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Constitutions Quotes

What's written versus what's real.

This set centers on a serious question: what separates constitutions where rights are genuinely protected from ones where the guarantees exist only on paper. A couple of older entries use "constitution" in its other sense, referring to a person's health or temperament.

I am fully persuaded that thousands of our fellow-men might profit equally by a similar course to mine; but, constitutions not being all alike, a different course of treatment may be advisable for the removal of so tormenting an affliction.

Quotes by William Banting

The Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the constitutions of the several states, and the organic laws of the territories all alike propose to protect the people in the exercise of their God-given rights. Not one of them pretends...

Quotes by Susan B. Anthony

The world is littered with constitutions that have written guarantees of rights but that don't actually deliver rights. What differentiates the ones where rights are real from where rights are fake is that it's in the initial interests of the...

Quotes by Noah Feldman

The Emancipation Proclamation is predicated upon the idea that the President may so annul the constitutions and laws of sovereign states, overthrow their domestic relations, deprive loyal men of their property, and disloyal as well, without trial or condemnation.

Quotes by Melville Fuller

Advisable Quotes

My grandfather, on my father's side, helped to draft one of the first constitutions of China. He was a fairly well-known scholar.

Quotes by Maya Lin

It is foolishly thought by some that democratical constitutions will not, cannot, last; that the States will quarrel with each other; that a king, or at least a nobility, are indispensable for the prosperity of a nation.

Quotes by Marquis de Lafayette

A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.

Quotes by Joseph Addison

None but a people advanced to a high state of moral and intellectual excellence are capable in a civilized condition of forming and maintaining free governments, and among those who are so far advanced, very few indeed have had the...

Quotes by John C. Calhoun

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

Quotes by George Washington

Being Quotes

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...

Quotes by Frans Timmermans

The constitutions of Maryland and New York are founded in higher wisdom.

Quotes by Ezra Stiles

Nothing in the constitutions of Western states requires them to get involved in every foreign conflict.

Quotes by Daniel Pipes

In 1688, Edward Lloyd opened a coffeehouse on London's seafront popular among underwriters, men in powdered wigs with mathematical minds and steely constitutions who offered to compensate owners if their boats were lost at sea.

Quotes by Charles Duhigg

Laws and constitutions ought to be weighed... to constitute that which is most conducing to the establishment of justice and liberty.

Quotes by Algernon Sidney

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core theme of these Constitutions quotes?
Most center on a serious distinction — constitutions that guarantee rights on paper versus ones where those rights are actually exercised by real people.
Why would someone search for quotes about constitutions?
Readers writing about law, civics, or political history often want precise language distinguishing formal rights from lived rights, which this collection speaks to directly.
Does every quote here use "constitution" in the legal sense?
No — a couple of older quotes use the word in its other, more personal sense, referring to a person's health or temperament rather than a governing document.
Is there a quote referencing specific historical documents?
Yes, one quote lists the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and state constitutions together as documents meant to protect people's exercise of rights.
Where can I find related quotes about rights and governance?
Our Change quotes and Bestow quotes both explore related ideas about what systems owe the people living under them.

For related thinking on how systems change over time, see our Change quotes. If you want more on what governments owe their people, Bestow quotes covers nearby territory.