Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2003-07-22 Jul 22, 2003No legislative act contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy (agent) is greater than his principal; that the servant is above the master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people; that men, acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid. It is not to be supposed that the Constitution could intend to enable the representatives of the people to substitute their will to that of their constituents. A Constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by judges as fundamental law. If there should happen to be a irreconcilable variance between the two, the Constitution is to be preferred to the statute.~ Alexander HamiltonLiberty is not a matter of words, but a positive and important condition of society. Its greatest safeguard after placing its foundations in a popular base, is in the checks and balances imposed on the public servants.~ James Fenimore CooperThe constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.~ Wendell L. Willkie Jul 21, 2003To change masters is not to be free.~ Jose Marti y PerezSo long as people, being ill governed, suffer from hunger, criminals will never disappear. It is extremely unkind to punish those who, being suffers from hunger, are compelled to violate laws.~ Kenkó HoshiTyranny seldom announces itself. ...In fact, a tyranny may exist without an individual tyrant. A whole government, even a democratically elected one, may be tyrannical.~ Joseph SobranNo truly sophisticated proponent of repression would be stupid enough to shatter the façade of democratic institutions.~ Murray B. Levin Jul 18, 2003Surely a large part of the zealous repression of radical protest in America has its roots in the fact that millions of men who are apparently “insiders” know how vulnerable the system is because they know how ambiguous their own attachments to it are. The slightest challenge exposes the fragile foundations of legitimacy of the state.~ John ScharrFor somehow this is tyranny's disease, to trust no friends.~ AeschylusIf one shoots at a king, one must not miss.~ Sidney Hook Jul 17, 2003Throughout the history of the United States, war has been the primary impetus behind the growth and development of the central state. It has been the lever by which presidents and other national officials have bolstered the power of the state in the face of tenacious popular resistance.~ Bruce D. PorterThe idea of creating systems designed to threaten, coerce, and kill, and to imbue such agencies with principled legitimacy, and not expect them to lead to wars, genocides, and other tyrannical practices, expresses an innocence we can no longer afford to indulge.~ Butler D. ShafferI believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.~ H. L. Mencken Jul 16, 2003Any excuse will serve a tyrant.~ AesopIll habits gather by unseen degrees -- As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.~ John DrydenRightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.~ Thomas Jefferson Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print