Romano Prodi Quotes

I wish I could set deadlines for the Congress, but that's just not the way the Constitution is written.

A constitution is made of a spirit, institutions, and a practice.

Democratic government is difficult. It is much more difficult than populists claim. It's not like running a business or a police force. It demands compromise.

Lobbying is not a bad thing. I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't have lobbyists or we shouldn't have lobbying to petition our government. It's in the Constitution, and it's something that should be honorable and good.

Learn the Constitution. Then when someone wants to be elected, hold their feet to the fire and make them follow it because that's what we need to get back to. It works so well when we follow it.

The General Constitution of our country is good, and a wholesome government could be framed upon it, for it was dictated by the invisible operations of the Almighty…

… take the Constitution out of cold storage!

We have a constitution that says that the way you get things is by passing legislation, not by threatening to destroy the country unless you get your way.

If we’re going to do all the things that the Constitution says that legitimately we can do as a country, … we have to be able to have a Congress where people can talk together like our Founding Fathers did.

As a minister and public official I must desire that it [the draft Constitution] be accepted, understanding well enough the need that we have some form of definitive organization. But as a citizen having to live under such a constitution, I disapprove of it and reject it.

I will never forget that it is the people who speak directly through the constitution they have adopted.

The Knesset has balances that will not allow it to pass legislation that would destroy democracy from within.

We rely on the rule of law. I think we've lost touch with that concept in Washington.

Our new Soviet constitution will, in my opinion, be the most democratic constitution of all those existing in the world.

I happen to miss the Constitution; I thought it was a good document.

The American principles of democracy expresses the deepest values of the Sharia both structurally and in the government... Sharia requires us Muslims anywhere to abide by the law of the land.

There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.

I've been reading this little book. It's called the Russian constitution. And it says that the only source of power in Russia is the people. So I don't want to hear those who say we're appealing to the authorities. Who's the power here?

In Parliament we debate on and we decide the laws that are going to govern the country.

I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong.

There is also something called the Legislature. There is something called the press. There is something called people. These are all different players on the stage.

I think we Americans, of all people, understand the importance of a good, legal, constitutional framework as the basis of political life.

The U.S. Constitution is the basic framework for the greatest democracy on Earth. Some of my colleagues find it easy to amend it. I don't.

A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.

It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. That's set out in the Constitution.