The quote database

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.

The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.

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

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.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men.

I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization itself.

I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.

I have learned already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk.

The law, whether human or divine, is no respecter of persons; but the law is a respecter of reality.

Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it.

Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness.

Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust.

Our mission is not punishment, but the rectification of wrong.

Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the citizen, and the contempt of our people for economy and frugality in their personal affairs deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our national character.

Fully impressed with the gravity of the duties that confront me and mindful of my weakness, I should be appalled if it were my lot to bear unaided the responsibilities which await me.

The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts the sternest activities of life and rejoices in the hardihood of constant labor may still have lurking near his vitals the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden collapse.

Government has a right to survive and powers conferred upon it are not necessarily set at naught by the express prohibitions of the Bill of Rights.

The guaranties of civil liberty are but guaranties of freedom of the human mind and spirit and of reasonable freedom and opportunity to express them.

The Constitution expresses more than the conviction of the people that democratic processes must be preserved at all costs.

My master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will.

I would ten thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be the most pampered among the slaves of America

Reader, it is not to awaken sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I suffered in slavery.