Margrethe Vestager Quotes

Good laws, if they are not obeyed, do not constitute good government.

It is not our job to apply laws that have not yet been written.

You might think otherwise, but it doesn't naturally follow that because a law has been passed by Congress and signed by the president, said law actually has to be implemented.

I've been in the legislative branch and now the executive branch and in each case I felt it was important we use our constitutional responsibilities to the fullest.

A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.

I happened to have the privilege of serving in Congress. It will be 16 years at the end of this term. And I think I made a difference here on important issues.

It certainly makes no sense to enact more laws if we cannot, or do not, enforce the ones we have.

Legislators, influenced by the passions and exigencies of the moment, the pressure of constituents and colleagues, and the press of business, do not always pass sober constitutional judgments on every piece of legislation they enact.

In Sacramento you simply had to think about what the law ought to be and leave it to someone else to implement. In San Francisco, you hear about it the next day.

Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.

If members of Iran's parliament are prevented from criticizing the judiciary, then they should close down the parliament.

A government should not become too big to fulfill one of its most basic functions: representation.

Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important. That's not how we were meant to govern.

I think we live in a country that sometimes forgets how effective the rule of law is, perhaps because our governments have often found it inconvenient.

People are unwilling to enforce the laws on the books. Instead, they make more laws. Why can't we get this right?

Good legislation should bring clarity and not confusion.

Impeachment is allowed under Brazil's Constitution.

We are a nation of laws, not department-wide memos.

Laws, especially those of a constitutional nature like the Basic Law, which have been formulated through reasonable legislative processes, should never be freely interpreted or lightly abandoned.

In our administration, we're going to follow the law, and any policy that we move forward will fall well within the law and the Arizona Constitution.

If we cannot share aspects of our secret work with the public, we should do so with their elected representatives. For CIA oversight is a vital link to the open society we defend. It's a defining feature of the U.S. intelligence community and one of the many things that distinguishes us from the hostile services we face in the field.

If the law does not give you what you want, you can oppose the law, you can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law. So it is fundamental that the constitutions of every one of our member states are upheld and respected.

How can you not have people in leadership roles in our country not supporting the rule of law? That's what separates us from the rest of the countries around the world.

Without any direction from Congress, our judicial branch has unilaterally created and defined qualified immunity.

I want to tell governments and courts, 'Give orders that can be implemented.' They should not give orders that work to break the faith of people.