Democracy is always a beckoning goal, not a safe harbor. For freedom is an unremitting endeavor, never a final achievement.

Freedom of speech and of the press are essential to the enlightenment of a free people and in restraining those who wield power.

The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes.

I came into the world a Jew, and although I did not live my life entirely as a Jew, I think it is fitting that I should leave as a Jew. I don't want to ... turn my back on a great and noble heritage.

It is easy to make light of insistence on scrupulous regard for the safeguards of civil liberties when invoked on behalf of the unworthy. It is too easy. History bears testimony that by such disregard are the rights of liberty extinguished, heedlessly at first, then stealthily, and brazenly in the end.

Anybody who is any good is different from anybody else.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.