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Clarence Thomas Quotes

Powerful Clarence Thomas for Daily Growth

My grandparents had died in 1983, and suddenly my brother is out jogging before Mass, and he dies.

- Clarence Thomas

Grandparents, Before, Mass, Jogging

But I know that the vote of 9 out of 10 black Americans for the Democratic Party or for leftist kinds of policies just is not reflective of their opinions.

- Clarence Thomas

Black, Democratic Party, Leftist

I'd grown up fearing the lynch mobs of the Ku Klux Klan; as an adult I was starting to wonder if I'd been afraid of the wrong white people all along - where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes, but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony.

- Clarence Thomas

Been, Left-Wing, Mobs, Adult

But what I believe is that if a person's individual rights or right to be a part of our economic system is violated under statute, we aggressively go after it. But we don't issue mandates to businesses that you've got to do this and you've got to do that.

- Clarence Thomas

Believe, Part, Our, Mandates

I tend to really be partial to Ayn Rand, and to The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

- Clarence Thomas

Atlas, Rand, Tend, None

When you look at where the real problems are among minorities in our society, particularly blacks, it's at the bottom. It's the people who are in school systems that don't educate, neighborhoods where there is a lot of crime, drugs, the whole bit.

- Clarence Thomas

Minorities, Whole, Bit, Blacks

I disagree with the prevailing point of view of some black leaders that special treatment for blacks is acceptable.

- Clarence Thomas

Some, Prevailing, Treatment, Blacks

It's fascinating that people, there's so many people now who will make judgments based on what you look like. I'm black. So I'm supposed to think a certain way. I'm supposed to have certain opinions. I don't do that. You don't create a box and put people in and then make a lot of generalizations about them.

- Clarence Thomas

Box, Certain Way, About, Judgments

I hear people say it affected your self-esteem to be segregated. It never affected mine.

- Clarence Thomas

Never, Self-Esteem, Mine, Hear People

Any discrimination, like sharp turns in a road, becomes critical because of the tremendous speed at which we are traveling into the high-tech world of a service economy.

- Clarence Thomas

Like, Critical, Which, Sharp

I still have a 15ยข sticker on the frame of my law degree. It's tainted, so I just leave it in the basement.

- Clarence Thomas

Law, Basement, Still, Sticker

Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.

- Clarence Thomas

Education, Doors, Will, Open

I was never a liberal. I was radical. I was cynical. I was negative. But, I was never a liberal. I always saw that as too lukewarm for me.

- Clarence Thomas

Negative, Never, Always, Cynical

I certainly have some very strong libertarian leanings, yes.

- Clarence Thomas

Some, Very, Certainly, Libertarian

My job is to write opinions. I decide cases and write opinions. It is not to respond to idiocy and critics who make statements that are unfounded. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't have constructive criticisms, but it should be constructive.

- Clarence Thomas

Decide, Cases, Constructive, Idiocy

I don't know one of my friends who is considered a conservative who has not had to go back and thoroughly think through everything. You do a lot of soul-searching - 'cause we are not going to win any popularity contests.

- Clarence Thomas

Conservative, Through, Back, Contests

I was Catholic. You talk about a minority within a minority within a minority: a black Catholic in Savannah, GA.

- Clarence Thomas

Black, Within, About, Savannah

There's a difference between someone who's 'harsh' and someone who is 'hard.' Life was hard. You lived in the South, as my grandparents did, and you had to survive. That is hard. In order to respond to that, he had to become a hard man, with very hard rules, very hard discipline for himself, very hard days, hard work, et cetera.

- Clarence Thomas

Grandparents, Very, South, To Survive

There's a difference between someone who's 'harsh' and someone who is 'hard.' Life was hard. You lived in the South, as my grandparents did, and you had to survive. That is hard.

- Clarence Thomas

Grandparents, Survive, South, To Survive

I think Juan stopped short - he got halfway to the destination and got off the train. He is certainly an excellent writer and a good person, but I'm not a nationalist.

- Clarence Thomas

Think, Certainly, Stopped, Nationalist

When I went into the seminary, I was one of those victims of New Math and had not had Algebra I and had no idea what we were doing in New Math in the ninth grade. But when I went into the seminary, they had gone the traditional route and taught first-year algebra.

- Clarence Thomas

Doing, New, Idea, Algebra

Unfortunately, the reality was that, for political reasons or whatever, there was a need to enforce antidiscrimination laws, or at least there was a perceived need to do that.

- Clarence Thomas

Need, Laws, Reasons, Enforce

I think, though, if I had to look at the role of government and what it does in people's lives, I see the EEOC as having much more legitimacy than the others, if properly run.

- Clarence Thomas

Think, Role, I Think, Legitimacy

I'd been very partial to Malcolm X, particularly his self-help teachings.

- Clarence Thomas

Been, Very, Particularly, Partial

I think segregation is bad, I think it's wrong, it's immoral. I'd fight against it with every breath in my body, but you don't need to sit next to a white person to learn how to read and write. The NAACP needs to say that.

- Clarence Thomas

Next, I Think, NAACP, Sit

I have to admit that I'm one of those people that thinks the dishwasher is a miracle.

- Clarence Thomas

Admit, Miracle, Thinks, Dishwasher

I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.

- Clarence Thomas

Rights, Individual Rights, Group

My grandfather could barely read. My grandmother had a sixth-grade education. They were people who were industrious. They were frugal.

- Clarence Thomas

Education, Frugal, Read, Industrious

My grandfather, as I said, was industrious. He'd had a variety of jobs and decided sometime in the 1940s that he would never work for anyone. He was also a very independent man.

- Clarence Thomas

Very, 1940s, Sometime, Industrious

I grew up in a religious environment, and I'm proud of it. I was going to be a priest; I'm proud of it. And I thank God I believe in God, or I would probably be enormously angry right now.

- Clarence Thomas

Proud, Going, Religious, I Believe

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