Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The difference between the departments undoubtedly is, that the legislature makes, the executive executes, and the judiciary construes the law.

It is provided by the Constitution that the President shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

The independence of the legislative arm must be respected. I had little taste for forcing Congressional action.

The legislature makes, the executive executes, and the judiciary construes the law.

In the government of this Commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: The judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.

The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.

From time to time we must remind ourselves that the President has a role in the legislative process.

In republics the executive must be strongest because everything conspires against it, while in monarchies the legislature must be strongest, because everything conspires in favour of the monarch

As members of Congress, we may disagree with the administration's position on foreign policy matters, but the fact remains: the Executive Branch is tasked with handling diplomatic matters.

It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.

The courts are truly the least dangerous of the three branches of our government.

…the Senate, a small body of egos…

Government is not a bottom line enterprise. You can get yourself elected ... but you can't fire the legislature if they won't do what you want.

The Congress is not a court of law but it is a court of public opinion.

Separation of powers means that the president cannot control Congress.

Congress cannot—nor should it—run foreign policy on a day-to-day basis. That is a truism.

The most important benefit that I can confer on the country by my Presidency is to insist upon the entire independence of the executive and legislative branches of government

Congress ... is far more than the simple, limited advisory council that most Presidents would like to maintain.

The authority of Congress must be respected …. The President must confine himself to his executive duties—to obey and execute, not make the laws.

Foreign policy is always a sticking point between Congress and the executive.

[Congress is] the chief aggrandizer of the Executive.

As the Texas Attorney General I saw it every day: the struggle for power between the legislative branch and the executive branch.

Legislative power is always superior to the executive.

Congress is the great commanding theater of this nation, and the threshold to whatever department of office a man is qualified to enter.

The legislature makes, the executive executes, and the judiciary construes the law; but the maker of the law may commit something to the discretion of the other departments, and the precise boundary of this power is a subject of delicate and difficult inquiry.