William O. Douglas Quotes

The Constitution is not about restricting the people; it is about restricting the government.

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

Every amendment which I am convinced will have the tendency to lesson the danger of civil liberty by the central government will receive my sincere approbation.

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.

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

America gains most when individuals have great freedom to pursue personal goals without undue government interference.

The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people.

I don't like the idea that the government has so much of a say in things.

I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P. J. O'Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.

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.

There exists in modem America the necessity for protecting all of us from arbitrary action by governments more powerful and more pervasive than any in our ancestors’ time.

The greatest threat to our freedom is an all powerful federal government.

Who are a free people? Not those over whom government is exercised, but those who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled that proper provision is made against its being otherwise exercised

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

When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans, it was assumed that the Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly. That is, when we set up this country, abuse of people by Government was a big problem. So if you read the Constitution, it's rooted in the desire to limit the ability of — Government's ability to mess with you, because that was a huge problem. It can still be a huge problem. But it assumed that people would basically be raised in coherent families, in coherent communities, and they would work for the common good, as well as for the individual welfare.

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.

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

Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We're working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we've fallen easy prey to charlatens, quacks, and hustlers.

The (Supreme Court) ruling that anyone who's arrested -- even accidentally -- can be strip-searched was decided five to four, with the votes for the searches coming from the Court's five conservatives. You know -- the 'defending personal liberty' guys. Which is weird because I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I'm willing to bet Big Government feels it's biggest when it's inside your anus.

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

We must guard against the overreaching hand of big government trying to take away our freedom. And we must always protect the environment in a manner consistent with our values.