“Persuade your fellow citizens it’s a good idea and pass a law. That’s what democracy is all about. It’s not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.”

The death penalty? Give me a break. It’s easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state.

A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean is worthless.

Certainly one cannot ban cross burning in the sanctity of his bedroom.

Bear in mind that brains and learning, like muscle and physical skill, are articles of commerce. They are bought and sold. You can hire them by the year or by the hour. The only thing in the world not for sale is character.

The purpose of the Federalist Society was to bring together young people who had this skepticism about what they were being taught and to let them know that there were others who shared this skepticism.

To many Americans, everything from the Easter morning to the Ascension had to be made up by the groveling enthusiasts as part of their plan to get themselves martyred.

One can be sophisticated and believe in God. Reason and intellect are not to be laid aside where matters of religion are concerned.

Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.

This is an execution, not surgery. Where does that come from, that you must find the method of execution that causes the least pain?

Why can’t the state accede to the public’s wishes?

The principal purpose of stare decisis is to protect reliance interest and further stability in the law.

In the eyes of government we are just one race here. It is American.

With respect to public acknowledgment of religious belief, it is entirely clear from our nation’s historical practices that the Establishment Clause permits this disregard of polytheists and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits the disregard of devout atheists.

It is difficult to maintain the illusion that we are interpreting a Constitution, rather than inventing one.

What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you’d like it to mean?

[The] government has room to scale back individual rights during wartime without violating the Constitution. The Constitution just sets minimums. Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires.

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance.

I was born in Belgium. I went to school in England and in Switzerland, then I came to America, so I really feel like I am a citizen of the world.

And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.

The more profoundly we study this wonderful Book, and the more closely we observe its divine precepts, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation.

Watch well each separate citizen, Lest having in his heart of hearts A secret spear, one still may come Saluting you with cheerful face, And utter with a double tongue The feigned good wishes of his wary mind.

The ideal state is that in which an injury done to the least of its citizens is an injury done to all.

In order to stave off covetouness, greed, and spite, citizens world over must be educated.

The empire fell well before the invasion of the barbarians. It collapsed from the collective softness of its citizens’ minds and the turning of their back on reality.