Quotes about bill
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Calvin Coolidge photo
Count Basie photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“The entire world has been upset. The entire world, it's a different place. During Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's term, she's done a horrible job.
She has caused death. She has caused tremendous death with incompetent decisions. I was against the war in Iraq. I wasn't a politician, but I was against the war in Iraq. She voted for the war in Iraq.
Look at Libya. That was her baby. Look. I mean, I'm not even talking about the ambassador and the people with the ambassador. Young, wonderful people. With messages coming in by the hundreds, and she's not even responding. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about all of the death that's been caused and not only our side.
There was nothing saved. If we would have never done anything in the Middle East, we would have a much safer world right now. … All of this has led to the migration. All of this has led to tremendous death and destruction. And she for the most part was in charge of it along with Obama.
She's constantly playing the woman card. It's the only way she may get elected. I mean frankly… Personally, I'm not sure that anybody else other than me is going to beat her. And I think she's a flawed candidate. And you see what's happened recently. And it hasn't been a very pretty picture for her or for Bill. Because I'm the only one that's willing to talk about his problems. I mean, what he did and what he has gone through I think is frankly terrible, especially if she wants to play the woman card.
I have more respect for women by far than Hillary Clinton has. And I will do more for women than Hillary Clinton will. I will do far more including the protection of our country. She caused a lot of the problems that we have right now.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

CBS interview with John Dickerson (taped 1 January 2016) for Face the Nation — as quoted in "Trump: Clinton has ruined the world" http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/trump-hillary-clinton-donald-217294 by Nick Gass, Politico (3 January 2016)
2010s, 2016, January

Susan Faludi photo
Johnny Cash photo
Charles James Fox photo

“Although Fox's private character was deformed by indulgence in vicious pleasures, it was in the eyes of his contemporaries largely redeemed by the sweetness of his disposition, the buoyancy of his spirits, and the unselfishness of his conduct. As a politician he had liberal sentiments, and hated oppression and religious intolerance. He constantly opposed the influence of the crown, and, although he committed many mistakes, and had in George III an opponent of considerable knowledge of kingcraft and immense resources, the struggle between him and the king, as far as the two men were concerned, was after all a drawn game…the coalition of 1783 shows that he failed to appreciate the importance of political principles and was ignorant of political science…Although his speeches are full of common sense, he made serious mistakes on some critical occasions, such as were the struggle of 1783–4, and the dispute about the regency in 1788. The line that he took with reference to the war with France, his idea that the Treason and Sedition bills were destructive of the constitution, and his opinion in 1801 that the House of Commons would soon cease to be of any weight, are instances of his want of political insight. The violence of his language constantly stood in his way; in the earlier period of his career it gave him a character for levity; later on it made his coalition with North appear especially reprehensible, and in his latter years afforded fair cause for the bitterness of his opponents. The circumstances of his private life helped to weaken his position in public estimation. He twice brought his followers to the brink of ruin and utterly broke up the whig party. He constantly shocked the feelings of his countrymen, and ‘failed signally during a long public life in winning the confidence of the nation’ (LECKY, Hist. iii. 465 sq). With the exception of the Libel Bill of 1792, the credit of which must be shared with others, he left comparatively little mark on the history of national progress. Great as his talents were in debate, he was deficient in statesmanship and in some of the qualities most essential to a good party leader.”

Charles James Fox (1749–1806) British Whig statesman

William Hunt, 'Fox, Charles James (1749–1806)', Dictionary of National Biography (1889).
About

Bill Engvall photo
James Beattie photo
George W. Bush photo

“As the first Jedi Member of this place, I look forward to the protection under the law that will be provided to me by the Bill”

The force is with Jamie (Published on 30/06/2005) by Andrea Thompson at newsandstar.co.uk http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=258643

George William Curtis photo
Alan Blinder photo
Eddie Vedder photo
Rush Limbaugh photo
Roy Jenkins photo
Mirkka Rekola photo

“I lower the bill of my cap stop looking / thoughts ready to go / sit in this train that's as long as the journey”

Mirkka Rekola (1931–2014) Finnish writer

From Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry, 1965. 88 Poems, WSOY, 2000, ISBN 951-0-24783-9. Translated by Anselm Hollo).

Koila Nailatikau photo

“The Bill is slanted towards the perpetrators of the coup and not the victims … This Bill is lenient towards the perpetrators while the victims get nothing.”

Koila Nailatikau (1953) Fijian politician

21 July 2005
On the government's proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, 21 July, 2005

Donald J. Trump photo
William O. Douglas photo
H.L. Mencken photo
Bill Engvall photo
Thomas Sowell photo
George W. Bush photo

“If you want to kill the bill, if you don't want to do what's right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it, you can use it to frighten people. Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all, so the people who wear the uniform in this crowd can do the job we expect them to do.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Speaking at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center regarding the proposed immigration bill http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070529-7.html (May 29, 2007)
2000s, 2007

Kent Hovind photo
David Bowie photo

“Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay?
Or even yesterday?”

