The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of the rule of law over individual authority in governance.
John Marshall highlights the principle that a government should be based on established laws rather than the whims of individuals in power. He argues that if laws fail to protect established rights, the government undermines its foundational purpose and integrity as a law-based entity.
In practice
During a lecture on constitutional law, one can use this quote to illustrate the importance of the rule of law.
The particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.
A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.
If the agency of the mother in forming the character of her children is, in truth, so considerable, as I think it - if she does so much toward making her son what she would wish him to be - how essential is it that she should be fitted for the beneficial performance of these important duties.
The constitution controls any legislative act repugnant to it.
The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.
The federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.
I don't think you can hate anything that you know intimately. There is no fine line separating love from hate because there's a deep chasm separating love from hate.
Don’t consent to be hurt and you won’t be hurt – this is a choice over which you have control
I have often been asked, Do not people bore you? I do not understand quite what that means. I suppose the calls of the stupid and curious, especially of newspaper reporters, are always inopportune. I also dislike people who try to talk down to my understanding. They are like people who when walking with you try to shorten their steps to suit yours; the hypocrisy in both cases is equally exasperating.
Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.
The essence of the question is the opening up, and keeping open, of possibilities.
Religious leaders will always avail themselves of public ignorance for their own purpose.
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