Clarence Thomas Quotes

born 1948 United States

Clarence Thomas (born 23 June 1948) is an American judge who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court.

United States
Lawyers
Libertarians
Memoirists

Also known as: Justice Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Thomas

Random Clarence Thomas quote

33 quotes

I could only choose between being an outcast and being dishonest.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

I often had occasion to remind myself in years to come that self-interest isn't a principle- it's just self-interest.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

I come to state that I'm a man, free to think for myself and do as I please.

I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)

An education is meaningless unless it equips students to have a better life.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.

I could feel the golden handcuffs of a comfortable but unfulfilling life snapping shut on my wrists.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

To define each of us by our race is nothing short of a denial of our humanity.

Then, as always, I felt morally obligated to advocate our official position, even when it conflicted with my personal views.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

I can't see myself spending the rest of my life as a judge.

I began to suspect that Daddy had been right all along: the only hope I had of changing the world was to change myself first.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

Since well before 1787, liberty has been understood as freedom from government action, not entitlement to government benefits.

No good comes from being in the woods.

Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's interpretation of the Constitution.

Kelo v. New London (2005)

Thanks to God's direct intervention, I had risen phoenixlike from the ashes of self-pity and despair, and though my wounds were still raw, I trusted that in time they, too, would heal.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

I had sworn to administer justice "faithfully and impartially." To do otherwise would be to violate my oath. That meant I had no business of imposing my personal views on the country. Nor did I have the slightest intention of doing so.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

Though being underestimated has its advantages, the stench of racial inferiority still confounds my olfactory nerves.

I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)

Perhaps the fires through which I had passed would have a purifying effect on me, just as a blast furnace burns the impurities out of steel.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

Tillman was from South Carolina, and as I hear the story he was concerned that the corporations, Republican corporations, were favorable toward blacks and he felt that there was a need to regulate them.

I knew that until I was ready to tell the truth as I saw it, I was no better than a politician- but I didn't know whether I would ever be brave enough to break ranks and speak my mind.

My Grandfather's Son (2008)

I am a man, a black man, an American.

I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Clarence Thomas (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.