Constitution Quotes - Page 19

• Let us not be unmindful that liberty is power, that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth. Our Constitution professedly rests upon the good sense and attachment of the people. This basis, weak as it may appear, has not yet been found to fail. Always vote for a principle, though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost. America, in the assembly of nations, has uniformly spoken among them the language of equal liberty, equal justice, and equal rights.

  John Quincy Adams

  Sweet, Powerful, Blessed

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• Men that look no further than their outsides, think health an appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their constitutions for being sick; but I that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments that fabric hangs, do wonder that we are not always so; and considering the thousand doors that lead to death, do thank my God that we can die but once.

  Thomas Browne

  Health, Men, Thinking

  Sir Thomas Browne (1839). “Religio Medici”, p.80

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• This constitution we designate by the word genotype. The word is entirely independent of any hypothesis; it is fact, not hypothesis that different zygotes arising by fertilisation can thereby have different qualities, that, even under quite similar conditions of life, phenotypically diverse individuals can develop.

  Wilhelm Johannsen

  Independent, Science, Diversity

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• Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.

  Jamie Raskin

  Gay, Oath Of Office, Hands

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• We cannot conceive how the Foetus is form'd in the Womb, nor as much as how a Plant springs from the Earth we tread on ... And if we are ignorant of the most obvious things about us, and the most considerable within our selves, 'tis then no wonder that we know not the constitution and powers of the creatures, to whom we are such strangers.

  Joseph Glanvill

  Spring, Knowledge, Science

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• A country that can put men on the moon can put women in the constitution.

  Margaret Heckler

  Country, Moon, Men

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• I have read various articles on the fourth dimension, the relativity theory of Einstein, and other psychological speculation on the constitution of the universe; and after reading them I feel as Senator Brandegee felt after a celebrated dinner in Washington. "I feel," he said, "as if I had been wandering with Alice in Wonderland and had tea with the Mad Hatter."

  Charles Lane Poor

  Reading, Science, Mad

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• Free discussion is the only necessary Constitution - the only necessary Law of the Constitution.

  Richard Carlile

  Law, Liberty, Discussion

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• [It is not the purpose nor right of Congress] to attend to what generosity and humanity require, but to what the Constitution and their duty require.

  William Branch Giles

  Generosity, Humanity, Purpose

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• Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We're working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we've fallen easy prey to charlatens, quacks, and hustlers.

  Walter E. Williams

  Mean, Government, Important

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• The mechanist is intimately convinced that a precise knowledge of the chemical constitution, structure, and properties of the various organelles of a cell will solve biological problems. This will come in a few centuries. For the time being, the biologist has to face such concepts as orienting forces or morphogenetic fields. Owing to the scarcity of chemical data and to the complexity of life, and despite the progresses of biochemistry, the biologist is still threatened with vertigo.

  Andre Michel Lwoff

  Knowledge, Science, Cells

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• A rock or stone is not a subject that, of itself, may interest a philosopher to study; but, when he comes to see the necessity of those hard bodies, in the constitution of this earth, or for the permanency of the land on which we dwell, and when he finds that there are means wisely provided for the renovation of this necessary decaying part, as well as that of every other, he then, with pleasure, contemplates this manifestation of design, and thus connects the mineral system of this earth with that by which the heavenly bodies are made to move perpetually in their orbits.

  James Hutton

  Moving, Mean, Science

  James Hutton (1795). “Theory of the Earth: With Proofs and Illustrations”

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• Science has penetrated the constitution of nature, and unrolled the mysterious pages of its history, and started again many, as yet, unanswered questions in respect to the mutual relations of matter and spirit, of nature and of God.

  Noah Porter

  Nature, Science, History

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• In fact, my mom always told me because I was the daughter of an Army officer born overseas in Paris, France, that under the Constitution she believed that I could never run for president.

  Karen Hughes

  Mom, Mother, Running

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• No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to congress a power to disarm the people.

  William Rawle

  Gun, People, Giving

  William Rawle (1829). “A view of the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.125

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• The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both.

  William Rawle

  Gun, Power, People

  "A view of the Constitution of the United States of America". Book by William Rawle, 1829.

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• The congress of the United States possesses no power to regulate, or interfere with the domestic concerns, or police of any state: it belongs not to them to establish any rules respecting the rights of property; nor will the constitution permit any prohibition of arms to the people.

  St. George Tucker

  Gun, Rights, People

  William Blackstone, St. George Tucker (1996). “Blackstone's Commentaries: With Notes of Reference to the Constitution and Laws, of the Federal Government of the United States, and of the Commonwealth of Virginia: With an Appendix to Each Volume, Containing Short Tracts Upon Such Subjects as Appeared Necessary to Form a Connecte”, p.315, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

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• The fight against drug trafficking is a wildfire that threatens to consume those fundamental rights of the individual deliberately enshrined in our Constitution.

  Juan Guerrero Burciaga

  War, Fighting, Rights

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• Nothing in the Constitution of the United States gives the Congress or the Executive Branch the power to attempt the task of regulating climate, as impossible as that would be under any realistic scenarios. No national security emergency exists relative to climate that would warrant increased governmental control of energy production. Today's Americans have an obligation to future Americans to elect leaders who do not believe in an omnipotent government but believe, as did the Founders, in limited government, and in the preservation of liberty and the natural rights of the people.

  Harrison Schmitt

  Believe, Rights, Government

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• It is the fundamental right of every American, as guaranteed by the first amendment of the Constitution, to worship as he or she pleases... This legislation sets forth the policy of the United States to protect and preserve the inherent right of American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiian people to believe, express, and exercise their traditional religions

  Jimmy Carter

  Believe, Exercise, People

  United States. President (1977-1981 : Carter), Jimmy Carter (1979). “Jimmy Carter”

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• If cruelty is no longer declared unlawful, but instead is applied as a matter of policy, it alters the fundamental relationship of man to government. It destroys the whole notion of individual rights. The Constitution recognizes that man has an inherent right, not bestowed by the state or laws, to personal dignity, including the right to be free of cruelty. It applies to all human beings, not just in America - even those designated as ‘unlawful enemy combatants.’ If you make this exception, the whole Constitution crumbles.

  Alberto J. Mora

  Men, Rights, Law

  "The Memo". Interview with Jane Mayer, www.newyorker.com. February 27, 2006.

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• This country was taken into war based on lies about weapons of mass destruction and Al Qaeda's role with respect to Iraq, which there wasn't one at the time we went in. I want to state that Mr. Cheney must be held accountable. He is already ginning up a cause for war against Iran. Now, we have to stand for this Constitution, we have to protect and defend this Constitution.

  Dennis Kucinich

  Country, War, Lying

  South Carolina Democratic Debate trancscript, www.nbcnews.com. April 26, 2007.

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• Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and I am sure...we both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Differences, Democracy

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• Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wise, Country, Party

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.376

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• To me... it appears that there have been differences of opinion and party differences, from the first establishment of government to the present day, and on the same question which now divides our own country; that these will continue through all future time; that every one takes his side in favor of the many, or of the few, according to his constitution, and the circumstances in which he is placed.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Party, Differences

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers”, p.208

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