Joseph Story Quotes

Upon subjects of government, it has always appeared to me that metaphysical refinements are out of place. A Constitution of government is addressed to the common sense of the people; and never was designed for trials of logical skill or visionary speculation.

I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve of them; for having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise .... In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such .... I doubt too whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution.

A theory must be tempered with reality.

Mental life is indeed practical through and through. It begins in practice and it ends in practice.

Our age is before all things a practical one. It demands of us all clear and tangible results of our work.

What difference would it practically make to anyone if this notion rather than that notion were true? If no practical difference could be traced, then … all dispute is idle.

The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.

This right to secede is deduced from the nature of the Constitution, which they say is a compact between sovereign States who have preserved their whole sovereignty, and therefore are subject to no superior; that because they made the compact, they can break it when in their opinion it has been departed from by the other States. Fallacious as this course of reasoning is, it enlists State pride, and finds advocates in the honest prejudices of those who have not studied the nature of our government sufficiently to see the radical error on which it rests.

My dad, when he was young, did Shakespeare in school, and my mom was a little bit of an artist, but everybody was pragmatic.

Why is it that common sense is seldom common practice?

Well, it may be all right in practice, but it will never work in theory

Success is achieved by people who deeply understand reality and know how to use it to get what they want. The converse is also true: idealists who are not well-grounded in reality create problems, not progress.

I don't think that everyone should have a philosophical answer to any given question. There are things that need to be done.

All constitutions, those of the States no less than that of the nation, are designed, and must be interpreted and administered so as to fit human rights.

Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Constitution was not - and is not - a grant of rights to the citizenry. Instead, the Constitution is a "barbed-wire entanglement" designed to interfere with, restrict, and impede government officials in the exercise of political power.

A 'truth' detached and purified of pleasures of ordinary life is not worth a damn in my view. Every grand theory and noble sentiment ought to be first tested in the kitchen-and then in bed, of course.

If politics is the art of the possible, research is surely the art of the soluble. Both are immensely practical-minded affairs.

Human life is a series of compromises, and it is not always easy to achieve in practice what one has found to be true in theory.

The question whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches.

Walking isn't a lost art: one must, by some means, get to the garage.

All idealism is falsehood in the face of necessity.

Hopefully, Donald Trump's a very practical man.

Above all, if what you've done is stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid.