Quotessence
Home / Topics / Constitution Quotes

Constitution Quotes

Browse 2680 quotes about Constitution.

Related topics

GovernmentStatesPeopleLawIfsMenUnitedLibertyUnited StatesShouldRightsThinkingCountryAmericaPresidentPoliticalPrinciplesCitizensMayBelieveFirstsConstitution Of The United StatesAmendmentsCongressCourtNationsJudgingDoeHas BeensWantKnowsWayMadeWellsAuthorityJusticeGivingHumansProtectDemocracyReligiousMeanDocumentsWrittenNeedsWarPoliticsYearsChurchFormFatherIndividualWorldSaidWould BeFactsImportantValuesPersonsSeparationHandsFoundingFreedomPartyDutySupremeUnionsMatterEqualGuaranteesIndependenceTodayVoteFirst AmendmentFundamentalsGivenI BelieveIdeasOrderPurposeFramersMindPropertyWholeDeclarationExecutivesFederal GovernmentInterestLibertarianLongOathProtectionBasesExerciseOfficeOughtRepublicBillsBodyCertainmore

Constitution Quotes

“The particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”

WellsStatesLawUnitedPrinciplesUnited StatesWrittenParticularEssentialsConstitutionInstrumentsCourtBoundsSupposed To BeDepartmentVoidNotableConstitution Of The United StatesConstitutional Law
Book:The Political and Economic Doctrines of John Marshall
Create image

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

StatesGovernmentConstitutionDefinedFederal GovernmentProperty RightsLimited GovernmentBill Of RightsState GovernmentFederalistLimiting GovernmentFederalist PapersConstitutional RightsUs ConstitutionFederalismSecessionGeneral WelfareConstitutional GovernmentStates RightsToo Much PowerPower GovernmentNullification
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
Create image

“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.... Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

PeopleGovernmentNationsMilitaryArmsBearsResourcesEuropeAdvantageConstitutionKingdomsEstablishmentAmendmentsSecond AmendmentRight To Bear ArmsMilitiaBearing ArmsGun RightsFederalistRights And FreedomsFederalist PapersFounding Fathers Gun2 AmendmentFounding Fathers Second AmendmentDisarmingAmendment 1Patriotic GunAmendment 13Guns In AmericaAmerican Law
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
Create image

“The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the Legislature the power of declaring a state of war [and] the power of raising armies.... A delegation of such powers [to the President] would have struck, not only at the fabric of our Constitution, but at the foundation of all well organized and well checked governments. The separation of the power of declaring war from that of conducting it, is wisely contrived to exclude the danger of its being declared for the sake of its being conducted.”

WellsWarStatesGovernmentPresidentDangerConstitutionArmyFoundationSakeSeparationOrganizedFabricLegislatureConductingDeclaringVestsDelegationDeclaring War
Author:James Madison
Create image

“I consider it…as subverting the fundamental and characteristic principle of the Government…and as bidding defiance to the sense in which the Constitution is known to have been proposed, advocated, and adopted. If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one.”

IfsHas BeensDoneGovernmentCan DoKnownPrinciplesConstitutionFundamentalsCongressWelfareCharacteristicsAdoptedDefianceDiscretionBiddingGeneral Welfare
Book:1769-1793
Create image

“I consider the difference between a system founded on the legislatures only, and one founded on the people, to be the true difference between a league or treaty and a constitution.”

PeopleDifferencesConstitutionLeagueLegislatureTreatiesConstitutional Convention
Book:The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia, in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yate's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution
Create image

“The constitution ought to secure a genuine militia and guard against a select militia. ...All regulations tending to render this general militia useless and defenseless, by establishing select corps of militia, or distinct bodies of military men, not having permanent interests and attachments to the community ought to be avoided.”

MenBodyInterestCommunityMilitaryOughtConstitutionGenuineSecureUselessPermanentAttachmentRegulationAvoidedSelectMilitiaDefenselessMilitary Man
Author:Richard Henry Lee
Create image

“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms.”

PeopleWholeBodyLibertyArmsBearsEssentialsGunConstitutionLibertarianPreservesAmendmentsGun ControlFoundingNotableFreedom And LibertySecond AmendmentFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersFirearmsUs Founding FathersRight To Bear ArmsMilitiaBearing ArmsGun RightsSelf-governmentFederalistRights And FreedomsPro GunFounding Fathers Gun2 AmendmentNraUs ConstitutionFounding Fathers Second AmendmentFramersDisarmingRevolution Founding FathersAnti GunAmendment 1Strong ArmsEvery OccasionAmendment 19Amendment 4Amendment 13Guns In AmericaPolice Protection
Book:Letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican
Create image

“So far as this has gone, I am satisfied to see a spirit prevailing that promises to send the system out free from those vexations and abuses that might be warranted by the terms of the Constitution. It must never be forgotten, however, that the liberties of the people are not so safe under the gracious manner of government, as by the limitation of power.”

PeopleGovernmentMightSpiritTermLibertyGonePromiseSafeAbuseConstitutionForgottenSatisfiedLimitationGraciousPrevailingVexation
Book:Memoir of the Life of Richard H. Lee, and His Correspondence with the Most Distinguished Men in America and Europe
Create image

“To think that because those who wield power in society wield in the end that of government, therefore it is of no use to attempt to influence the constitution of the government by acting on opinion, is to forget that opinion is itself one of the greatest active social forces. One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.”

