Lysander Spooner Quotes

It must never be forgotten ... that the liberties of the people are not so safe under the gracious manner of government as by the limitation of power.

We can’t trust government to limit its powers to the Constitution.

The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power.

You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.

The right and the physical power of the people to resist injustice, are really the only securities that any people ever can have for their liberties. Practically no government knows any limit to its power but the endurance of the people.

If government can give you rights, government can take them away from you.

We want our government to protect us, to make sure something like 9/11 never happens again. We quickly moved to give law enforcement more power to do this. But that now begs the question, did we move to fast? Did we give too much power away? I don't have the answer.

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

I don't want to hear again from the attorney general or anyone on this floor that this government has shown it can be trusted to use the power we give it with restraint and care.

Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power.

By ensuring that no one in government has too much power, the Constitution helps protect ordinary Americans every day against abuse of power by those in authority.

The Constitution is government's stop sign. It says, you - the three branches of government - can go so far and no farther.

There is nothing wrong with describing Conservatism as protecting the Constitution, protecting all things that limit government. Government is the enemy of liberty. Government should be very restrained.

The law always limits every power it gives.

The Framers (of the Constitution) were not concerned primarily with favoring one type of government over another, but with limiting the power of government, regardless of its source.

The Constitution was framed fundamentally as a bulwark against governmental power.

The great object in view is to limit and qualify the powers of government.

Our devotion to individual freedom limits our readiness to give central government the power to override our traditional power structure.

… power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.

Those who seek always to limit the power of government are of good heart and conscience. Those who seek to expand the power of government are base tyrants.

Our Supreme Court has been very clear that the government can't just simply say something and make it so.

The Constitution limits the role of government. The Constitution enumerates the freedoms of the people and enforces those freedoms against government, making sure government cannot encroach.

How do we preserve our civil rights, our traditions as a liberal democracy, in a time when government power is expanding and is more and more difficult to check?

Government has no right to make itself a party in any debates respecting the principles or mode of forming or of changing, constitutions. It is not for the benefit of those who exercise the powers of government, that constitutions, and the governments issuing from them, are established.

In America we believe there ought to be limits on government.