Constitution Quotes

1691 quotes by 837 authors

I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only… — Alexander Hamilton
If they are incorporated into the Constitution, independent tribunals of justice will consider themselves in a peculiar manner the guardians of those rights; they will… — James Madison
In a thousand words I can have the Lord's Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, the Hippocratic Oath, a sonnet by Shakespeare, the Preamble to the Constitution,… — Roy H. Williams
The powers of congress must be defined, but their means must be adequate to the purposes of their constitution. It is possible there may be… — Oliver Ellsworth
It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good… — Thomas Jefferson
If it be said that the legislative body are themselves the constitutional judges of their own powers, and that the construction they put upon them… — Alexander Hamilton
You give me a credit to which I have no claim in calling me "the writer of the Constitution of the United States." This was… — James Madison
Whatever may be the judgement pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or whatever may be the destiny of the edifice prepared… — James Madison
The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the… — Thomas Jefferson
[M]y wish is, that the Convention may adopt no temporizing expedient, but probe the defects of the Constitution [i.e., the Articles of Confederation] to the… — George Washington
[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give… — Alexander Hamilton
Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. — Thomas Jefferson
The construction applied . . . to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate Congress a power . . . ought… — Thomas Jefferson
The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes,… — Joseph Story
The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain… — Thomas Jefferson
The best reason to be assigned, in this case, for not having made the Constitution more free from a charge of uncertainty in its meaning,… — James Madison
THE Constitution proposed by the convention may be considered under two general points of view. The FIRST relates to the sum or quantity of power… — James Madison
The genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in… — William J. Brennan
[T]here is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of… — Alexander Hamilton
The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated… — Thomas Jefferson

Who Wrote These Constitution Quotes

837 authors contributed a total of 1,691 Constitution Quotes, led by these top contributors: