George Washington Quotes

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?

[T]he powers granted by the proposed Constitution are the gift of the people, and may be resumed by them when perverted to their oppression, and every power not granted thereby remains with the people.

The people are, in fact, the fountain of all power.

Resolved-1st, That the People are the source of all legitimate power; and, That We are the People.

Let this stand then as a settled maxim of the law of nature, never to be shaken by any artifices of flatterers, that the senate, or the people, are superior to kings, be they good or bad: which is but what you yourself do in effect confess when you tell us that the authority of kings was derived from the people. For that power which they transferred to princes doth yet naturally, or, as I may say, virtually, reside in themselves notwithstanding.

In free governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns.

The origin of all power is in the people, and they have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation.

With the people, especially a people seized of property, resides the aggregate of original power.

The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.

We must reflect more on what democracy in the exercise of authority would mean. Is truth determined by a majority vote, only for a new 'truth' to be 'discovered' by a new majority tomorrow?

The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their will, and lives only by their will.

ALL lawful authority, legislative, and executive, originates from the people. Power in the people is like light in the sun, native, original, inherent and unlimited by any thing human.

The authority of the people is a necessary foundation for a constitution

A whole people with the ballot in their hands possess the most conclusive and unlimited power ever entrusted to humanity.

People won't want powers being handed back from bureaucrats in Brussels to be given to bureaucrats in Britain. Our aim should be to give the British people greater control of their lives in all regards.

All power is inherent in the people.

After all, our Constitution was intended as a popular document. It was drafted and ratified by the people. It established democratic institutions. It entrusts the people with the power to make the tough decisions. And, in most cases, it prefers the will of the people to the unchecked rule of judges.

I accept the people's will. As a revolutionary, I have no right to disregard the will of the people.

The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union.

[T]he people as ultimate sovereigns, retain the ultimate power - and even the duty - to overthrow any government that fails to respect their authority.

Rulers come and go. It's the people who are the real rulers of the country.

We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power; that the authority of the people is to be extended, not restricted.

I think it's time for the Army to understand that power should be enshrined in the people if we are to be a genuine democracy and not in any particular institution or organisation.

Democrats consider the people as the safest depository of power in the last resort; they cherish them, therefore, and wish to leave in them all the powers to the exercise of which they are competent.

The will of the people shall be the law of the land