A Constitution should be short and obscure.

A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.

There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the President stops being President in his last year.

We shouldn’t have to be burdened with all the technicalities that come up from time to time with shrewd, smart lawyers interpreting what the laws or what the Constitution may or may not say.

For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best.

Life is so, so short. Bible says it’s like a vapor.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.

A successful lawsuit is the one worn by a policeman.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end.

I love being in a courtroom.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.

Laws are silent in time of war.

When Hillary served in the Senate, I saw her work day and night as a member of the Armed Services Committee – working with Republicans and Democrats to keep our military strong and protect our troops and their families.

And so I have studied, I have to tell you, revolutions and uprisings for a long time. They are all slightly different, but what they all look for is some kind of a mechanism to go from an authoritarian system to an open, democratic system.

I have tennis shoes with little rhinestones that I slip on if I exercise. But I always wear heels, even around the house. I’m such a short little thing, I can’t reach my kitchen cabinets.

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law.

We think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We know the court that made it has often overruled its own decisions, and we shall do what we can to have it overrule this.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?

I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution.

Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.

Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.

Governance should be designed as an equalizer. Democrats are more inclined towards working families and those who are struggling for a better life.

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

There is too much government today. We’ve got to remember the government should be by the people, of the people, and for the people.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

A mission statement is not something you write overnight… But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.

It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.

Our constitution is a ray of hope: H for harmony, O for Opportunity, P for people’s participation and E for equality.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

I don’t think we need more gun control laws.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

‚I wish life was not so short,‘ he thought. ‚Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.‘

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.

President Obama seems completely unaware of how many of the policies he is trying to impose have been tried before, in many times and places around the world, and have failed time and again.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

In order to fulfill the aspirations of masses, we have to sharpen the tool called the government machinery: we have to make it keen, more dynamic, and it is in this direction that we are working.

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

When we wrote the Constitution, the intention was to give the commander in chief the authority how to use the forces when you authorize him to be able to use the forces.