Legislators Quotes - Page 6

• Legislators invent too many devices for subdividing property, only taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the natural affections of the human mind.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Hands, Mind

  Thomas Jefferson, Jean M. Yarbrough (1963). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.154, Hackett Publishing

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• I wish I had known more firsthand about the concerns and problems of American businesspeople while I was a U.S. senator and later a presidential nominee.

  George McGovern

  White, House, Presidential

  "Hope and Change ... the Constitution" by Larry Elder, www.realclearpolitics.com. March 25, 2010.

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• It is fascinating to watch legislators turn away from their usual corporate grips when they hear the growing thunder of the people.

  Ralph Nader

  People, Usual, Watches

  Ralph Nader (2011). “In Pursuit of Justice: Collected Writings 2000-2003”, p.177, Seven Stories Press

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• Legislators have a formal set of responsibilities to work together, but there's no hierarchy.

  Barney Frank

  Responsibility, Working Together, Hierarchy

  Interview with Jason Zengerle, nymag.com. April 15, 2012.

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• Every single dollar spent lobbying a legislator on behalf of oil and gas is a toxic dollar that undermines public health and safety laws that protect Americans. That's contamination of the political system.

  Josh Fox

  Law, Oil, Safety

  "Josh Fox: Activist and filmmaker" by Gerri Miller, www.mnn.com. May 2, 2012.

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• I remember coming to this college in the 1960s as a new legislator when a road divided the campus - and it was not fully paved at that - and no wall defined the campus from the highway.

  Michael N. Castle

  Wall, College, Remember

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• Trade and commerce, if they were not made of Indian rubber, would never manage to bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Philosophy, Government, Political

  Henry David Thoreau (2000). “Walden and Other Writings: (A Modern Library E-Book)”, p.679, Modern Library

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• There has been opposition to experimenting on animals for a long time. This opposition has made little headway because experimenters, backed by commercial firms that profit by supplying laboratory animals and equipment, have been able to convince legislators and the public that opposition comes from uninformed fanatics who consider the interests of animals more important than the interests of human beings.

  Peter Singer

  Animal, Long, Important

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• I don't view myself as a victim of gun violence. I view myself as a victim of a maniac who happened to use a gun as a tool, and I view myself as a victim of the legislators at the time who left me defenseless.

  Suzanna Hupp

  Gun, Views, Tools

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• In the formation of our constitution the wisdom of all ages is collected-the legislators of antiquity are consulted, as well as the opinions and interests of the millions who are concerned. It short, it is an empire of reason.

  Noah Webster

  Age, Empires, Opinion

  Noah Webster (1787). “An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System”, p.6

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• When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When "Somebody Up There" - a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator - so decrees.

  Jessica Mitford

  Government, Prison, Dictator

  Jessica Mitford (1973). “Kind and usual punishment: the prison business”, Not Avail

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• The Universal Declaration... as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations...it not only crystallizes the political thought of our times on these matters, but it has also influenced the thinking of legislators all over the world.

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Thinking, Achievement, Political

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• Statistical science is indispensable to modern statesmanship. In legislation as in physical science it is beginning to be understood that we can control terrestrial forces only by obeying their laws. The legislator must formulate in his statutes not only the national will, but also those great laws of social life revealed by statistics.

  James A. Garfield

  Science, Government, Law

  Garfield, James A. (1882). “The works of James Abram Garfield. Volume 1”, p.455, Best Books on

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• Webster never goes behind government, and so cannot speak with authority about it. His words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate no essential reform in the existing government; but for thinkers, and those who legislate for all time, he never once glances at the subject.... Comparatively, he is always strong, original, and, above all, practical. Still, his quality is not wisdom, but prudence.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Wisdom, Strong, Government

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• But the origin of the American Republic is distinguished by peculiar circumstances. Other nations have been driven together by fear and necessity-the governments have generally been the result of a single man's observations; or the offspring of particular interests. In the formation of our constitution, the wisdom of all ages is collected-the legislators of antiquity are consulted-as well as the opinions and interests of the millions who are concerned. In short, it is an empire of reason.

  Noah Webster

  Men, Age, Together

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• The most effective executive branch officials try to help legislators develop explanations for the votes they are being asked to take.

  Robert Zoellick

  Trying, Branches, Helping

  "Robert Zoellick: “Getting Stuff Done” at the World Bank and Beyond" by Mark V. Vlasic, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 5, 2012.

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• But how is it now? All we get is orders; and the laws go out of the state. Them legislators set up there at Austin and don't do nothing but makes laws against kerosene oil and schoolbooks being brought into the state. I reckon they was afraid some man would go home some evening after work and light up and get an education and go to work and make laws to repeal aforesaid laws.

  O. Henry

  Home, Men, Light

  O. Henry (2015). “Sixes and Sevens: Ghost Story Collections”, p.127, 谷月社

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• Violence against women is as American as apple pie. I know, not only as a legislator, but from personal experience.

  Gwen Moore

  Apples, Pie, Violence

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• Legislators could certainly do with a school of morals.

  Simon Bolivar

  School, Moral

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• Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government.

  Aristotle

  Blessed, Government, Hands

  Aristotle (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)”, p.3135, Delphi Classics

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• That the equalization of property exercises an influence on political society was clearly understood even by some of the old legislators. Laws were made by Solon and others prohibiting an individual from possessing as much land as he pleased.

  Aristotle

  Exercise, Law, Land

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.56, Aristotle

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• Women who are with child should be careful of themselves; they should take exercise and have a nourishing diet. The first of these prescriptions the legislator will easily carry into effect by requiring that they should take a walk daily to some temple, where they can worship the gods who preside over birth. Their minds, however, unlike their bodies, they ought to keep quiet, for the offspring derive their natures from their mothers as plants do from earth.

  Aristotle

  Education, Mother, Children

  Aristotle, (2016). “Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens”, p.208, Princeton University Press

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• The same things are best both for individuals and for states, and these are the things which the legislator ought to implant in the minds of his citizens.

  Aristotle

  Education, Mind, Citizens

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.383, Simon and Schuster

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• The legislator must be in advance of his age.
  Across the mind of the statesman flash ever and anon the brilliant, though partial, intimations of future events.... Something which is more than fore-sight and less than prophetic knowledge marks the statesman a peculiar being among his contemporaries.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Sight, Mind, Age

  Woodrow Wilson, Arthur Stanley Link, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Princeton University (1994). “Papers”

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• The Moral Majority supports legislators who oppose abortions but also oppose child nutrition and day care. From their perspective, life begins at conception and ends at birth.

  Barney Frank

  Children, Party, Day Care

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