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Magistrates Quotes

Browse 126 quotes about Magistrates.

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Magistrates Quotes

“We magistrates find that reason is the easiest thing in the world to dispense with; banished from our law courts as it is from our heads, we delight in trampling it underfoot, and that is what makes our judicial sentences such masterpieces, since (although commonsense never presides in them) those sentences are carried out with as much firmness as if people knew what they actually meant.”

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Book:Betrayal
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“I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate.”

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Book:The Writings of George Washington: pt. IV. Letters official and private, from the beginning of his presidency to the end of his life: (v. 10) May, 1789-November, 1794. (v. 11) November, 1794-December, 1799
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“I think Martin Luther correctly distinguished between what he called the magisterial and ministerial uses of reason. The magisterial use of reason occurs when reason stands over and above the gospel like a magistrate and judges it on the basis of argument and evidence. The ministerial use of reason occurs when reason submits to and serves the gospel…. Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter.”

ThinkingShouldReasonUseChristianSpiritBeliefJudgingHolyConflictEvidenceArgumentBasesFundamentalsAriseFormerWitnessHoly SpiritLatterSubmitLutherDistinguishedChristian FaithMagistratesPrecedence
Author:William Lane Craig
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“In cities men cannot be prevented from concerting together, and from awakening a mutual excitement which prompts sudden and passionate resolutions. Cities may be looked upon as large assemblies, of which all the inhabitants are members; their populace exercises a prodigious influence upon the magistrates, and frequently executes its own wishes without their intervention.”

MenMayTogetherWishCitiesInfluenceExerciseMembersPassionateAwakeningExcitementMutualResolutionInterventionAssemblyPromptsMagistratesProdigious
Book:Democracy in America
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“King is a title which translated into several languages, signifies a magistrate with as many different degrees of power as there are kingdoms in the world, and he can have no power but what is given him by law; yea, even the supreme or legislative power is bound by the rules of equity, to govern by laws enacted, and published in due form; for what is not legal is arbitrary.”

WorldDifferentFormLawLanguageGivenKingsDegreesBoundsDuesSupremeKingdomsTitlesEquityArbitraryMagistrates
Book:A Supplement to the Miscellaneous Works of the Late Dr. Arbuthnot
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“It depends on the consent of the people to decide whether kings or consuls or other magistrates are to be established in authority over them, and if there is legitimate cause, the people can change a kingdom into an aristocracy, or an aristocracy into a democracy, and vice versa, as we read was done in Rome.”

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Author:Robert Bellarmine
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“Filial obedience is the first and greatest requisite of a state; by this we become good subjects to our emperors, capable of behaving with just subordination to our superiors, and grateful dependents on heaven; by this we become fonder of marriage, in order to be capable of exacting obedience from others in our turn; by this we become good magistrates, for early submission is the truest lesson to those who would learn to rule. By this the whole state may be said to resemble one family.”

FirstsMaySaidStatesWholeOrderTurnsHeavenSubjectsLessonsCapableGratefulSuperiorsObedienceSubmissionEmperorTruestMagistratesSubordinationFilial
Book:Miscellaneous Works Including a Variety of Pieces Now First Collected by James Prior
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“The comparative view of the powers of the magistrates, in two remarkable instances, is alone sufficient to represent the whole system of German manners. The disposal of the landed property within their district was absolutely vested in their hands, and they distributed it every year according to a new division. At the same time, they were not authorised to punish with death, to imprison, or even to strike, a private citizen.”

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Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory of a prince, who indulged their passions and promoted their interest. Constantine gave them security, wealth, honours, and revenge; and the support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred and important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the great charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the Roman world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion.”

WorldImportantPassionIndividualInterestMemoriesWealthHistorySupportSecurityDutyGratefulSacredPrivilegeRevengeOrthodoxHonourApplauseRoman EmpireClergyCharterTolerationMagistratesMilanConstantine
Book:History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“During the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently or designedly, performed the manumission of a slave in the presence of the consul. The moment he was reminded that he had trespassed on the jurisdiction of another magistrate, he condemned himself to pay a fine of ten pounds of gold, and embraced this public occasion of declaring to the world that he was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens, to the laws, and even to the forms, of the republic.”

