WIST Quotations

Montesquieu -- Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 19, ch. 14 (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]

Dave — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 20:22:32 +0000

We have said that the laws were the particular and precise institutions of a legislator, and manners and customs the institutions of a nation in general. Hence it follows that when these manners and customs are to be changed, it ought not to be done by laws; this would have too much the air of tyranny: it would be better to change them by introducing other manners and other customs.

[Nous avons dit que les loix étoient des institutions particulieres & précises du législateur, & les mœurs & les manieres des institutions de la nation en général. De-là il suit que, lorsque l’on veut changer les mœurs & les manieres, il ne faut pas les changer par les loix ; cela paroîtroit trop tyrannique: il vaut mieux les changer par d’autres mœurs & d’autres manieres.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 19, ch. 14 (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

We have said that the laws were the particular and precise institutions of the legislator and the mores and manners, the instructions of the nation in general. From this it follows that when one wants to change the mores and manners, one must not change them by the law, as this would appear to be too tyrannical; it would be better to change them by other mores and other manners.
[tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]

We have said that laws were particular and precise institutions of the legislator, and the morals and the manners institutions of the nation as a whole. Whence it follows that when you want to change morals and manners, you should not do it by laws, which would appear too tyrannical; it is better to change them with other morals and manners.
[tr. Stewart (2018)]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1848-06-20), “Internal Improvements,” US House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:35:22 +0000

The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially of governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1848-06-20), “Internal Improvements,” US House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
(Source)

Speaking on internal improvements (infrastructure) as part of governmental policy. Taken from the copy of the speech Lincoln submitted to the Congressional Globe Appendix and the Illinois Journal (1848-07-20).

Obama, Barack -- Quoted in William Finnegan, “The Candidate,” The New Yorker (31 May 2004)

Dave — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 16:42:48 +0000

You can’t always come up with the optimal solution, but you can usually come up with a better solution. A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence. Or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, “Huh. It works. It makes sense.” That doesn’t happen often, of course, but it happens.

Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
Quoted in William Finnegan, “The Candidate,” The New Yorker (31 May 2004)
(Source)

While a state senator in Illinois.

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1816-06-07) to Francis W. Gilmer

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 14:40:43 +0000

Our legislators are not sufficiently apprised of the rightful limits of their powers: that their true office is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties, & to take none of them from us. No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him: every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should enforce on him.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1816-06-07) to Francis W. Gilmer
(Source)

Madison, James -- The Federalist Papers, #62 (Feb 1788)

Dave — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 13:54:34 +0000

It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
The Federalist Papers, #62 (Feb 1788)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech, Hollywood Bowl, Beverly Hills, California (19 Oct 1956)

Dave — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:19:10 +0000

The final battle against intolerance is to be fought, not in the chambers of any legislature, but in the hearts of men.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Speech, Hollywood Bowl, Beverly Hills, California (19 Oct 1956)

Reed, Thomas Brackett -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 17:02:41 +0000

One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils of the world can be cured by legislation.

Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902) American politician, Speaker of the House (1889-91, 1895-99)
(Attributed)

Stevens, John Paul -- Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) [dissenting]

Dave — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 12:35:11 +0000

A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.

John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) American lawyer, US Supreme Court Justice (1975-2010)
Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) [dissenting]
(Source)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Comment to Doris Kearns Goodwin

Dave — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:22:03 +0000

There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it is really going to work, the relationship has got to be almost incestuous. He’s got to know them better than they know themselves. And then, on the basis of this knowledge, he’s got to build a system that stretches from the cradle to the grave, from the moment a bill is introduced to the moment it is officially enrolled as the law of the land.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment to Doris Kearns Goodwin
(Source)

Quoted in Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 8 "The Great Society" (1976). Kearns was an intern and staff member in the Johnson White House, and worked with him on his memoirs.

Vidal, Gore -- “The State of the Union”, Esquire (May 1975)

Dave — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:23:17 +0000

The period of Prohibition — called the noble experiment — brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here. Do not regulate the private morals of people. Do not tell them what they can take or not take. Because if you do, they will become angry and antisocial and they will get what they want from criminals who are able to work in perfect freedom because they have paid off the police.

Gore Vidal (1925-2012) American novelist, dramatist, critic
“The State of the Union”, Esquire (May 1975)

Bismarck, Otto von -- (Misattributed)

Dave — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:11:44 +0000

Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) Prussian statesman
(Misattributed)

This and variants are attributed to Bismarck (no earlier than the 1930s), as well as to Kaiser Wilhelm, Benjamin Disraeli, and French statesman Honoré Gabriel de Riqueti. Variations on this theme were popular in late 19th Century America.

The precise wording above is attributed to Vermont lawyer and author John Godfrey Saxe, in University Chronicle, University of Michigan (27 Mar 1869).

Variants (usually cited to Bismarck):

"If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made."
"Laws are like sausages — it is best not to see them being made."
"Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made."
"Laws are like sausages. You should never see them made."
"Laws are like sausages. You should never watch them being made."
"Law and sausage are two things you do not want to see being made."
"No one should see how laws or sausages are made."
"To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making."
"The making of laws like the making of sausages, is not a pretty sight."
"Je weniger die Leute darüber wissen, wie Würste und Gesetze gemacht werden, desto besser schlafen sie nachts." [The less the people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they sleep in the night.]

Tacitus -- Annals, Book 3, ch. 27 (AD 117)

Dave — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:48:42 +0000

And now bills were passed, not only for national objects but for individual cases, and laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt.

[Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.]

Tacitus (c.56-c.120) Roman historian, orator, politician [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
Annals, Book 3, ch. 27 (AD 117)

More common variants:

"The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government."
"The more corrupt the state, the more laws."

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1952-08-28), “Faith in Liberalism,” State Committee of the Liberal Party, New York City

Dave — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:01:00 +0000

Laws are never as effective as habits. The fight for equal rights must go on every day in our own souls and consciences, in our schools and our churches and our homes, in our factories and our offices — as well as in our city councils, our state legislatures and our national Congress.

Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-28), “Faith in Liberalism,” State Committee of the Liberal Party, New York City
(Source)

King, Martin Luther -- “The Other America,” speech, Stanford University (14 Apr 1967)

Dave — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:29:44 +0000

It may be true that morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law can’t make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important also.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Other America,” speech, Stanford University (14 Apr 1967)
(Source)

A motif King used frequently. In the Wall Street Journal (13 Nov 1962), King used the line, "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." In Strength to Love, 3.3 (1963), he wrote, "Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless."

Hand, Learned -- Guiseppi v. Walling, 144 F.2d 608, 624 (2d Cir. 1944) [concurring]

Dave — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:58:00 +0000

There is no surer way to misread any document than to read it literally; in every interpretation we must pass between Scylla and Charybdis; and I certainly do not wish to add to the barrels of ink that have been spent in logging the route. As nearly as we can, we must put ourselves in the place of those who uttered the words, and try to divine how they would have dealt with the unforeseen situation; and, although their words are by far the most decisive evidence of what they would have done, they are by no means final.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
Guiseppi v. Walling, 144 F.2d 608, 624 (2d Cir. 1944) [concurring]
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Referendum,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

REFERENDUM, n. A law for submission of proposed legislation to a popular vote to learn the nonsensus of public opinion.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Referendum,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in The Devil's Dictionary [A-Z] as Vol. 7 of his Collected Works.

Montesquieu -- Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 29, ch. 16 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

As useless laws weaken necessary laws, those that can be evaded weaken legislation.

[Comme les lois inutiles affaiblissent les lois nécessaires, celles qu’on peut éluder affaiblissent la législation.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 29, ch. 16 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

As useless laws debilitate such as are necessary, so those that may be easily eluded weaken the legislation.
[tr. Nugent (1750)]

As needless laws weaken necessary laws, laws that can be eluded weaken legislation.
[tr. Stewart (2018)]

Variant: "Useless laws weaken the necessary laws."

The same thought, that "Useless laws weaken necessary laws [Les loix inutiles affaiblissent celles qui sont les necessaires.]" also is recorded in his Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 630 / 1007 "General Maxims of Politics," No. 6 (1720-1755). Variant: "Les loix inutiles affaiblissent les necessaires."

Other translations of that work:

Useless laws debilitate such as are necessary.
[ed. Guterman (1963)]

Useless laws weaken necessary ones.
[tr. Clark (2012)]

Johnson, Lyndon -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)

Widely attributed to Johnson, and in keeping with his reputation as a wily legislator, but no actual source found.

Rogers, Will -- Column (1934-03-16) “Daily Telegram: Rogers Doubts We Want Insull Back Very Much”

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

You can’t legislate intelligence and common sense into people.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1934-03-16) “Daily Telegram: Rogers Doubts We Want Insull Back Very Much”
(Source)

The Will Rogers Museum also cites it as a quotation, but in a pair of sentences; the second sentence was not in this column:

You can’t legislate intelligence and common sense into people. You can’t broaden a man’s vision if he wasn’t born with one.