“The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government.”

Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust.

I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from my mom.

I’ll die on my feet before I’ll live on my knees!

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother.

Religion is a byproduct of fear.

To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.

Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.

Those who have committed no faults want no pardon. We are only defending what we deem our indisputable rights.

The experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure.

A man ought not to value himself of his achievements or rare qualities of wit, much less of his riches, virtue or kindred.

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation.

Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest, or advantage, to the common good.

We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency.

It seems that the right of freedom of speech that was enshrined in numerous constitutions is now under attack by religious institutions.

Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.

The Constitution is a radical document, it is the job of the government to rein in people’s rights.

Conservatives believe in providing Constitutional rights to our citizens, not to enemy combatants like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

If the Constitution says that the little guy should win, the little guy is going to win in court before me, … But if the Constitution says that the big guy should win, well, then the big guy is going to win because my obligation is to the Constitution.

Our Constitution is the envy of the world, as it should be for it is the grand design of the finest nation on earth.

I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable.

The Constitution does not vest in Congress the authority to protect society from every bad act that might befall it. If followed to its logical extreme, [this approach] would result in an unwarranted expansion of federal power.