Freedom of expression is the well-spring of our civilization... The history of civilization is in considerable measure the displacement of error which once held sway as official truth by beliefs which in turn have yielded to other truths. Therefore the liberty of man to search for truth ought not to be fettered, no matter what orthodoxies he may challenge.

We recognize that stare decisis embodies an important social policy that represents an element of continuity in law and is rooted in the psychological need to satisfy reasonable expectations.

It is important not to give the appearance of a predisposed mind. And it is more important not to let the mind become predisposed.

While it is not always profitable to analogize "fact" to "fiction," La Fontaine's fable of the crow, the cheese, and the fox demonstrates that there is a substantial difference between holding a piece of cheese in the beak and putting it in the stomach.

One is entitled to say without qualification that the correlation between prior judicial experience and fitness for the Supreme Court is zero.

The history of liberty has largely been the history of the observance of procedural safeguards.

Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.