Power Constraints Quotes

Changing things is not easy, and I say this without any irony. It is not that someone does not want to, but because it is a hard thing to do. Take Obama, a forward-thinking man, a liberal, a democrat. Did he not pledge to shut down Guantanamo before his election? But did he do it? No, he did not. And may I ask why not? Did he not want to do it? He wanted to, I am sure he did, but it did not work out. He sincerely wanted to do it, but did not succeed, since it turned out to be very complicated.

I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?

The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of them that should carry them out. Even emperors can't do it all by themselves.

You cannot make elected officials … do what they will not do.

Emergency does not create power.

The scope of America's global hegemony is admittedly great, but its depth is shallow, limited by both domestic and external restraints.

The more people expect from government, the more biased they become against limiting government power.

Ministers would have been hard put to alter the harvests or bring orders to industry. But they were ministers and they had to do something.

An absolute and unlimited right over any object of property would be the right to commit nearly every crime.If Ihad sucha right over thestick Iamaboutto cut, I might employ it as a mace to knock down the passengers, or I might convert it into a sceptre as an emblem of royalty, or into an idol to offend the national religion.

[The American President] has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues.… The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

People think of politicians having true power, but that's less and less true. After all, they are often constrained or being edged into a corner by a whole series of contingencies.

The UN can go as far as the U.S. will allow, and no further. And it's bound by conditions that the powerful states, which means mostly the U.S., impose.

There are limits to power, as those who put their hopes in a constitution always discover.

I, sir, have always conceived - I believe those who proposed the constitution conceived,and it is still more fully known, and more material to observe, those who ratified the constitution conceived, that this is not an indefinite government deriving its powers from the general terms prefixed to the specified powers - but, a limited government tied down to the specified powers, which explain and define the general terms.

That all may be so, but when I begin to exercise that power I am not conscious of the power, but only of the limitations imposed on me.

To understand the power of the priesthood, we must know its limitations.

It was like having a genie. I'd only get so many wishes.

No government knows any limits to its power except the endurance of the people.

I really kind of always wondered, if I did Superman, what I would do, and what I would be able to do, because it's a little harder for me, being kind of a realistic guy, to imagine doing a character who almost has no limits to his powers.

To the victor belong only those spoils that may be constitutionally obtained.

Even the bravest cannot fight beyond his power

There's only so long you can rule the reality world.

Never has any one office had so much power as the President of the United States possesses. Never has so powerful a leader been so impotent to do what he wants to do, what he is pledged to do and what he knows he must do.

No President can achieve everything or please everyone.