Constitution Quotes - Page 8

• I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church.

  Tom DeLay

  Believe, Thinking, Government

  TV preachers' Congressional luncheon, July 2001.

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• As a matter of traditional and sound constitutional doctrine, an amendment to the Constitution should be the last resort when all other measures have proved inadequate.

  Arlen Specter

  Sound, Doctrine, Matter

  9 Copy quote

• They will sustain the constitution and laws and institutions of the United States, and be the champions of liberty and of that constitution when its integrity shall be threatened.

  Lorenzo Snow

  Integrity, Law, America

  7 Copy quote

• As a result of the World War, this old Germany collapsed. It collapsed in its constitution, in its social order, in its economic structure. Its thinking and feeling changed.

  Gustav Stresemann

  War, Thinking, Order

  9 Copy quote

• Before the formation of this Constitution it had been affirmed as a self evident truth, in the Declaration of Independence, very deliberately made by the Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that 'all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights' This declaration of Independence was received and ratified by all the States in the Union & has never been disannuled. May we not from hence conclude, that the doctrine of Liberty and Equality is an article in the political creed of the United States.

  Samuel Adams

  Men, Rights, Self

  36 Copy quote

• I am exceedingly distressed at the proceedings of the Convention-being ... almost sure, they will ... lay the foundation of a Civil War.

  Elbridge Gerry

  War, Foundation, Conventions

  95 Copy quote

• No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions which can operate upon the human mind.

  Joseph Story

  Country, Responsibility, Men

  Joseph Story (1833). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.339

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• The proposed Constitution is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both.

  James Madison

  Federalism, Composition

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.179

  37 Copy quote

  Show source

• The national government was itself the creature of the States...Yet today it is often made to appear that the creature, Frankenstein-like, is determined to destroy the creators.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Government, Today, Determined

  8 Copy quote

• With all the defects in our Constitution, whether general or particular, the comparison of our government with those of Europe, is like a comparison of Heaven with Hell. England, like the earth, may be allowed to take the intermediate station.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Europe, Heaven

  B. L. Rayner, Thomas Jefferson (1834). “Life of Thomas Jefferson: with selections from the most valuable portions of his voluminious and unrivalled private correspondence : with portrait”, p.236

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I deem it established, then, that the Constitution does not recognize property in man, but leaves that question, as between the states, to the law of nature and of nations.

  William H. Seward

  Men, Law, Doe

  8 Copy quote

• And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land.

  Joseph Smith, Jr.

  Freedom, Rights, Law

  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith (Jr.) (1911). “The Doctrine and Covenants: Of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days”

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The relationship between press and politician - protected by the Constitution and designed to be happily adversarial - becomes sour, raw and confrontational.

  Roger Mudd

  Relationship, Politician, Sour

  7 Copy quote

• But the origin of the American Republic is distinguished by peculiar circumstances. Other nations have been driven together by fear and necessity-the governments have generally been the result of a single man's observations; or the offspring of particular interests. In the formation of our constitution, the wisdom of all ages is collected-the legislators of antiquity are consulted-as well as the opinions and interests of the millions who are concerned. In short, it is an empire of reason.

  Noah Webster

  Men, Age, Together

  8 Copy quote

• The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax

  Thomas Paine

  America, Liberty, Syntax

  The Rights of Man pt. 1 (1791)

  57 Copy quote

  Show source

• May those principles, which were so honorably and nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our land, by our fathers, be established forever.

  Joseph Smith, Jr.

  Father, Land, America

  7 Copy quote

• According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I [the Lord] have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.

  Joseph Smith, Jr.

  Freedom, Rights, Law

  Joseph Smith (Jr.) (1876). “The Doctrine and Covenants: Of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Containing the Revelations”, p.326

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• To consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.

  James Madison

  Miracle, Degrees

  James Madison (1867). “1769-1793”, p.344

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• We got touring with the Stones, and people were trying to keep up with Keith. He's like a human machine with a constitution of iron, and they all thought they could do the same.

  Ronnie Wood

  Iron, People, Trying

  "The do Ron Ron" by Mariella Frostrup, www.theguardian.com. December 2, 2001.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• He [Washington] has often declared to me that he considered our new constitution as an experiment on the practicability of republican government, and with what dose of liberty man could be trusted for his own good; that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, and would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it. And these declarations he repeated to me the oftener and the more pointedly.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Blood, Should Have

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.237

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but ... to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government.

  Joseph Story

  Real, Government, Giving

  49 Copy quote

• The repeal of racist language in the Constitution of Alabama was and still is a necessary step in the state's ability to progress.

  Artur Davis

  Progress, Alabama, Racist

  7 Copy quote

• If the Constitution framers would come back today, they would have contempt for most of us.

  Walter E. Williams

  Today, Framers, Contempt

  7 Copy quote

• Man has made 32 million laws since THE COMMANDMENTS were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai more than three thousand years ago, but he has never improved on God's law. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS are the principles by which man may live with God and man may live with man. They are the expressions of the mind of God for His creatures. They are the charter and guide of human liberty, for there can be no liberty without the law.

  Cecil B. DeMille

  Men, Expression, Years

  30 Copy quote

• The duty imposed upon him [the president] to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.' The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence or defense; for the redress of grievances or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people.

  Joseph Story

  Strong, Rights, Government

  Joseph Story (1851). “Commentaries on the constitution of the United States”, p.357

  12 Copy quote

  Show source