Quotes from Clarence Thomas


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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.


I grew up in a religious environment, and I'm proud of it.


If I were a black liberal, I would be hailed, I guess. But I'm not. I mean, I think for myself. I want to make my own decisions.


It would seem that some black people want to say that when you, as a black, become successful, you cease to be black. That's ridiculous.


The thing that bothered me when I was in college was that I saw myself rejecting the way of life that got me to where I was.


There are so many people who have this idea of who I am because I'm black.


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.


I went into the seminary when I was 16.


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.


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.


Oh, I don't think Tom Sowell would tell anybody to join the administration. That's not his style. But I think his attitude has always been if it had to be done he'd prefer me to do it than somebody else.


The myths that are created about the South, about the way we grew up, about black people, are wrong.


It really bugs me that someone will tell me, after I spent 20 years being educated, how I'm supposed to think.


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


I certainly have some very strong libertarian leanings, yes.


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.


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


We've talked more about civil rights after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than we talked about it before 1964.


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.


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.