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 Constitution remains brilliant in its overall design and sound with respect to the Bill of Rights and the separation of powers. But there are numerous archaic provisions that inhibit constructive change and adaptation. These constitutional bits affect the daily life of the republic and every citizen in it.”

BitsSoundRightsDesignCitizensConstitutionRemainsBillsBrilliantSeparationDaily LifeRepublicAdaptationConstructiveProvisionBill Of RightsSeparation Of Powers
Author:Larry Sabato
Create image

“Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the U. S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion. The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious worship for the national representatives, to be performed by Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them, and these are to be paid out of the national taxes. Does this not involve the principle of a national establishment ... ?”

DoeTwoLawHouseReligiousAnswersPrinciplesPureTaxesWorshipNegativeConstitutionPaidMajorityCongressPositive AtheismSeparationMinistersConsistentEstablishmentRepresentativesSeparation Of Church And StateReligious FreedomAppointmentsChaplains
Author:James Madison
Create image

“The constitution of madness as a mental illness, at the end of the eighteenth century, affords the evidence of a broken dialogue, posits the separation as already effected, and thrusts into oblivion all those stammered, imperfect words without fixed syntax in which the exchange between madness and reason was made. The language of psychiatry, which is a monologue of reason about madness, has been established only on the basis of such a silence.”

Has BeensMadeEndsReasonLanguageSilenceCenturyBrokenEvidenceBasesConstitutionMadnessIllnessSeparationMental IllnessDialogueFixedImperfectOblivionPsychiatryThrustMonologuesSyntax
Book:Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry
Create image

“There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.”

MindFirstsStatesHumorChristianChurchReligiousModernConstitutionCourtPositive AtheismSeparationSupremeAmendmentsFoundersSupreme CourtFirst AmendmentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateChristian Faith
Author:Jerry Falwell
Create image

“I believe in the Constitution. I believe in separation of powers. I believe in the rule of law. I believe in limited government. And these are principles and policies that apparently neither the national Republican nor the national Democrat Party believes in. I believe great damage is being done to our Constitution, and I see no remedy at all, no likelihood of that changing, if we rely on the two parties to field our candidates for national office.”

IfsBelieveTwoDoneGovernmentLawI BelievePartyPrinciplesPolicyFieldsRepublicanOfficeConstitutionDemocratI Believe InSeparationRelyDamageCandidatesRemedyRule Of LawLimited GovernmentBeing DoneLikelihoodSeparation Of Powers
Author:Bob Barr
Create image

“I believe in absolute freedom of conscience for all men and equality of all churches, all sects and all beliefs before the law as a matter of right and not as a matter of favor. I believe in the absolute separation of church and state and in the strict enforcement of the Constitution that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof I believe that no tribunal of any church has any power to make any decree of any force in the law of the land, other than to establish the status of its own communicants within its own church.”

MenBelieveMatterStatesLawBeliefForceI BelieveChurchAtheismLandExerciseConscienceConstitutionAbsolutesCongressI Believe InPositive AtheismFavorsSeparationEstablishmentStrictEnforcementChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSectsDecreeAbsolute FreedomTribunals
Author:Al Smith
Create image

“The Constitution does not require complete separation of church and state; it affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any.”

DoeStatesChristianChurchReligiousConstitutionToleranceSeparationHostilityChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateMandatesAccommodations
Book:Significant Supreme Court Opinions of the Honorable Warren E. Burger: Chief Justice of the United States
Create image

“I think that local school districts - not the federal government - should make the decision about how they teach science, biology, economics. I want my kids to be taught about evolution; I want my kids to be taught about other theories.”

ThinkingWantShouldGovernmentKidsSchoolScienceReligionPoliticsChurchDecisionEducationFamilyTeachPolicyTaughtTheoryEvolutionEconomicsConstitutionSeparationLocalsIdeologyBiologyFederal GovernmentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSchool Districts
Author:Bobby Jindal
Create image

“This is one thing that's very interesting, how the people on the left always talk about separation of church and state. When you look at the theocracies all across the Middle East, where we look at constitutions that are based upon the Qur'an, I don't think you want to see that happening in the United States of America. So it is a theocratic political construct.”

