“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.”

Some people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it.

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

It is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues.

Where knowledge is a duty, ignorance is a crime.

The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

Taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.

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

If those to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected; if not, they will be despised.

If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves.

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

The right of voting for representatives , is the primary right by which other rights are protected.

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

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 don’t believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it.

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

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.

I am not putting a check on anyone. I just have to say that India’s Constitution has given certain rights and freedom to people, but there are some limits, too.

[Marco] Rubio says we should collect all Americans’ records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they’re both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them.

Little events, ordinary things, smashed and reconstituted. Suddenly, they become the bleached bones of a story.

The Founders never intended for Americans to trust their government. Our entire Constitution was predicated on the notion that government was a necessary evil, to be restrained and minimized as much as possible.

We must always embrace individual liberty and enforce the constitutional rights of all Americans-rich and poor, immigrant and native, black and white.