“Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.”

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to [profess] things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.

When it becomes necessary to do a thing, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.

I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

In Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes.

The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.

A Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is a power without right.

The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.

You cannot undermine police authority and then complain about rising crime.

All churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, are simply human inventions. They use fear to enslave us. They are a monopoly for power and profit.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

For though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.

I consider the war of America against Britain as the country’s war, the public’s war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.

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.

Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another. It is impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man.

To seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man.

I have a problem with people who take the Constitution loosely and the Bible literally.

I cannot understand the logic of those who have been deliberately and mischievously propagating that the Constitution of Pakistan will not be based on Islamic Sharia. Islamic principles today are as much applicable to life as they were 1300 years ago.

If sexual relations between consenting adults are not part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution, then American democracy is in trouble.

A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages.

Either it is the fold of the infinite, or the constant folds [replis] of finitude which curve the outside and constitute the inside.

My constitution was destroyed long ago; now I am living under the bylaws.

Constitutions are checks upon the hasty action of the majority. They are the self-imposed restraints of a whole people upon a majority of them to secure sober action and a respect for the rights of the minority.