PeopleThinkingWantLooksStatesAmericaPoliticalLeftChurchInterestingUnitedUnited StatesOne ThingMiddleHappeningsConstitutionEastSeparationMiddle EastUnited States Of AmericaConstructsVery InterestingChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateTheocracy
Author:Allen West
Create image

“I can't tell Black people to fight a war that is Israel's war. What kind of leader will you be, or should I be, to allow these babies Black, white and brown, to fight Israel's war, because Zionists dominate the government of the United States of America and her banking system.”

PeopleShouldKindI CanWarStatesGovernmentAmericaReligionFightingBlackChurchReligiousWhiteUnitedLeaderChristianityUnited StatesBabyConstitutionIsraelSeparationBrownBlack PeopleFoundersShould ISecularUnited States Of AmericaFoundingBankingChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateOur Founding FathersReligious FreedomWar On DrugsFounding Fathers ChristianState GovernmentZionistUs Founding FathersBigotsBearing ArmsFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousChristian ChurchConstitution Of The United StatesFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaFounding Fathers AtheistDeismBlack WhiteBanking SystemChristianity From Founding FathersChristian AtheistReligion ChristianChristian FatherUnited States GovernmentChristian HeritageUs ConstitutionFounding Fathers DemocracyReligion And GovernmentChristian RightGod DelusionAmendment 1Pledge Of AllegianceDeistGod And CountryReligious BigotryGod We TrustSecular SocietyHate ReligionChristianity And Government
Author:Louis Farrakhan
Create image

“...compartmentalization of occupations and interests bring about a separation of that mode of activity commonly called 'practice' from insight; of imagination from executive 'doing.' Each of these activities is then assigned its own place in which it must abide. Those who write the anatomy of experience then suppose that these divisions inhere in the very constitution of human nature.”

WritingHumansInterestImaginationPracticeHuman NatureActivityConstitutionInsightSeparationExecutivesDivisionOccupationAnatomy
Author:John Dewey
Create image

“Justice O'Connor was the fifth vote to uphold the time-honored principle, which bears repeating, of separation of church and state. There was real wisdom in the decision of our forefathers in writing a Constitution that gave us an opportunity to grow as such a diverse nation, and we should never forget it.”

ShouldWritingRealStatesOpportunityNationsGrowsChurchJusticeDecisionForgetPrinciplesBearsVoteConstitutionSeparationNever ForgetDiverseHonoredFifthForget ItChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateForefathersReal Wisdom
Author:Dick Durbin
Create image

“I think [John Adams's] influence on the federal Constitution was indirect. Many including James Madison mocked the first volume of Adams's Defence of the Constitutions of the United States in 1787. But his Massachusetts constitution was a model for those who thought about stable popular governments, with its separation of powers, its bicameral legislature, its independent judiciary, and its strong executive.”

ThinkingFirstsStatesGovernmentStrongUnitedUnited StatesInfluenceModelsConstitutionIndependentIncludingSeparationExecutivesStableVolumeDefenceLegislatureJudiciaryIndirectMassachusettsMadisonConstitution Of The United StatesSeparation Of PowersIndependent Judiciary
Author:Gordon S. Wood
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

“I think one of the great strengths of Americans United is that it has such diversity. That it has not only people who have no religious belief, but lots of people who do and who take that belief very seriously. And I think that provides us with a great opportunity to talk about the separation of church and state. There are plenty of other groups, and some of them are quite good at what they do, but they also have an agenda of non-theism, but we don't have, you might say, a theology. We just have a commitment to the Constitution.”

