Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2012-05-07 May 7, 2012The plea of necessity, that eternal argument of all conspirators.~ William Henry HarrisonThere's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.~ William JamesEvery reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, that itself will need reforming.~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge May 4, 2012The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is in fact, and must be, regarded by the judges as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought of course to be preferred; or in other words, the constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.~ Alexander HamiltonAs long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it.~ Dick CavettParticularly when the war power is invoked to do things to the liberties of people, or to their property or economy that only indirectly affect conduct of the war and do not relate to the engagement of the war itself, the constitutional basis should be scrutinized with care. ... I would not be willing to hold that war powers may be indefinitely prolonged merely by keeping legally alive a state of war that had in fact ended. I cannot accept the argument that war powers last as long as the effects and consequences of war for if so they are permanent -- as permanent as the war debts.~ Justice Robert H. Jackson May 3, 2012Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.~ James MadisonIt’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear.~ Dick CavettOften the less there is to justify a traditional custom the harder it is to get rid of it.~ Mark Twain May 2, 2012The agency that is so strict on the way Americans keep their books cannot even pass a financial audit.~ Ted StevensNo one in America fully understands the constantly changing Internal Revenue Code. Agents of the IRS do not, judges do not, congressmen do not, and most assuredly taxpayers do not.~ G. Edward GriffinHowever accurate or inaccurate the agency’s numbers may be, tax law explicitly presumes that the IRS is always right -- and implicitly presumes that the taxpayer is always wrong -- in any dispute with the government. In many cases, the IRS introduces no evidence whatsoever of its charges; it merely asserts that a taxpayer had a certain amount of unreported income and therefore owes a proportionate amount in taxes, plus interest and penalties.~ James Bovard May 1, 2012The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets.~ James MadisonAnd it is not difficult to show, by abundant instances, that to extend the bounds of what may be called moral police, until it encroaches on the most unquestionably legitimate liberty of the individual, is one of the most universal of all human propensities.~ John Stuart Mill Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print