221 Quotes by Antonin Scalia

Words have meaning. And their meaning doesn’t change.

For in order for capitalism to work – in order for it to produce a good and a stable society – the traditional Christian virtues are essential.

You’re looking at me as though I’m weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It’s in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.

Devout Christians are destined to be regarded as fools in modern society. We are fools for Christ’s sake. We must pray for courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world.

With respect to public acknowledgment of religious belief, it is entirely clear from our nation’s historical practices that the Establishment Clause permits this disregard of polytheists and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits the disregard of devout atheists.

I attack ideas. I don’t attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas.

If you’re going to be a good and faithful judge, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you’re not always going to like the conclusions you reach. If you like them all the time, you’re probably doing something wrong.

People look at rights as if they were muscles – the more you exercise them, the better they get.

As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes put it: “We do not inquire what the legislature meant; we ask only what the statute means.