PeopleThinkingOpportunityBeliefChurchReligiousDiversityCommitmentConstitutionSeparationTheologyPlentyChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateReligious BeliefGreat Opportunity
Author:Barry W. Lynn
Create image

“[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

StatesReligionReligiousUnitedLibertyUnited StatesOfficeTestsConstitutionAtheistSeparationFoundersSecularChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateOur Founding FathersQualificationsAtheisticFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousReligion GodReligious LibertyConstitution Of The United StatesFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistAnti ReligiousDeismChristianity From Founding FathersChristian AtheistReligion ChristianChristian FatherReligion And GovernmentAnti ChristianChristian RightKgbPublic TrustAge Of ReasonFaith ReligionAnti AtheistChristianity And Government
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, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution
Create image

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.”

GovernmentPoliticalReligionChurchReligiousLibertyAtheismInternetConstitutionLibertarianSeparationFree SpeechSecularCoercionChurch And StateFreedom And LibertySeparation Of Church And StateFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersProperty RightsReligious FreedomReligious BeliefLimited GovernmentFounding Fathers ChristianState GovernmentUs Founding FathersForefathersFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousAmerican GovernmentReligious LibertyLimiting GovernmentFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistDeismChristian AtheistChristian FatherSeparation Of PowersReligion And GovernmentTheocracyChristian RightLimiting FreedomConstitutional GovernmentDrug ProhibitionReligious TruthPower GovernmentNon ReligiousChristian FreedomLegitimate GovernmentLegitimate Power
Book:The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Inaugural addresses and messages. Replies to public addresses. Indian addresses. Miscellaneous: 1. Notes on Virginia; 2. Biographical sketches of distinguished men; 3. The batture of New Orleans
Create image

“Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history.”

MayStatesBodyGovernmentReligionUnitedUnited StatesAtheismDangerConstitutionSeparationChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateGuardedFounding Fathers ChristianPrecedentFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousReligious LibertyConstitution Of The United StatesFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers AtheistReligion ChristianChristian FatherEncroachmentReligion And GovernmentReligious History
Author:James Madison
Create image

“I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office - and by personal conviction - I am sworn to uphold that tradition.”

FirstsBelieveStatesReligionI BelieveChurchAtheismOfficeTraditionConstitutionConvictionI Believe InSeparationAmendmentsFirst AmendmentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSeparation Between Church And StateAmerican Tradition
Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
Create image

“I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government.”

CountryStatesFeelingsGovernmentMightPoliticalReligionEnjoyPresidentChurchAtheismSecurityLimitsDegreesConcernConstitutionSeparationChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSeparation Between Church And StateTranscendingFounding Fathers Atheist
Author:Andrew Jackson
Create image

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

LawReligionExerciseConstitutionCongressSeparationEstablishmentFirst AmendmentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateFreedom Of ThoughtCivil LibertiesOur Founding FathersReligious FreedomReligious BeliefFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersFreedom Of The PressFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers ReligiousFreedom Of ReligionReligion GodReligious LibertyConstitution Of The United StatesFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistDeismThere Being No GodChristianity From Founding FathersChristian AtheistReligion ChristianUs ConstitutionReligion And GovernmentAnti ChristianChristian RightAmendment 1American FreedomDeistOne Nation Under GodReligious TruthReligious BigotrySecular SocietyLiberty Of SpeechChristian FreedomChristianity And GovernmentChristian SchoolsLaws And GovernmentLegitimate PowerEstablishment Clause
Book:The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions
Create image

“What is to be the consequence, in case the Congress shall misconstrue this part [the necessary and proper clause] of the Constitution and exercise powers not warranted by its true meaning, I answer the same as if they should misconstrue or enlarge any other power vested in them . . . the success of the usurpation will depend on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and give effect to the legislative acts; and in a last resort a remedy must be obtained from the people, who can by the elections of more faithful representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers.”

PeopleIfsGivingShouldLastsAnswersCasesEffectsDependsExerciseConsequenceConstitutionElectionCongressSeparationFaithfulDepartmentExecutivesRemedyRepresentativesResortsJudiciaryClausesTrue MeaningSeparation Of PowersUsurpationUsurpers
Author:James Madison
Create image

“Nothing has yet been offered to invalidate the doctrine that the meaning of the Constitution may as well be ascertained by the Legislative as by the Judicial authority.”

