Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The Constitution is a list of things the government may not do.

The Constitution of the United States is not a suicide pact.

The contention that...the Constitution is to be disregarded if it stands in the way of that which is deemed of the public advantage...is destructive of the whole theory upon which our American Commonwealths have been founded.

The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and peace.

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

The purpose of a written constitution is to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.

The whole point of the Constitution is to limit at some point and in some way popular will.

The author of our constitution, James Madison, … would be aghast

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

I do believe that it was through divine providence that the Founding Fathers drafted a document that created a government that didn't trust each other - hence the separation of powers. And then, to close the deal, the Bill of Rights was added to continue to protect individual rights and freedoms.

The layman's constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn't like is unconstitutional.

For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was designed by those who framed it.

The Constitution lies at the core of our civil religion.

The Constitution is simply a sign that says “keep off the grass.”

The Constitution was essentially an economic document based upon the concept that the fundamental rights of private property are anterior to government and morally beyond the reach of popular majorities.

The federal constitution is perhaps the greatest of human experiments.

Our fundamental instrument of government [the Constitution] is an evolving document.

The Constitution is still the object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, our defense in danger, the source of our prosperity in peace.

The Constitution of the United States [is] the result of the collected wisdom of our country.

We believe that all legislative assemblies should confine themselves to constitutional principles; and that all such laws should be implicitly obeyed by every American.

The Constitution was formed for our whole country

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.

The Federal government we have today is unimaginable in the perspective of the Americans who debated the ratification of the original constitution.

The Constitution is not just a legal argument. It is a set of norms and practices and it’s a political document…

I firmly believe that the Constitution is the most powerful challenge to illiberal tendencies. If the Constitution is followed in letter and spirit and if the laws are made in the spirit in which Constitution was made, liberties can indeed be protected.