Thurgood Marshall

"Lawyers have to be willing to sacrifice the wrong case for the right cause."

"The place where you made your stand never remains your place. You must always be fighting for a new and better world."

"I wish I could say that race relations have improved much since the 1950s. We still have a long way to go."

"Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy, but always aim to learn, to grow, to improve."

"A man can't ride your back unless it's bent."

"Unequal justice under the law is the most grievous form of injustice."

"What does it matter if a man sits at the lunch counter if he cannot afford to buy a hamburger?"

"The Constitution is colorblind, but the courts have not been."

"We cannot be broken by forces we cannot see. But we can be strengthened by those we can."

"I want no wards of the nation. I want people who can stand on their own two feet."

"The real burning question for our time is not whether this or that leader is right, but whether we will listen."

"Poverty is the worst form of violence."

"I have spent the better part of my life fighting discrimination. I do not intend to stop now."

"The highest aspiration of the black man should be to live on the same level as white men."

"We cannot guarantee success. We can only guarantee that we tried."

"Freedom is never given; it is won."

"I learned a long time ago that there are no shortcuts to nowhere."

"It cannot be denied that a strong current of racism persists in America, even among people of good will."

"The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion in the public sphere."

"Desegregation of schools should be one of the easiest things to do. But pride makes it one of the hardest."

"I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers."

"The question isn't whether affirmative action is fair. It's whether inequality is fair."

"I did what I could with the power I had."

"We must reach out to embrace our brothers and sisters, even those with whom we disagree."

"Rights are not self-executing. They must be insisted upon."

"The oath a judge takes is to uphold the Constitution. Not the preferences of the majority."

"You must never be satisfied with losing; you must get mad."

"The man who votes is the man who has a say in his own government."

"Change comes from the pressure of those who demand it, not from the compassion of those who resist it."

"What's right isn't always popular. What's popular isn't always right."