Quotes from Hugo Black

There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.

The lesson which wars and depressions have taught is that if we want peace, prosperity and happiness at home we must help to establish them abroad.

Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others.

The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands.

The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to... bare the secrets of government and inform the people.

I am for the First Amendment from the first word to the last. I believe it means what it says.

In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.

In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly.

A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion.

The layman's constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn't like is unconstitutional.

The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.

Paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.

Loyalty must arise spontaneously from the hearts of people who love their country and respect their government.

Words uttered under coercion are proof of loyalty to nothing but self-interest. Love of country must spring from willing hearts and free minds.

Our Constitution was not written in the sands to be washed away by each wave of new judges blown in by each successive political wind.

Laws are made to protect the trusting as well as the suspicious.

A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion.

The United States has a system of taxation by confession.

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly.

It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.

Among the religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, ethical culture, secular humanism and others.

When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his 40s shouldn't play tennis. I heeded his advice carefully and could hardly wait until I reached 50 to start again.