We [the Government] are here not as masters but as servants, we are not here to glory in power, but to attest our loyalty to the commands and restrictions laid down by our sovereign, the people of the United States, in whose name and by whose will we exercise our brief authority.

When we deal with questions relating to principles of law and their applications, we do not suddenly rise into a stratosphere of icy certainty.

The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

The Constitution is what the judges say it is.

It is the essence of the institutions of liberty that it be recognized that guilt is personal and cannot be attributed to the holding of opinions or to mere intent in the absence of overt acts.

The liberty of the press is not confined to newspapers and periodicals. It necessarily embraces pamphlets and leaflets.

A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company

We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our property and our liberty and our property under the Constitution.

The United States is the greatest law factory the world has ever known.

Our institutions were not devised to bring about uniformity of opinion if they had we might well abandon hope. It is important to remember, as has well been said, 'the essential characteristic of true liberty is that under its shelter many different types of life and character and opinion and belief can develop unmolested and unobstructed.'

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.

The greater the importance to safeguarding the community from incitements to the overthrow of our institutions by force and violence, the more imperative is the need to preserve the constitutional rights of free speech, free press and free assembly in order to maintain the opportunity for free political discussion.

Each man begins with his own world to conquer, and his education is the measure of his conquest.

The power to wage war is the power to wage war successfully.

In a number of cases dissenting opinions have in time become the law.

While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty.

Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses.