--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those who made and endorsed our…" description: "\"Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask th..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg" --- # Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's… ![“Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask that our judges adhere.” quote by Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg) > “Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask that our judges adhere.” [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that constitutional judges should be guided by realistic understandings of human behavior rather than idealistic visions. **In simple terms:** Prioritize pragmatic human nature over utopian ideals in jurisprudence. Key Takeaway Judge decisions must reflect realistic human tendencies. Themes political philosophy legal theory human nature judicial restraint constitutionalism pragmatism Mood thoughtful critical analytical Type aphilosophical political legal When to use this quote - court rulings - legislative drafting - constitutional debates - law school curricula - public policy analysis Key Concepts judicial interpretation constitutional design human behavior utopianism Practical Applications - guiding judicial training - informing constitutional amendment proposals Questions to Reflect On - How does human nature influence legal outcomes? - What risks arise from applying utopian ideals to law? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Constitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitution/) [Constitution Knew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitution-knew-377468/) [Endorsed Constitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/endorsed-constitution-377467/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Judges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judges/) [Judges Adhere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judges-adhere-377466/) [Judging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judging/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Man Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-nature/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Temptation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/temptation/) [Utopia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utopia/) ## Related quotes > [Those who proposed the Constitution knew, and those who ratified the Constitution also knew that this is...a limited government tied down to specified powers…It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/those-who-proposed-the-constitution-knew-and-those-who-ratified-the/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugo-black/the-framers-of-the-constitution-knew-that-free-speech-is-the-friend/) [Hugo Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugo-black/) > [“The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/the-framers-of-the-constitution-knew-human-nature-as-well-as-we-do-2/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) > [The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/the-framers-of-the-constitution-knew-human-nature-as-well-as-we-do/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) > [“There is nothing in man or nature that does not ask questions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-bill-pepper/there-is-nothing-in-man-or-nature-that-does-not-ask-questions/) [Curtis Bill Pepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-bill-pepper/) > [If man can take care of man, nature can take care of the rest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-way-teale/if-man-can-take-care-of-man-nature-can-take-care-of-the-rest/) [Edwin Way Teale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-way-teale/) > [I love not man the less, but Nature more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/i-love-not-man-the-less-but-nature-more/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [Mountains and rivers are easy to move, but it's impossible to change a man's nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhang-xianliang/mountains-and-rivers-are-easy-to-move-but-it-s-impossible-to-change-a/) [Zhang Xianliang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhang-xianliang/) > [Man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious, and vengeful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-keith/man-is-by-nature-competitive-combative-ambitious-jealous-envious-and/) [Arthur Keith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-keith/) > [The new media are not bridges between man and nature; they are nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-new-media-are-not-bridges-between-man-and-nature-they-are-nature/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [More inhumanity (to man) has been done by man himself than any other of nature's causes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-von-pufendorf/more-inhumanity-to-man-has-been-done-by-man-himself-than-any-other-of/) [Samuel von Pufendorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-von-pufendorf/) > [“The state of civil society, which necessarily generates this aristocracy, is a state of nature; and much more truly so than a savage and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-state-of-civil-society-which-necessarily-generates-this/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Man is nature as much as the trees.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-kiley/man-is-nature-as-much-as-the-trees/) [Dan Kiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-kiley/) > [“According to Scripture, the trouble with man by nature is not that he is incomplete but that he is dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martyn-lloyd-jones/according-to-scripture-the-trouble-with-man-by-nature-is-not-that-he/) [Martyn Lloyd-Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martyn-lloyd-jones/) > [“such is their image of man’s nature: the battleground of a struggle between a corpse and a ghost,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/such-is-their-image-of-man-s-nature-the-battleground-of-a-struggle/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More by Robert Bork > [ \[The current governing judicial philosophy is:\] If you want something passionately enough, it is guaranteed by the Constitution. No need to fiddle around gathering… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/the-current-governing-judicial-philosophy-is-if-you-want-something/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [The major obstacle to a religious renewal is the intellectual classes, who are highly influential and tend to view religion as primitive superstition. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/the-major-obstacle-to-a-religious-renewal-is-the-intellectual-classes/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [The Federalist Society has done more for the health of the law than any organization I have witnessed in my career.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/the-federalist-society-has-done-more-for-the-health-of-the-law-than/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [Reporters treat religion as beneath mention, as personally distasteful, or as a clear and present threat to the American way of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/reporters-treat-religion-as-beneath-mention-as-personally-distasteful/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [“Now, however, the educational system has become the weapon of choice for modern liberals in their project of dismantling American culture.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/now-however-the-educational-system-has-become-the-weapon-of-choice/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [ When a judge goes beyond \[his proper function\] and reads entirely new values into the Constitution, values the framers and ratifiers did not put… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/when-a-judge-goes-beyond-his-proper-function-and-reads-entirely-new/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [I don't think the Constitution is studied almost anywhere, including law schools. In law schools, what they study is what the court said about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/i-don-t-think-the-constitution-is-studied-almost-anywhere-including/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [If the children already born each have only two children themselves ... in twenty-seven to thirty-five years the population of the world will double.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/if-the-children-already-born-each-have-only-two-children-themselves/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [In a constitutional democracy the moral content of law must be given by the morality of the framer or legislator, never by the morality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/in-a-constitutional-democracy-the-moral-content-of-law-must-be-given/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [As the courts keep pushing religion out of sight, the press either ignores it or treats it as some sort of emotional affliction. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/as-the-courts-keep-pushing-religion-out-of-sight-the-press-either/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [No church that panders to the zeitgeist deserves respect, and very shortly it will not get respect, except from those who find it politically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/no-church-that-panders-to-the-zeitgeist-deserves-respect-and-very/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [The National Rifle Association is always arguing that the Second Amendment determines the right to bear arms. But I think it really is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/the-national-rifle-association-is-always-arguing-that-the-second/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [The purpose that brought the fourteenth amendment into being was equality before the law, and equality, not separation, was written into the law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/the-purpose-that-brought-the-fourteenth-amendment-into-being-was/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [One evening at a hotel in New York I flipped around the television channels. Suddenly there on the public access channel was a voluptuous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/one-evening-at-a-hotel-in-new-york-i-flipped-around-the-television/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) > [The American press is extraordinarily free and vigorous, as it should be. It should be, not because it is free of inaccuracy, oversimplification and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/the-american-press-is-extraordinarily-free-and-vigorous-as-it-should/) [Robert Bork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) [Explore all 40 Robert Bork quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/) ## More Constitution quotes > [ Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then \[these?\],… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/next-came-the-patent-laws-these-began-in-england-in-1624-and-in-this/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-weatherford/in-american-terms-the-accomplishment-of-genghis-khan-might-be/) [Jack Weatherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-weatherford/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. 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We are guardian of rights, and we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-bird/the-judiciary-must-not-take-on-the-coloration-of-whatever-may-be/) [Rose Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-bird/) > [There is not a revolution that succe Women are suffering because they are being excluded. The high military council excluded women from the committee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/there-is-not-a-revolution-that-succe-women-are-suffering-because-they/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The American Constitution declares 'All men are born equal.' The British Socialist Party add: 'All men must be kept equal'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-american-constitution-declares-all-men-are-born-equal-the-british/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [“The Court has a special responsibility to ensure that the Constitution works in practice. While education, including the transmission of our civic values from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-breyer/the-court-has-a-special-responsibility-to-ensure-that-the/) [Stephen Breyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-breyer/) > [The Constitution is very clear on the - on the declaration of war or reacting to international crimes - crimes against nations. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-pitts/the-constitution-is-very-clear-on-the-on-the-declaration-of-war-or/) [Joe Pitts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-pitts/) > [Nothing from man's hands, nor law, nor constitution, can be final. 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If such has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-hamilton/i-am-apprehensive-sir-that-in-the-warmth-of-my-feelings-i-may-have/) [Alexander Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-hamilton/) > [Conservative political opinion in America cleaves to the tradition of the judge as passive interpreter, believing that his absolute loyalty to authoritative law is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/learned-hand/conservative-political-opinion-in-america-cleaves-to-the-tradition-of/) [Learned Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/learned-hand/) [Browse all 4,507 Constitution quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitution/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask that our judges adhere.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Bork" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitution-knew-man-s-nature-and-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Constitution" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitution-knew-man-s-nature-and-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97c/robert-bork-16437_constitution_those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitu_14443.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the…” — Robert Bork", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Robert Bork", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bork/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Those who made and endorsed our...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitution-knew-man-s-nature-and-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bork/those-who-made-and-endorsed-our-constitution-knew-man-s-nature-and-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```