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Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Edited in Seven Volumes with Introduction, Notes, Appendices, and Index
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“The laws are, and ought to be, relative to the constitution, and not the constitution to the laws. A constitution is the organization of offices in a state, and determines what is to be the governing body, and what is the end of each community. But laws are not to be confounded with the principles of the constitution; they are the rules according to which the magistrates should administer the state, and proceed against offenders.”

ShouldEndsStatesBodyLawCommunityPrinciplesOughtOfficeOrganizationConstitutionDetermineRelativeGoverningOffendersMagistrates
Book:Aristotle
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“Once more: there are three offices according to whose directions the highest magistrates are chosen in certain states - guardians of the law, probuli, councilors - of these, the guardians of the law are an aristocratical, the probuli an oligarchical, the council a democratical institution.”

StatesGovernmentLawCertainThreeOfficeHighestInstitutionsChosenCouncilGuardianMagistrates
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)
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“Laws, when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should regulate those matters only on which the laws are unable to speak with precision owing to the difficulty of any general principle embracing all particulars.”

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Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Bricks will be most serviceable if made two years before using; for they cannot dry thoroughly in less time. When fresh undried bricks are used in a wall, the stucco covering stiffens and hardens into a permanent mass, but the bricks settle and the motion caused by their shrinking prevents them from adhering to it, and they are separated from their union with it. At Utica in constructing walls they use brick only if it is dry and made five years previously, and approved as such by the authority of a magistrate.”

IfsYearsMadeTwoUseUsedFiveWallAuthorityMassUnionsPermanentSettlingDryFive YearsTwo YearsBricksCoveringApprovedShrinkingMagistrates
Author:Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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“No gilded dome swells from the lowly roof to catch the morning or evening beam; but the love and gratitude of united America settle upon it in one eternal sunshine. From beneath that humble roof went forth the intrepid and unselfish warrior, the magistrate who knew no glory but his country's good; to that he returned, happiest when his work was done. There he lived in noble simplicity, there he died in glory and peace.”

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Author:Edward Everett Hale
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“An annual or frequent choice of Magistrates, who in a year, or in a few years, are again left upon a level with their neighbors, is most likely to prevent usurpation and tyranny ... If rulers know that they shall in short period of time, be again out of power, and ... may be liable to be called to account for misconduct, it will guard them against maladministration.”

IfsKnowsYearsMayPoliticalChoicesPoliticsLeftLevelsPeriodsAccountsNeighborTyrannyRulersLiableAnnualsMagistratesUsurpationMisconduct
Author:Clinton Rossiter
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“Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates in all future periods of this commonwealth to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences.”

PeopleWellsDifferentCountryBodyOrderLiteratureOpportunityInterestLibertyVirtueRightsDutyDependsPeriodsAdvantageVariousCherishGraduationPreservationLegislatorsCommonwealthMagistratesKnowledge And Wisdom
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.”

MenFirstsSelfWisdomAmericaPoliticalPoliticsEconomyRightsJudgingDutyCircumstancesJudgmentGunResistanceCommandObediencePreservesLiberalismRulersEntitledGun ControlPreservationObligedQualifiedEvaluateSelf PreservationWarrantsMagistratesSingle ManInalienable RightsDuty To God
Author:John Locke
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“One may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate; but he must die a man. The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality, to the intense contemplation of that deepest and most solemn of all relations - the relations between the creature and his Creator.”

MenHumansMayDiesHuman BeingsKingsPureBedCreaturesRelationIndividualityCreatorIntenseContemplationSolemnConquerorMagistrates
Book:THE WORKS OF DANIEL WEBSTER; VOLUME II
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“If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire. They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition is just, the British constitution is nothing more or less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government's being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend.”

PeopleIfsMenFirstsLongGovernmentAmericaLawVoiceKingsOfficeConstitutionBoundsDefinitionsBritishFixedEmpiresRepublicPossessedSplendidObjectionsPrerogativeHereditaryMagistratesBritish Constitution
Book:The Works of John Adams Vol. 4: Novanglus, Thoughts on Government, Defence of the Constitution I
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