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

“And it is undeniably true that the greatest and most important right of a British subject is that he shall be governed by no laws but those to which he, either in person or by his representatives, hath given his consent; and this, I will venture to assert, is the great basis of British freedom; it is interwoven with the Constitution, and whenever this is lost, the Constitution must be destroyed.”

PersonsImportantLawLostGivenSubjectsBasesConstitutionBritishDestroyedPatrioticRepresentativesVentureConsent
Author:Joseph Warren
Create image

“It's important that we recognize how extreme the Republicans are in almost every case and how against our self-interest it is to vote for them whether or not we are disappointed with the current crew. At least they believe in the Constitution. At least they have an idea of economic justice. The Republicans are devoted to creating more rich folks.”

BelieveImportantIdeasSelfInterestJusticeCasesRichEconomicRepublicanCreatingVoteConstitutionFolksCurrentsExtremesDisappointedDevotedCrewSelf InterestEconomic Justice
Author:Gloria Steinem
Create image

“The First Amendment is important not only to guarantee the rights of alternative religions and of nonreligious persons in society; it is also important in setting the only possible legal and social condition for the creative health of serious religion itself.”

FirstsPersonsImportantReligionSocialCreativeRightsConditionsSeriousSpeechConstitutionSettingSettingsAlternativesGuaranteesAmendmentsFirst AmendmentSocial Conditions
Book:Creationism on Trial: Evolution and God at Little Rock
Create image

“The absence of utopianism in the Constitution, law, and traditional political culture has been ... important in limiting expectations concerning what can be achieved by politics. The history of the last two centuries confirms what the framers of the Constitution understood: that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the search for unalloyed virtue in public life leads to unalloyed terror.”

Has BeensTwoImportantLastsLawPoliticalCulturePerfectEnemyVirtueCenturyExpectationsUnderstoodConstitutionTerrorAbsenceTraditionalPublic LifeFramersPolitical Culture
Author:Jeane Kirkpatrick
Create image

“Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires - a wiretap requires a court order. [...] Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. [...]”

ThinkingWayImportantStatesGovernmentValuesOrderUnitedTalkingUnited StatesChangedCitizensProtectConstitutionFellowsCourtTerroristGuaranteesPatriotChasingHomelandState GovernmentThings Have ChangedUnited States GovernmentPatriot ActRoving
Author:George W. Bush
Create image

“[Joseph Smith] foresaw the time when the destiny of the nation would be in danger and would hang as by a thread. Thank God he did not see the thread break. He also indicated the important part that this people should yet play in standing for the principles embodied in these sacred documents - the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”

PeopleShouldImportantPlayWould BeNationsPrinciplesBreakDestinyDangerStandingConstitutionIndependenceSacredThank GodThreadDocumentsDeclarationDeclaration Of IndependenceJoseph Smith
Author:Ezra Taft Benson
Create image

“It is important to strengthen the State governments; and as this cannot be done by any change in the Federal Constitution (for the preservation of that is all we need contend for), it must be done by the States themselves, erecting such barriers at the constitutional line as cannot be surmounted either by themselves or by the General Government. The only barrier in their power is a wise government. A weak one will lose ground in every contest.”

NeedsImportantStatesDoneGovernmentLosesLinesWiseWeakConstitutionBarriersPreservationContestsState Government
Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1789-1792
Create image

“There is a political process which we are trying to achieve through what is called the Vienna Group. That involves the establishment of a governing council, which is to take power away from Bashar Assad, to write a constitution and to open the way for elections. It is important that Bashar leaves in the beginning, not at the end of the process. This will make the transition happen with less death and destruction.”

WayWritingTryingImportantEndsHappensPoliticalProcessGroupsAchieveDestructionConstitutionElectionTransitionEstablishmentCouncilGoverningAssadVienna
Author:Adel al-Jubeir
Create image

“Drafting of the constitutions is interesting and the discussions around them revealing in many ways. I take it as a discussion of very important symbols revealing many different problems. My take at the beginning was to warn that Tunisia might be the only successful country, the only one to justify us in talking about the spring, while all the other countries were less successful, if not failing. Now the point is that even in Tunisia it is not going to be easy, and this is where we have a problem.”

IfsWayImportantDifferentCountryProblemMightEasyInterestingTalkingSuccessfulFailingSpringConstitutionSymbolsDiscussionJustifyOther CountriesRevealingDraftingTunisia
Author:Tariq Ramadan
Create image

“It's very important to face the grief, face the anger, and then get into a place where you are ready to fight because if you go back to the history of the United States of America, our Founders said we're giving you a Republic if you can keep it, and they also said we have a Constitution and we're going to form a more perfect union.”

IfsGivingSaidImportantStatesAmericaFacesFormFightingPerfectUnitedGriefUnited StatesReadyConstitutionUnionsWhere You AreRepublicFoundersUnited States Of America
Author:Barbara Boxer
Create image

“I am concerned that Donald Trump walks into the White House a walking conflict of interest in violation of the emoluments clause of the constitution, and the Stock Act. It is important to investigate whether there are financial levers, not just Russia - China, the Emirates. Because he will never make America great again - I don't believe he ever will, but he will not do so if he's beholden to.”

