Of all my prosecutors ... not one is my peer, but each and all are my political sovereigns; and had your honor submitted my case t...o the jury, as was clearly your duty, then I should have had just cause of protest, for not one of those men was my peer; but, native or foreign born, white or black, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, sober or drunk, each and every man of them was my political superior; hence, in no sense, my peer.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system--that is no ideal to me, it is a living, w...orking reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A petty bureaucrat always watches his superior's countenance, just as a boatman trims his sails according to the force of the wind....LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Stories of law violations are weighed on a different set of scales in the Black mind than in the white. Petty crimes embarrass the... community and many people wistfully wonder why Negroes don't rob more banks, embezzle more funds and employ graft in the unions.... This ... appeals particularly to one who is unable to compete legally with his fellow citizens.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Music is of two kinds: one petty, poor, second-rate, never varying, its base the hundred or so phrasings which all musicians under...stand, a babbling which is more or less pleasant, the life that most composers live.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »