Louis D. Brandeis Quotes

United States, Lawyer
November 13, 1856 – October, 5, 1941.

Louis Dembitz Brandeis (/ˈbrændaɪs/; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents from Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), who raised him in a secular home. He attended Harvard Law School, graduating at the age of twenty with what is widely rumored to be the highest grade average in the law school's history. Brandeis settled in Boston, where he founded a law firm (that is still in practice today as Nutter McClennen & Fish) and became a recognized lawyer through his work on progressive social causes.

The difference between a nation and a nationality is clear, but it is not always observed. Likeness between members is the essence of nationality, but the members of a nation may be very different. A nation may be composed of many nationalities, as some of the most successful nations are.

Louis D. Brandeis
- Different
- May
Organisation can never be a substitute for initiative and for judgement.

Louis D. Brandeis

There are no shortcuts in evolution.

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
- Great
- Country
- Democracy
However great his outward conformity, the immigrant is not Americanized unless his interests and affections have become deeply rooted here. And we properly demand of the immigrant even more than this. He must be brought into complete harmony with our ideals and aspirations and cooperate with us for their attainment.

Louis D. Brandeis
- Great
Men long for an afterlife in which there apparently is nothing to do but delight in heaven's wonders.

Louis D. Brandeis
- Men
- Long
- Heaven
Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with patriotism. Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent.

Louis D. Brandeis
- American
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.

Louis D. Brandeis
- Important
- Political

It is not wealth, it is not station, it is not social standing and ambition which can make us worthy of the Jewish name, of the Jewish heritage. To be worthy of them, we must live up to and with them. We must regard ourselves their custodians.

Louis D. Brandeis
- Up
- Live
- Ambition
When those of Jewish blood exhibit moral or intellectual superiority, genius or special talent, we feel pride in them, even if they have abjured the faith like Spinoza, Marx, Disraeli or Heine. Despite the meditations of pundits or the decrees of council, our own instincts and acts, and those of others, have defined for us the term 'Jew.'

Louis D. Brandeis
- Faith
- Moral
- Pride