David Bowie (1947–2016) British musician, actor, record producer and arranger

Young Americans
Song lyrics, Young Americans (1975)

Carlos Zambrano photo

“I was real, real sad about that play. Four more outs to throw a no-hitter … I was really sad. I saw the play on the field and thought he was out. But he's human (umpire Bill Miller) and anybody can make a mistake.”

Carlos Zambrano (1981) Venezuelan baseball pitcher

Author Unknown, Cubs 4, Arizona 1 http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=230822129, Yahoo! Sports, Retreived on June 14, 2007
2003

Bill Engvall photo
Herman Cain photo

“Engage the people. Don't try to pass a 2,700 page bill — and even they didn't read it! You and I didn't have time to read it. We're too busy trying to live — send our kids to school. That's why I am only going to allow small bills — three pages. You'll have time to read that one over the dinner table. What does Herman Cain, President Cain talking about in this particular bill?”

Herman Cain (1945) American writer, businessman and activist

at Family Leader Presidential Lecture Series in Pella, Iowa, 2011-10-06, quoted in [Exclusive: Herman Cain Pledges Not To Sign Any Bill Longer Than Three Pages, 2011-06-07, Marie, Diamond, Think Progress, http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/07/238779/herman-cain-long-bills/, 2011-10-07]

Frederick Douglass photo

“The Constitution forbids the passing of a bill of attainder: that is, a law entailing upon the child the disabilities and hardships imposed upon the parent. Every slave law in America might be repealed on this very ground. The slave is made a slave because his mother is a slave. But to all this it is said that the practice of the American people is against my view. I admit it. They have given the Constitution a slaveholding interpretation. I admit it. Thy have committed innumerable wrongs against the Negro in the name of the Constitution. Yes, I admit it all; and I go with him who goes farthest in denouncing these wrongs. But it does not follow that the Constitution is in favor of these wrongs because the slaveholders have given it that interpretation. To be consistent in his logic, the City Hall speaker must follow the example of some of his brothers in America — he must not only fling away the Constitution, but the Bible. The Bible must follow the Constitution, for that, too, has been interpreted for slavery by American divines. Nay, more, he must not stop with the Constitution of America, but make war with the British Constitution, for, if I mistake not, the gentleman is opposed to the union of Church and State. In America he called himself a Republican. Yet he does not go for breaking down the British Constitution, although you have a Queen on the throne, and bishops in the House of Lords.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1860s, The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery? (1860)

John Paul Stevens photo
Kent Hovind photo
Jon Voight photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Paul Simonon photo
Conrad Burns photo
Gary Johnson photo
Hilaire Belloc photo

“Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.”

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) writer

"The Pacifist"
Sonnets and Verse (1938)

Dave Brat photo

“We want Trump to be hugely successful, so we don’t want to handle a bill that’s going to fail in a few years, Trump ran on price-discovery and competition across state lines, getting the price down — the price is going up by 20 percent and the bill we are getting ready to vote on, once again, goes back and does too much emphasis on the coverage aspect”

Dave Brat (1964) American economist and professor at Randolph–Macon College

Rep. Dave Brat: RyanCare a Perverse Economic System http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/11/exclusive-rep-dave-brat-ryancare-a-perverse-economic-system/ (March 17, 2017)

Jesse Ventura photo

“Ask Bill [Gates] why the string in [MS-DOS] function 9 is terminated by a dollar sign. Ask him, because he can't answer. Only I know that.”

Gary Kildall (1942–1994) Computer scientist and entrepreneur

Quoted in James Wallace and Jim Erickson (1991-05-08), "Bill Gates: Of Mind and Money", Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Tony Abbott photo

“What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up.”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

Quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald, "Abbott accused of being 'incredibly old-fashioned' as he lets off steam" http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-accused-of-being-incredibly-oldfashioned-as-he-lets-off-steam-20100209-nnqr.html, February 9, 2010.
2010

C. V. Raman photo
George W. Bush photo

“The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror -- the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

President's Radio Address http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080308.html, regarding the President's veto of a bill that would have banned waterboarding as an interrogation technique (March 8, 2008)
2000s, 2008

Thomas Jefferson photo
Gene Amdahl photo
Glenn Beck photo

“If you go to Cass Sunstein, what net neutrality means is now if you go to FoxNews. com, you will have Arianna Huffington, a little box pop up with her showing that "Bill O'Reilly is wrong on this" or "here's an opposing view of Bill O'Reilly."”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

2010-12-2
The Glenn Beck Program
Premiere Radio Network
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/48783/
2010s, 2010

Aron Ra photo
Cyrano de Bergerac photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Wilt Chamberlain photo

“If you want to get Wilt ticked off or bitter, just mention Bill Russell. You will incite him.”