ThinkingPersonsEndsUseGovernmentBeliefForceSocialInterestForgetActingOpinionInfluenceEqualConstitutionActiveNineNinetyNinety NineSocial Power
Book:Considerations on Representative Government
Create image

“The particular aspect of history which both attracts and benefits its readers is the examination of causes and the capacity, which is the reward of this study, to decide in each case the best policy to follow. Now in all political situations we must understand that the principle factor which makes for success or failure is the form of a state's constitution: it is from this source, as if from a fountainhead, that all designs and plans of action not only originate but reach their fulfillment.”

IfsStatesActionFormPoliticalCausesSituationPrinciplesCasesStudyPlansPolicyDesignParticularSourceReaderBenefitsCapacityAspectConstitutionRewardsFactorsFulfillmentExaminationSuccess Or FailureFountainhead
Author:Polybius
Create image

“But I am pro-life and will intend, if I’m president of the United States, to encourage pro-life policies. [...] And I hope to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that will follow the law and the constitution. And it would be my preference that they reverse Roe v. Wade and therefore they return to the people and their elected representatives the decisions with regards to this important issue.”

PeopleIfsImportantStatesWould BeLawPresidentJusticeDecisionUnitedUnited StatesIssuesPolicyReturnConstitutionRegardCourtSupremeRepresentativesReverseSupreme CourtPreferencePro LifeWadeImportant IssuesRoe V Wade
Author:Mitt Romney
Create image

“That's beautiful: the hurrah game! well — it's our game: that's the chief fact in connection with it: America's game: has the snap, go fling, of the American atmosphere — belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life.”

WellsImportantFactsAmericaBeautifulLawGamesFitConnectionsConstitutionInstitutionsChiefsAtmosphereHistoricSnapsFling
Author:Walt Whitman
Create image

“There is no basis in text, tradition, or even in contemporary practice (if that were enough), for finding in the Constitution a right to demand judicial consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after conviction. My concern is that in making life easier for ourselves we not appear to make it harder for the lower federal courts, imposing upon them the burden of regularly analyzing newly-discovered-evidence-of-innocence claims in capital cases (in which event such federal claims, it can confidently be predicted, will become routine and even repetitive).”

IfsReasonEnoughProcessJusticePracticeCasesEventsEasierDemandFindingsEvidenceConcernTraditionBasesConstitutionClaimsHarderCourtPrisonMereConvictionBurdenSentencesContemporaryInnocentInnocenceReachingConsiderationNo ReasonRoutineExecutionDeath PenaltyJudicialImposingFactualAnalyzingRepetitiveCriminal Justice SystemDeath Sentence
Author:Antonin Scalia
Create image

“Individuals who have been wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole; but under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution's focus upon the individual. ...To pursue the concept of racial entitlement - even for the most admirable and benign of purposes - is to reinforce and preserve for future mischief the way of thinking that produced race slavery, race privilege and race hatred. In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American.”

ThinkingWayShouldHas BeensMadeWholeGovernmentEyePurposeIndividualRaceFocusConceptsHatredConstitutionSlaveryPrivilegeDiscriminationPursueAliensPreservesJust OneWay Of ThinkingEntitlementMischiefAdmirableBenignRacial DiscriminationWrongedCreditorsDebtorsUnlawful
Author:Antonin Scalia
Create image

“It might be added that corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their ‘personhood’ often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of ‘We the People’ by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.”

PeopleHumansHelpingFeelingsMightDesireBeliefHuman BeingsFictionActivityMembersConscienceConstitutionStructureCorporationsFacilitatePersonhood
Author:John Paul Stevens
Create image

“I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.”

ShouldFirstsLongI CanImportantAmericaLawFoundSpeakRightsCrimePoliticianConstitutionCourtTrialsGuiltySoilCoastAlarmsJuryDronesTrial By JuryLawfulness
Author:Rand Paul
Create image

“The most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have its laws and constitution embraced. No one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies.”

PeopleFirstsBelieveIdeasHandsLawPoliticalBornEnemyLessonsWeaponsConstitutionThinkerOne LovePrudenceExtravagantReign Of Terror
Author:Maximilien Robespierre
Create image

“All the people constitute the militia - according to the Founding Fathers. Therefore every able-bodied man has a duty under the Constitution to become part of the "well-regulated" militia, specifically to understand and perform well with the individual weapon currently issued to the regular establishment. . . . Thus one who has not qualified himself with the M-16 may not be considered to be a responsible citizen.”

PeopleMenWellsMayAbleFatherIndividualDutyCitizensWeaponsGunConstitutionResponsibleIndividualityEstablishmentFoundingQualifiedMilitia
Author:Jeff Cooper
Create image

“Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of "Liberty to all" the principle that clears the path for all-gives hope to all-and, by consequence, enterprize [sic], and industry to all.”

GivingHumansHeartDreamCausesResultsLibertyPrinciplesPathIndustryConsequenceConstitutionUnionsProsperityPrimariesAmerican DreamHuman Heart
Book:Lincoln on Democracy
Create image

“For states' rights advocates, the Constitution is like a contract that is openly violated by one party with impunity. On paper, the states remain sovereign powers, while in reality the federal government appears able to dictate everything from the ingredients of school lunches to speed limits. Congress now routinely collects taxes in order to return the money to the states with conditions on their conforming to federal demands.”

StatesRealityGovernmentAbleSchoolPoliticalOrderPartyRightsConditionsReturnDemandLimitsTaxesPaperConstitutionCongressSpeedIngredientsContractsLunchSovereignConformFederal GovernmentImpunityStates RightsSpeed LimitsSchool Lunch
Author:Jonathan Turley
Create image