Top 640 Constitution Quotes

I submit, on the other hand, most respectfully, that the Constitution not merely does not affirm that principle, but, on the contrary, altogether excludes it.

The Senate Majority Leader has the unilateral ability to stand up and say, ‘If you defy Congress, if you defy the Constitution, if you defy the American people, none of your nominees will be confirmed.’

Europe is no longer a Christian continent; few Europeans attend religious services on Sunday, and the European Union recently refused to refer to Europe’s religious heritage in its fledgling constitution.

The family is the single most important institution in Afghan culture. It is described in the country’s constitution as the ‘fundamental pillar of society’.

I have to uphold not only the constitution of Alabama, but I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and we will uphold the law of the United States.

If the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.

The central genius of the American Constitution lies in its use of structure to protect individual liberty. It does not rely solely, or even primarily, on grants of substantive rights.

For me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why 95% of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution.

Why would I be willing to challenge my Republican leadership? Because my allegiance will always be to the Constitution and the American people first and foremost, not to my political party.

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.

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

Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.

The question now afloat in the world respecting ‘things as they are’ is the most interesting that can be presented to the human mind. While one party pleads for reformation and change, the other extols in the warmest terms the existing constitution of society.

I don’t judge people based on their religion. But I judge them based on how they respect the French constitution.

Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.

The Emancipation Proclamation is predicated upon the idea that the President may so annul the constitutions and laws of sovereign states, overthrow their domestic relations, deprive loyal men of their property, and disloyal as well, without trial or condemnation.

The Republic is one and can’t be divided: That’s the Constitution! It means the Republic can’t ground its action on local community criteria. Can’t accept it.

While not explicitly articulated in the Constitution, the presumption of innocence has, through Supreme Court opinions, become a fundamental tenet of our criminal-justice system, and rightly so.

The Hungarian ministry begged the king earnestly to issue orders to all troops and commanders of fortresses in Hungary, enjoining fidelity to the Constitution, and obedience to the ministers of Hungary.

It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.

The liberals think government exists to fix what’s wrong with America. They find fault with our Constitution, our economic model and our core values. We disagree with the premise of their argument. We believe there’s nothing wrong with America that an extra dose of freedom won’t cure.

‘Conservative,’ to me, means someone that has an appreciation for the Constitution, that has an appreciation for a limited government and has an appreciation of our nation’s founding and our history.

My view is regardless of whether you think prohibiting abortion is good or whether you think prohibiting abortion is bad, regardless of how you come out on that, my only point is the Constitution does not say anything about it. It leaves it up to democratic choice.

From a constitutional standpoint, the religion of a candidate is supposed to make no difference. Even before the founding fathers dreamed up the First Amendment, they inserted a provision in the Constitution expressly prohibiting any religious test for office.

Learn the Constitution. Then when someone wants to be elected, hold their feet to the fire and make them follow it because that’s what we need to get back to. It works so well when we follow it.

I think the federal government should be doing only what the Constitution says it should be. We don’t have authority under the federal Constitution to have a big federal criminal justice system.

To research my book ‘Me the People’ – in which I have rewritten the entire Constitution of the United States – I flew to Greece, the birthplace of democracy. I bused to Philly, the home of independence. I even, if you can believe it, read the Constitution of the United States.

In the due exercise of your official power, in strictest accordance with law and the Constitution, you can deprive the enemy of that which, above all else, has given, and still gives him, aid and comfort.

It is the Constitution of the United States that has been undermined, undercut, and is under attack. It is the American people’s liberties that is in jeopardy. That is why I wrote ‘Losing America.’

The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

The Constitution is a document that should only be amended with great caution.

The American people deserve a blueprint for policymaking that is built upon the Constitution of the United States and the principles of fiscal discipline, limited government, accountability, and a strong national defense.

Nothing in the constitutions of Western states requires them to get involved in every foreign conflict.

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.

Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.

Our Constitution recognises no other power than that of persuasion, for enforcing religious observances.

Reconciliation is what takes place, of course, at higher levels. President Karzai has been very clear about the red lines for reconciliation, accept the constitution, lay down their weapons, cut their ties with al Qaeda and essentially become productive or at least participating members of society in that regard.

A ban on same-sex marriage violates the state Constitution’s equal protection clause.

God knows I detest slavery but it is an existing evil, and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution.

The fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees that no private property shall be taken for a public use without the payment of just compensation.

All political parties, organizations, and all people should abide by the constitution and laws without any exception. They must all act in accordance with the constitution and laws. I see that as a defining feature of modern political system development.

I find it extremely ironic that Bush says that personal opinion should not be a tool in the interpretation of the Constitution, when he’s the one who’s lobbying for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. If that doesn’t stem from personal opinion, I don’t know what does.

I tend to agree with those who say that a justice’s duty is to the Constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she thinks is clearly in conflict with it.

If the provisions of the constitution be not upheld when they pinch as well as when they comfort, they may as well be abandoned.

If you are sentenced to torture for a crime, yes, that is a cruel punishment. But the mere fact that somebody is tortured is – is unlawful under – under our statutes, but the Constitution happens not to address it, just as it does not address a lot of other horrible things.

Ultimately, the court is heading to a doctrine of ‘separation of campaign and state.’ This doctrine, like separation of church and state or separation of military and civilian authority, is not explicit in the Constitution but flows naturally from its structure and commitment to freedom and democracy.