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We are concerned here only with the imposition of capital punishment for the crime of murder, and when a life has been taken deliberately by the offender, we cannot say that the punishment is invariably disproportionate to the crime. It is an extreme sanction suitable to the most extreme of crimes.

— Potter Stewart

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Justice

More quotes by Potter Stewart

Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.

Abortion is inherently different from other medical procedures because no other procedure involves the purposeful termination of a potential life.

But just because you have a right to do something doesn’t mean it’s right to do it.

The Law And Potter Stewart: An Interview With Justice Potter Stewart (1983)

For when everything is classified, then nothing is classified and the system becomes one to be disregarded by the cynical or the careless and to be manipulated by those intent on self-protection or self-promotion.

The Fourth Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.

All Potter Stewart quotes →

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

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If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

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It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Potter Stewart (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.