The process of democracy is one of change. Our laws are not frozen into immutable form, they are constantly in the process of revision in response to the needs of a changing society. Thurgood Marshall More Quotes by Thurgood Marshall More Quotes From Thurgood Marshall The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit - a spirit that demands self-expression . Thurgood Marshall expression self needs What's shaking, chiefy baby? Thurgood Marshall black-history black baby [It is] a historic step toward eliminating the shameful practice of racial discrimination in the selection of juries. Thurgood Marshall historical practice steps Customary greeting to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, What's shaking, chiefy baby? Thurgood Marshall burgers justice baby Surely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman. Thurgood Marshall police hair facts Nothing can be more notorious than the calumnies and invectives with which the wisest measures and most virtuous characters of The United States have been pursued and traduced [By American Newspapers] Thurgood Marshall notorious united-states character Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on. Thurgood Marshall you democracy speak country Each of you, as an individual, must pick your own goals. Listen to others, but do not become a blind follower. Thurgood Marshall goals your you blind We deal here with the right of all of our children, whatever their race, to an equal start in life and to an equal opportunity to reach their full potential as citizens. Those children who have been denied that right in the past deserve better than to see fences thrown up to deny them that right in the future. Thurgood Marshall future opportunity life children I never worked hard until I got to the Howard Law School and met Charlie Houston... I saw this man's dedication, his vision, his willingness to sacrifice, and I told myself, 'You either shape up or ship out.' When you are being challenged by a great human being, you know that you can't ship out. Thurgood Marshall myself you man vision This is a great country, but fortunately for you, it is not perfect. There is much to be done to bring about complete equality. Remove hunger. Bring reality closer to theory and democratic principles. Thurgood Marshall great you not-perfect equality It is important that the strongest pressures against the continuation of segregation, North or South, be continually and constantly manifested. Probably, as much as anything else, this is the key in the elimination of discrimination in the United States. Thurgood Marshall key anything discrimination important My father had a flat rule. He believed that every man's house was his castle. He had a flat rule: no man could come in his house without his permission. Thurgood Marshall castle man house father When you hear a lot of stories about Africa, and you get to a place like Kenya and other countries like that, where they think the same way we do, I was happy to find that the Schedule of Rights that I drew for the Kenyan Government was working very well. Thurgood Marshall think you government happy Deciding not to decide is, of course, among the most important things done by the Supreme Court. It takes a lot of doing, but it can be done. Thurgood Marshall doing things important done We could get more action in the South because the Negroes had a feeling that they were being oppressed. But you take New York, for example: they'd give Negroes little five-cent jobs here and there - and they thought they had something. And the same in Chicago and any of the metropolitan areas. Thurgood Marshall feeling thought you action 'Black' is an adjective, in my book, and the way I use it, sometimes I'll say 'black people.' But if I'm talking about a person, I'm going to say 'a Negro,' because I was taught to say that, and I don't see any reason to change it. I don't think that gives pride or anything else. I don't think you get pride by calling yourself this or that. Thurgood Marshall yourself you change people It was taken for granted that we had to make something of ourselves. Not much was said about it; it was just in the atmosphere of the home. Thurgood Marshall something just said home As soon as I reach any town, I talk to the shoe-shine boys or the barbers or the people in the restaurants, because it's Mr. Joe Doakes who is very close to reality. Thurgood Marshall reach talk reality people