Potter Stewart Quotes

Democracy is not possible without effectively working legal system.

We are a constitutional democracy. We must deal with things properly within the framework of the law and then the constitution.

In a nation based on the 'consent of the governed,' judges are supposed to apply the laws the people have assented to.

The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.

We are nothing but by the law.

So long as we govern our nation by the letter and spirit of the Bill of Rights, we can be sure that our nation will grow in strength and wisdom and freedom.

America is governed by rules of law, and those are not ones that the President of the United States or anybody else can just set aside for the sake of expediency Even when we are deeply supportive of Turkish democracy, and even when we care deeply about any attempts to overthrow their government or any other illegal actions, we've got to go through a legal process.

A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.

It is one of the most beautiful things about our country that just one individual, so long as he or she has the law on their side, can take on the most powerful institutions or people in the land and win.

Believing in and practising the principles of the rule of law is, with our liberty and democracy, among the most powerful weapons we have. It is less effective if we blur its clarity and we should do this as sparingly as possible.

The first and most important component in nation building is LAW. Law is the source of national Cohesion.

There are those who argue that the concept of human rights is not applicable to all cultures. We in the National League for Democracy believe that human rights are of universal relevance. But even those who do not believe in human rights must certainly agree that the rule of law is most important. Without the rule of law there can be no peace.

The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular.

Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.

The true policy of government is to make use of aristocracy, but under the forms and in the spirit of democracy.

I'm concerned about the survival, historically, of constitutional democracy.

Good, healthy democratic societies are built on three pillars: there's peace and stability, economic development, and respect for rule of law and human rights. But often, we take stability - peace in terms of security and economic activity - to mean a country is doing well. We forget the third and important pillar of rule of law and respect for human rights, because no country can long remain prosperous without that third pillar.

My constitution was destroyed long ago; now I am living under the bylaws.

We are a country of laws.

America has never been a pure democracy and majoritarianism has always been as much feared as monarchism.

Always we must bear in mind that law has to be substituted for power, that care must be taken to serve the interests of law.

The rule of law should be respected so that the basic structure of our democracy is maintained and further strengthened.

One of the benefits of a properly functioning democracy is minority rights and majority rule.

We all have more at stake in the rules of the game than we do in the outcomes of the game. When that changes, that's when you begin to lose democracy.

According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I [the Lord] have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.