It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention.
Lyndon B. JohnsonI look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.
Benjamin FranklinI believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America’s about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don’t contract them.
Barack ObamaI think there ought to be a strict separation or wall built between our religious faith and our practice of political authority in office. I don’t think the President of the United States should extoll Christianity if he happens to be a Christian at the expense of Judaism, Islam or other faiths.
Jimmy CarterThere’s nothing in the Constitution that says the President stops being President in his last year.
Ruth Bader GinsburgReligion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one’s own religion.
Mahatma GandhiNothing can be divided into more parts than it can possibly be constituted of. But matter (i.e. finite) cannot be constituted of infinite parts.
Isaac NewtonBut just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you’ve got to compromise. You’ve got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.
Colin PowellOur constitution is a ray of hope: H for harmony, O for Opportunity, P for people’s participation and E for equality.
Narendra ModiI believe that a government has only one religion – India first. A government has only one holy book – our Constitution. A government has only one kind of devotion – towards nation.
Narendra ModiWhen 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.
Joe BidenThe basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.
George WashingtonFor me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why 95% of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution.
Stephen CoveyI have been a firm believer in the federal structure of our country as enshrined in the Constitution.
Narendra ModiThe Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.
George WashingtonAs 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.
Henry David ThoreauI certainly respect the belief of the Hobby Lobby owners. On the other hand, they have no constitutional right to foist that belief on the hundreds and hundreds of women who work for them who don’t share that belief.
Ruth Bader GinsburgI don’t have freedom in the United States to go into a public school and preach the Gospel, nor is a student free in a public school to pray, or a teacher free to read the Bible publicly to the students. At the same time, we have a great degree of freedom for which I am grateful.
Billy GrahamDon’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
Abraham LincolnThe Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
James MadisonI have quite a decent constitution in spite of all my abuse of it and my advanced years. I’m still quite robust.
Christopher HitchensHere was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence Of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia.
Thomas JeffersonWe the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
Abraham LincolnA 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.
Stephen CoveyA Constitution should be short and obscure.
Napoleon BonaparteThe constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that… it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.
Thomas JeffersonWe 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.
Dan QuayleA constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.
AristotleCollegiality is crucial to the success of our mission. We could not do the job the Constitution assigns to us if we didn’t – to use one of Justice Antonin Scalia’s favorite expressions – ‚Get over it!‘
Ruth Bader GinsburgReligious persecution may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and over-zealous piety.
Edmund BurkeThe 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.
James MadisonOur constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.
Will RogersA cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.
Joseph AddisonI deplore the need or the use of troops anywhere to get American citizens to obey the orders of constituted courts.
Dwight D. EisenhowerCourage 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.
Joseph AddisonThe Bill of Rights is not an a la carte menu.
John KennedyNature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?
Henry David ThoreauWhen I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.
A. P. J. Abdul KalamThe Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Benjamin FranklinI never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.
Thomas JeffersonYou should see what our Founding Fathers used to say to each other and in the early part of our nation. But what they were able to do, especially in Philadelphia in 1787, four months, they argued about what a House should be, what a Senate should be, the power of the president, the Congress, the Supreme Court. And they had to deal with slavery.
Colin PowellThere is never a shortage anywhere of lawyers eager to attack the First Amendment, as though it were nothing more than a clause in a lease from a crooked slumlord.
Kurt VonnegutI 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.
James MadisonWe have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, ‚We, the people.‘
Ruth Bader GinsburgThe 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.
George WashingtonThe happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.
James Madison