William J. Brennan, Jr. Quotes
One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity. . . . The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by< emulating his murderer. Capital punishment's fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded. . . . One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty. Permanently.
Quotes to Explore
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As one grows older one becomes more critical of oneself and less of other people.
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I don't know how many people have ever seen the National Guard break in somewhere, but they mean business.
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Some people thought I'd be on the PGA Tour, that I'd win tournaments, play in majors, contend in majors, win majors. I thought they were crazy.
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People always say I'm a legend, but I'm not. Not until I've defended my Olympic titles. That's when I've decided I'll be a legend.
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Usually when you're working is when people want you to work. They don't want you as much when you're not working. That's the frustrating nature of our business.
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The entertainment medium of film is particularly tuned to the present imaginations of people at large. A lot of fiction is intensely nostalgic.
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Despite all odds we have emerged as one people and one country.
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It really bugs me the way people criticise how actors look. We're not models. Models exist.
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Do I feel that white directors have to tell only white stories? No. Do I feel that black filmmakers should only tell stories about black people? No. If we say that, then that means Asian people cannot write about anybody but Asians. I don't think a woman should only write about women.
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People would get Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence all mushed together in their brains, and, bless their hearts, it would come out Carol Lawrence.
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It's really fun to act like a bimbo. But it's fun to act like a bimbo only when people know that you really aren't one.
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When I was little, my grandmother would take me to church with her, and she would introduce me to people.
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We have so many rich people in Switzerland. They should take more responsibility for the general public. There is almost no tradition of philanthropy here anymore, unlike in the U.S.
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The thing about being an artist today is you get to develop right in front of people's eyes before you even put out an album.
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The type of music we know as classical music began with rich people hiring musicians or owning them in a way. Without funding, it's very hard to have this experience. Be it state money or private money, there has to be someone dedicated to raising the money.
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Specialists are people who always repeat the same mistakes.
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The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people.
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When the gun lobby fights gun-control legislation, its logic is clear: it does not like laws that prevent people from owning or using guns.
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The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't.
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You kind of wake up in the morning, and you don't see anybody but these actors until you go home at night and pass out and do it again. So it's structured a lot like the process when you're making a film. You just kind of get in that tunnel vision. I like that. I like when the rest of the world kind of quiets.
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The goal with a big piece of social legislation is to have a bipartisan result, so the country will accept it.
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Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.
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I was very productive as a senator for my state.
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One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity. . . . The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by< emulating his murderer. Capital punishment's fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded. . . . One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty. Permanently.
