The quote database

The whole theory of our institutions is based on the liberty and independence of the individual.

As the racial distinction of humanity lies in its social relation, so we find the distinctive gains and losses of humanity to lie also in its social relation. We are more affected by our relation to each other than by our physical environment.

The basic condition of human life is union; the organic social relation, the interchange of functional service, wherein the individual is most advantaged, not by his own exertions for his own goods, but by the exchange of his exertions with the exertions of others for goods produced by them together.

Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken.

The wisdom of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure that the Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty of human life.

The Constitution defines the functions and powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other two departments of the Government, and he must answer for the just exercise of the discretion it permits and the performance of the duties it imposes.

The defining character of American constitutional government is its constant tension between security and liberty, serving both by partial helpings of each.

At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens.

It decrees that we, the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex

The basic concept underlying the Eighth Amendment is nothing less than the dignity of man.

The most violent element in society is ignorance.

A grave responsibility confronts this Court whenever in course of litigation it must reconcile the conflicting claims of liberty and authority.

It is better for those who have almost unlimited power of government in their hands to err on the side of freedom.

The student’s goal is Poise! Poise is Power.

Every thought, every word is impressed upon it and carried out in amazing detail.

Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly, is impressed upon the subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail.

Good citizens may well claim the protection of good laws and the benign influence of good government, but a claim for office is what the people of a republic should never recognize.

To enslave men successfully and safely it is necessary to keep their minds occupied with thoughts and aspirations short of the liberty of which they are deprived.

There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people.

A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls.

A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.

The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian.