Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784Quotes
The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.
—Che Guevara, 1968To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCWhy has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
—Alexander Hamilton, 1787The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.
—Judge Learned Hand, 1944The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.
—Robert Byrd, 2005You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863