D. Brandeis change law men The function of the press is very high. It is almost holy. It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or suppress the news is a breach of trust. Louis D. Brandeis news may people The right most valued by all civilized men is the right to be left alone. Louis D. Brandeis libertarian liberty men If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. Louis D. Brandeis evil education time The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people. Louis D. Brandeis hero war people Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman. Louis D. Brandeis publicity disease light If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. Louis D. Brandeis respect law desire ... fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones. Louis D. Brandeis hate opportunity lying Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants. Louis D. Brandeis publicity being-the-best nature Strong, responsible unions are essential to industrial fair play. Without them the labor bargain is wholly one-sided. The parties to the labor contract must be nearly equal in strength if justice is to be worked out, and this means that the workers must be organized and that their organizations must be recognized by employers as a condition precedent to industrial peace. Louis D. Brandeis party strong mean The constitutional right of free speech has been declared to be the same in peace and war. In peace, too, men may differ widely as to what loyalty to our country demands, and an intolerant majority, swayed by passion or by fear, may be prone in the future, as it has been in the past, to stamp as disloyal opinions with which it disagrees. Louis D. Brandeis freedom loyalty country It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country. Louis D. Brandeis risk political country Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties... They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty... that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government. Louis D. Brandeis political men mean In the frank expression of conflicting opinions lies the greatest promise of wisdom in governmental action. Louis D. Brandeis wisdom expression lying The makers of our Constitution . . . conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone - the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. Louis D. Brandeis law-courts rights men
