2026 May 20
"Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than
private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument
gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies
to all subjects."
"The dangers of a concentration of all power
in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours
are too obvious to be disregarded."
"Man is not free unless government is limited...
As government expands, liberty contracts."
2026 May 19
"In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution."
"Optimism: The doctrine that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. ... It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious."
"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do."
2026 May 18
"The broad statement that the federal government can exercise no powers except those specifically enumerated in the Constitution, and such implied powers as are necessary and proper to carry into effect the enumerated powers, is categorically true only in respect of our internal affairs. In the field of international relations, the President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude; and Congress itself is powerless to invade it. "
"The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations. Of consequence, the demand of a foreign nation can only be made on him."
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