Charles Evans Hughes Quotes

• When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Freedom, Carpe Diem, Diversity

  Address at Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1925.

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• The peril of this Nation is not in any foreign foe! We, the people, are its power, its peril, and its hope.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  People, Peril, Foe

  Charles Evans Hughes (1910). “Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government”

  23 Copy quote

• We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our property and our liberty and our property under the Constitution.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Judging, Liberty, Constitution

  Charles Evans Hughes, David Joseph Danelski, Joseph S. Tulchin (1973). “The autobiographical notes of Charles Evans Hughes”, Harvard Univ Pr

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• We [the Government] are here not as masters but as servants, we are not here to glory in power, but to attest our loyalty to the commands and restrictions laid down by our sovereign, the people of the United States, in whose name and by whose will we exercise our brief authority.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Loyalty, Exercise, Power

  28 Copy quote

• Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Selfish, Opportunity, Government

  Charles Evans Hughes (1910). “Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government”

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• Each man begins with his own world to conquer, and his education is the measure of his conquest.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Men, World, Conquer

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• The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal will take care of themselves. Look after the courts of the poor, who stand most in need of justice. The security of the republic will be found in the treatment of the poor and the ignorant. In indifference to their misery and helplessness lies disaster.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Lying, Justice, Ignorant

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• War should be made a crime, and those who instigate it should be punished as criminals.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Peace, War, Criminals

  "The Pathway of Peace". Speech to the Canadian Bar Association, Montreal, Ontario. "The Pathway of Peace : Representative Addresses Delivered During His Term as as secretary of state (1921-1925)" by Charles Evans Hughes, September 04, 1923.

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• I believe in work, hard work, and long hours of work. Men do not breakdown from overwork, but from worry and dissipation.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Work, Believe, Men

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• Our institutions were not devised to bring about uniformity of opinion; if they had we might well abandon hope. It is important to remember, as has well been said, 'the essential characteristic of true liberty is that under its shelter many different types of life and character and opinion and belief can develop unmolested and unobstructed.'

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Character, Equality, Liberty

  Speech to the American Bar Association, September 02, 1925.

  21 Copy quote

• The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Home, Government, Lessons

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• A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Inspirational, Friendship, Gratitude

  "Ethics and Citizenship". Book by John Walter Wayland, p. 208, 1924.

  50 Copy quote

• Every young man should aim at independence and should prepare himself for a vocation; above all, he should so manage his life that the steps of his progress are taken without improper aids; that he calls no one master, that he does not win or deserve the reputation of being a tool of others, and that if called to public service he may assume its duties with the satisfaction of knowing that he is free to rise to the height of his opportunity.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Taken, Winning, Opportunity

  Charles Evans Hughes (1910). “Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government”

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• The greater the importance to safeguarding the community from incitements to the overthrow of our institutions by force and violence, the more imperative is the need to preserve the constitutional rights of free speech, free press and free assembly in order to maintain the opportunity for free political discussion.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Opportunity, Order, Rights

  "De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 365". Judicial opinion, 1937.

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• Publicity is a great purifier because it sets in action the forces of public opinion, and in this country public opinion controls the courses of the nation

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Country, Public Opinion, Publicity

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• Dissents are appeals to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of another day.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Law, Liberty, Another Day

  "Keeping Politics out of the Court". The New York Times, December 09, 1984.

  18 Copy quote

• While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  War, Organization, Drug

  Statement, May 1908.

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• The Constitution is what the judges say it is.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Judging, Constitution, Judiciary

  Speech, Elmira, N.Y., 3 May 1907

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• The United States is the greatest law factory the world has ever known.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Funny, Humor, Law

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• The liberty of the press is not confined to newspapers and periodicals. It necessarily embraces pamphlets and leaflets.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Freedom, Liberty, Defense

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• When we deal with questions relating to principles of law and their applications, we do not suddenly rise into a stratosphere of icy certainty.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Law, Principles, Icy

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• In a number of cases dissenting opinions have in time become the law.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Law, Numbers, Opinion

  Charles Evans Hughes (2000). “The Supreme Court of the United States: Its Foundation, Methods and Achievements”, p.68, Beard Books

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• The power to wage war is the power to wage war successfully.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  War

  Charles Evans Hughes (2000). “The Supreme Court of the United States: Its Foundation, Methods and Achievements”, p.103, Beard Books

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• It is the essence of the institutions of liberty that it be recognized that guilt is personal and cannot be attributed to the holding of opinions or to mere intent in the absence of overt acts.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Essence, Guilt, Liberty

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• The power of administrative bodies to make finding of fact which may be treated as conclusive, if there is evidence both ways, is a power of enormous consequence. An unscrupulous administrator might be tempted to say "Let me find the facts for the people of my country, and I care little who lays down the general principles."

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Country, People, Facts

  "Important Work of Uncle Sam's Lawyers". American Bar Association Journal, p. 238, April 1931.

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