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Constitution Quotes

On rights, duty, and what founding law leaves unsaid.

These quotes touch on what the Constitution does and doesn't explicitly protect, from the absence of any enumerated right to private conversation to its rejection of any tiered, unequal citizenship. See Constitutional Rights quotes for more on that theme.

Egypt had the first constitution in the Middle East that allowed for liberty. And it had democracy.

Quotes by Ahmed Zewail

Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.

Quotes by Aeschines

A corollary is that, when laws are out of touch with the people, those laws can and should be changed - from the most simple local regulations to the highest law of the land, our federal Constitution.

Quotes by Adrian Cronauer

If the people of Utah shall peacefully form a State Constitution tolerating polygamy, will the Democracy admit them into the Union?

Abraham Lincoln

Constitutional Quotes

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

Abraham Lincoln

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Abraham Lincoln

I think the motive is to establish in federal law the personhood from conception forward and try and alter the Constitution through statute.

Quotes by Zoe Lofgren

As to the Constitution and the Union, I have taken an oath to support the one, and I cannot do so without preserving the other, unless I commit perjury, which I certainly don't intend to do. We must cherish the...

Quotes by Zachary Taylor

The critical point is that the Constitution places the right of silence beyond the reach of government.

Quotes by William O. Douglas

Constitutional Amendment Quotes

The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.

Quotes by William O. Douglas

We current justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as 20th-century Americans.

Quotes by William J. Brennan, Jr.

But I deny that the Constitution recognizes property in man.

Quotes by William H. Seward

But the Constitution was made not only for southern and northern states, but for states neither northern nor southern, namely, the western states, their coming in being foreseen and provided for.

Quotes by William H. Seward

But there is a higher law than the Constitution, which regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same noble purposes.

Quotes by William H. Seward

Constitutional Rights Quotes

I deem it established, then, that the Constitution does not recognize property in man, but leaves that question, as between the states, to the law of nature and of nations.

Quotes by William H. Seward

I submit, on the other hand, most respectfully, that the Constitution not merely does not affirm that principle, but, on the contrary, altogether excludes it.

Quotes by William H. Seward

If slavery, limited as it yet is, now threatens to subvert the Constitution, how can we as wise and prudent statesmen, enlarge its boundaries and increase its influence, and thus increase already impending dangers?

Quotes by William H. Seward

Simultaneously with the establishment of the Constitution, Virginia ceded to the United States her domain, which then extended to the Mississippi, and was even claimed to extend to the Pacific Ocean.

Quotes by William H. Seward

There is a higher law than the Constitution.

Quotes by William H. Seward

Constitutions Quotes

I do stand in opposition to those who want to implement Sharia and essentially attack the Constitution of the United States.

Quotes by William G. Boykin

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this collection of "constitution" quotes cover?
It ranges from privacy rights, to presidential duty, equal citizenship, and a real political debate over how the Constitution should be interpreted.
Does a quote discuss privacy and the Constitution?
Yes: "No right of private conversation was enumerated in the Constitution. I suppose it never occurred to anyone at the time that it could be prevented."
Is there a quote about the president's duty to the Constitution?
Yes: "Next to upholding the Constitution of the United States, the president's highest duty is to protect the security of this country - our national security."
Does a quote address equal citizenship?
Yes: "The constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens." See the Constitutional Rights collection for more.
Does this collection include real political debate?
Yes, restrained: one quote characterizes another's motive as trying "to establish in federal law the personhood from conception forward and try and alter the Constitution through statute." That's presented as the speaker's own opinion about someone else's intent, not a claim verified or endorsed by this page.

Another line frames upholding the Constitution as second only to protecting national security among a president's duties, and some quotes touch on real constitutional debates that remain contested today. Explore Constitutional quotes or Constitutions quotes.