Joseph Story Quotes (15 Quotes)


    And it is no less true, that personal security and private property rest entirely upon the wisdom, the stability, and the integrity of the courts of justice.

    A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the objects of the government; secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained.

    The true test is, whether the object be of a local character, and local use or, whether it be of general benefit to the states. If it be purely local, congress cannot constitutionally appropriate money for the object. But, if the benefit be general, it matters not, whether in point of locality it be in one state, or several whether it be of large, or of small extent.

    A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must, in practice, be a bad government.

    It was under a solemn consciousness of the dangers from ecclesiastical ambition, the bigotry of spiritual pride, and the intolerance of sects... that is was deemed advisable to exclude from the national government all power to act upon the subject.


    A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government.

    Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unaw'd by influence and unbrib'd by gain Here patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw, Pledg'd to Religion, Liberty, and Law.

    The real object of the amendment was, not to countenance, much less to advance Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establis

    How it is possible to imagine that a religion breathing the spirit of mercy and benevolence, teaching the forgiveness of injuries, the exercise of charity, and the return of good for evil, can be so perverted as to breathe the spirit of slaughter and persecution, of discord and vengeance, for differences of opinion, is a most unaccountable and extraordinary phenomenon. Still more extraordinary, that it should be the doctrine, not of base and wicked men merely seeking to cover up their own misdeeds, but of good men, seeking the way of salvation with uprightness of heart and purpose. It affords a melancholy proof of the infirmity of human judgment, and teaches a lesson of humility from which spiritual pride may learn meekness, and spiritual zeal a moderating wisdom.

    Be brief, be pointed, let your matter stand lucid in order, solid and at hand spend not your words on trifles but condense strike with the mass of thought, not drops of sense press to the close with vigor, once begun, and leave - how hard the task

    The plain import of the clause is, that congress shall have all the incidental and instrumental powers, necessary and proper to carry into execution all the express powers. It neither enlarges any power specifically granted nor is it a grant of any new power to congress. But it is merely a declaration for the removal of all uncertainty, that the means of carrying into execution those, otherwise granted, are included in the grant.

    Human wisdom is the aggregate of all human experience, constantly accumulating, selecting, and reorganizing its own materials.

    Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.

    I will not say with Lord Hale, that 'The Law will admit of no rival' ... but I will say that it is a jealous mistress, and requires a long and constant courtship. It is not to be won by trifling favors, but by lavish homage.

    There is not a truth to be gathered from history more certain, or more momentous, than this that civil liberty cannot long be separated from religious liberty without danger, and ultimately without destruction to both. Wherever religious liberty exists, it will, first or last, bring in and establish political liberty.


    More Joseph Story Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Wisdom & Knowledge - Government - Religions & Spirituality - Congress - Pride - Danger & Risk - Liberty & Freedom - Honesty & Integrity - Purposes - Forgiveness - Exercise - People - Vice & Virtue - Disagreement & Quarelling - Man - Thought & Thinking - Charity - Justice - Romantic Love - View All Joseph Story Quotations

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    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. - William Rehnquist - William J. Brennan - William Blackstone - Sonia Sotomayor - Horace Gray - Giovanni Falcone - Clarence Thomas - Byron White - Benjamin Cardozo


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