WellsMayAuthorityConstitutionSeparationDoctrineJudicialSeparation Of Powers
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, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution
Create image

“I acknowledge, in the ordinary course of government, that the exposition of the laws and Constitution devolves upon the judicial. But I beg to know upon what principle it can be contended that any one department draws from the Constitution greater powers than another in marking out the limits of the powers of the several departments.”

KnowsGovernmentLawCoursesPrinciplesGreaterLimitsDrawsOrdinaryConstitutionSeparationAcknowledgeDepartmentJudicialSeparation Of PowersGreater Power
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
Create image

“Good constitutions are formed upon a comparison of the liberty of the individual with the strength of government: If the tone of either be too high, the other will be weakened too much. It is the happiest possible mode of conciliating these objects, to institute one branch peculiarly endowed with sensibility, another with knowledge and firmness. Through the opposition and mutual control of these bodies, the government will reach, in its regular operations, the perfect balance between liberty and power.”

IfsBodyGovernmentIndividualPerfectLibertyToo MuchObjectsBalanceConstitutionSeparationOperationsToneBranchesOppositionComparisonMutualSensibilityInstituteFirmnessSeparation Of PowersPerfect Balance
Book:The Political Writings of Alexander Hamilton:
Create image

“[T]o preserve the republican form and principles of our Constitution and cleave to the salutary distribution of powers which that [the Constitution] has established . . . are the two sheet anchors of our Union. If driven from either, we shall be in danger of foundering.”

IfsTwoFormPrinciplesDangerRepublicanConstitutionUnionsDrivenSeparationPreservesSheetsDistributionAnchorsSeparation Of PowersDistribution Of Power
Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
Create image

“The principle of the Constitution is that of a separation of legislative, Executive and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, it is clearly the spirit of the Constitution, and it ought to be so commented and acted on by every friend of free government.”

IfsGovernmentSpiritTermPrinciplesCasesOughtDirectFunctionConstitutionSeparationExecutivesJudiciaryFree GovernmentSeparation Of PowersExecutive Branch
Book:The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 29: 1 March 1796 to 31 December 1797
Create image

“My construction of the constitution is very different from that you quote. It is that each department is truly independent of the others, and has an equal right to decide for itself what is the meaning of the constitution in the cases submitted to its action; and especially, where it is to act ultimately and without appeal.”

DifferentActionCasesEqualConstitutionIndependentSeparationAppealsDepartmentConstructionSeparation Of PowersWhat Is The Meaning
Book:Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers
Create image

“It is one thing to be subordinate to the laws, and another [for the Executive] to be dependent on the legislative body. The first comports with, the last violates, the fundamental principles of good government; and, whatever may be the forms of the Constitution, unites all power in the same hands.”

FirstsMayBodyHandsGovernmentLastsFormLawPrinciplesOne ThingConstitutionFundamentalsSeparationDependentExecutivesSubordinatesFundamental PrinciplesSeparation Of Powers
Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution
Create image

“A constitution defines and limits the powers of the government it creates. It therefore follows, as a natural and also a logical result, that the governmental exercise of any power not authorized by the constitution is an assumed power, and therefore illegal.”

GovernmentNaturalResultsExerciseLimitsConstitutionSeparationLogicalIllegalSeparation Of Powers
Book:Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion
Create image

“To what expedient then shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government, as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.”

MayMeanGovernmentFoundGivenAnswersPracticeConstitutionRelationStructureSeparationDepartmentMutualInteriorsDefectsResortsMaintainingProvisionInadequateConstituentsExteriorPartitionSeparation Of Powers
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
Create image

“The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs.”

WritingStatesPoliticalFatherBeliefChurchReligiousViewsBasesConstitutionNotionContrarySeparationFoundersFoundingChurch And StateOur Founding FathersReligious BeliefSeparation Between Church And StatePolitical View
Author:Ron Paul
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