Quote #4

Absolute discretion is a ruthless master. It is more destructive of freedom than any of man's other inventions.

More from William O. Douglas

  1. We have here the problem of bigness. Its lesson should by now have been burned into our memory by Brandeis. The Curse of Bigness shows how …
  2. These days I see America identified more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards. These days I see America ac…
  3. The law is not a series of calculating machines where answers come tumbling out when the right levers are pushed.
  4. We need to be bold and adventurous in our thinking in order to survive.
  5. The whole, though larger than any of its parts, does not necessarily obscure their separate identities.
  6. We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.
  7. The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.
  8. All executive power - from the reign of ancient kings to the rule of modern dictators - has the outward appearance of efficiency.

All William O. Douglas quotes