IfsBelieveImportantAmericaHouseInterestWhiteWalksTrumpWalkingConflictConcernedConstitutionDon't BelieveFinancialChinaRussiaWhite HouseViolationClausesLeversConflict Of InterestEmirates
Author:Katrina vanden Heuvel
Create image

“I currently perform the most important political duties an American has the responsibility to perform - I experiment in self-government on a daily basis, fulfilling my "we the people" duties to monitor and guide our elected employees to adhere to their oath to the U.S. Constitution and demand accountability from them.”

PeopleImportantSelfGovernmentPoliticalResponsibilityDutyDemandBasesConstitutionGuidesExperimentsEmployeeAccountabilityFulfillingOathSelf-government
Author:Ted Nugent
Create image

“I believe that the power to declare war is most important in limiting the powers of the national government in regard to the rights of its citizens, but that it does not require Congress to give its approval before the president uses force abroad. I do not believe that the framers of the Constitution understood the power to declare to mean "authorize" or "commence" war. That does not mean that the separation of powers or checks and balances will not work.”

GivingBelieveMeanImportantWarI BelievePresidentBalanceConstitutionSeparationSeparation Of Powers
Author:John Yoo
Create image

“And to me, that is the greatest danger, that people start questioning basic facts and start not understanding the importance of democratic institutions such as the free press. I mean, to call the press the enemy is dangerous and just remarkably bizarre. The press is the only profession protected in the Constitution because of how important the framers viewed the press. But in authoritarian regimes, they control the press. And to me, going down an authoritarian path is the greatest danger that we face as a republic.”

PeopleMeanImportantUnderstandingEnemyPathDangerousDangerImportanceConstitutionDemocraticProfessionQuestioningBizarre
Author:Ted Lieu
Create image

“It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide, by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.”

PeopleMenHas BeensImportantCountrySeemsGovernmentPoliticalChoicesForceForeverExampleDependsCapableReflectionConstitutionAccidentsDestinedReservedFederalistFederalist PapersImportant Questions
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Comprising His Most Important Official Reports: An Improved Edition of the Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788; and Pacificus, on the Proclamation of Neutrality, Written in 1793 ...
Create image

“I think it's very important that we protect marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. I proposed a constitutional amendment. The reason I did so was because I was worried that activist judges are actually defining the definition of marriage. And the surest way to protect marriage between a man and woman is to amend the Constitution.”

ThinkingMenWayImportantReasonFaithJudgingProtectMen And WomenConstitutionInstitutionsDefinitionsWorriedActivistAmendmentsDefiningConstitutional Amendments
Author:George W. Bush
Create image

“The important distinction so well understood in America between a constitution established by the people, and unalterable by the government; and a law established by the government, and alterable by the government, seems to have been little understood and less observed in any other country. Wherever the supreme power of legislation has resided, has been supposed to reside also, a full power to change the form of government.”

PeopleWellsLittlesHas BeensImportantCountrySeemsGovernmentAmericaFormLawHuman NatureUnderstoodConstitutionSupremeDistinctionOther CountriesLegislationForms Of GovernmentPower To ChangeSupreme Power
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788
Create image

“Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We're working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we've fallen easy prey to charlatens, quacks, and hustlers.”

WayMeanLittlesImportantGovernmentEasyLibertyWrittenGenerationsEconomicThirdsConstitutionInstrumentsLibertarianFallenLibertarianismPreyCoercionLimiting GovernmentQuacks
Author:Walter E. Williams
Create image

“I join cordially in admiring and revering the Constitution of the United States, the result of the collected wisdom of our country. That wisdom has committed to us the important task of proving by example that a government, if organized in all its parts on the Representative principle unadulterated by the infusion of spurious elements, if founded, not in the fears & follies of man, but on his reason, on his sense of right, on the predominance of the social over his dissocial passions, may be so free as to restrain him in no moral right, and so firm as to protect him from every moral wrong.”

IfsMenMayImportantCountryStatesReasonGovernmentPassionSocialUnitedResultsMoralPrinciplesUnited StatesExampleProtectProveElementsTasksConstitutionCommittedOur CountryFirmOrganizedFollyRepresentativesAdmiringConstitution Of The United StatesInfusion
Author:Thomas Jefferson
Create image

“The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government.”

ImportantIdeasStatesGovernmentCertainTermDirectConstitutionPossessionRationalAllowingSenatePortionsRepresentationSovereignFederal GovernmentSovereigntyExclusiveAbolitionConstituentsImportsState GovernmentFederalistFederalist PapersFederalismImplyingNational Sovereignty
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
Create image

“We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles . The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”

PeopleThinkingMayImportantSelfStatesFactsGovernmentPrinciplesCasesDutyArmsInvolvedExerciseConstitutionChosenAll TimePatriotismExecutivesRepresentativesInherentJuryCompetentSecond AmendmentJudiciaryBearing ArmsSelf-governmentFounding Fathers Gun2 Amendment
Book:Jefferson: Political Writings
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

“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

“Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”

HumansImportantNextIndividualGrowthUnitedRaceLibertyCivilizationConstitutionInstitutionsPropertyIndividualityPresidentialHuman RaceProperty RightsPersonal Liberty
Book:Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils
Create image