Wilt Chamberlain (1936–1999) basketball player

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in an 1998 interview with Playboy magazine http://ps1.sportsline.com/b/member/playboy/8606_b1.html
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Chamberlain

John Bright photo
Ken Ham photo
Mitch McConnell photo

“You're more likely to see Elvis again than to see this bill pass the Senate.”

Mitch McConnell (1942) US Senator from Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader

On the McCain-Feingold Bill on Campaign Reform New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/01/us/bill-to-overhaul-campaign-finance-survives-in-house.html, (July 31, 1998)
1998

Laisenia Qarase photo
John S. Mosby photo
John McCain photo

“Vietnam vet: We haven't heard why you voted against your colleagues' proposals to increase health care funding in 2004, '05, '06, and '07, when we had troops coming back from two wars.
Madow: Instead of the answer the questioner is looking for, McCain now takes credit for the GI bill and takes a political shot at Jim Webb.
McCain: On the issue of the GI bill, I was disappointed that Senator Webb didn't support making it permanent. Senator Graham, other veterans and I will be looking to extend that to all veterans, not just 2001. I hope you'll urge Senator Webb to agree with that.
McCain: I received every award from every major veterans' organization in America. The reason is I have a perfect voting record from organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and all the other veterans service organizations because of my support of them.
Vietnam vet: You do not have a perfect voting record by the DIV and the VFW. That's where these votes [of yours against increasing vet health care] are recorded. The votes were proposals by your colleagues in the Senate to increase health care funding of the VA in 2003, '04, '05, and '06 for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and you voted against those proposals. I can give you specific Senate votes, the numbers of those Senate votes right now.
McCain: I thank you, and I'll examine your version of what my voting record is, but again, I've been endorsed in every election by all of the veterans' organizations that do that. I've been supported by them, and I've received their highest rewards, from all of those organizations, so I guess they don't know something you know.
Rieckoff: [McCain's] voting record is not very strong. The Disabled American Veterans gave him a 20% rating out of 100. Our organization, the IAVA, gave him a D rating in the last voting session. He does not have a perfect voting record from the VFW. He's consistently voted against increased funding of the VA, and he's been a major opponent of the new GI bill.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans for America and author of Chasing Ghosts, on Countdown, discussing a town hall exchange between McCain and another Vietnam vet; 9 July 2008; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnyEMLXvgV8
IAVA ratings: McCain: D; Obama: B+ http://www.iava.org/full-ratings-list; DAV: McCain: 20%; Obama: 80%; the AL and VFW don't perform such voting record ratings http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/does_mccain_have_a_perfect_voting_record.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnyEMLXvgV8
2000s, 2008

Wilt Chamberlain photo
Elbert Hubbard photo

“I am not sure just what the unpardonable sin is, but I believe it is a disposition to evade the payment of small bills.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Source: The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 146.

Hugo Black photo

“It is my belief that there are "absolutes" in our Bill of Rights, and that they were put there on purpose by men who knew what the words meant and meant their prohibitions to be "absolutes."”

Hugo Black (1886–1971) U.S. Supreme Court justice

James Madison Lecture at the New York University School of Law (February 17, 1960).

Tina Fey photo
John Fante photo
Jeremy Scahill photo

“The U. S. policy on Iraq, not just from Bill Clinton to Bush to Obama and beyond, has been consistent but that it's been consistent for six decades through eleven presidents. That included covert CIA operations, regime change, support for Saddam Hussein and a merciless policy of targeting the Iraqi civilian population.”

Jeremy Scahill (1974) American journalist

A Brief History of U.S. Intervention in Iraq Over the Past Half Century https://theintercept.com/2018/04/09/video-a-brief-history-of-u-s-intervention-in-iraq-over-the-past-half-century/ (April 9 2018), The Intercept.

Charles A. Beard photo

“I present, for what it is worth, and may prove to be worth, the following bill of axioms or aphorisms on public administration, as fitting this important occasion.
# The continuous and fairly efficient discharge of certain functions by government, central and local, is a necessary condition for the existence of any great society.
# As a society becomes more complicated, as its division of labor ramifies more widely, as its commerce extends, as technology takes the place of handicrafts and local self-sufficiency, the functions of government increase in number and in their vital relationships to the fortunes of society and individuals.
# Any government in such a complicated society, consequently any such society itself, is strong in proportion to its capacity to administer the functions that are brought into being.
# Legislation respecting these functions, difficult as it is, is relatively easy as compared with the enforcement of legislation, that is, the effective discharge of these functions in their most minute ramifications and for the public welfare.
# When a form of government, such as ours, provides for legal changes, by the process of discussion and open decision, to fit social changes, then effective and wise administration becomes the central prerequisite for the perdurance of government and society — to use a metaphor, becomes a foundation of government as a going concern.
# Unless the members of an administrative system are drawn from various classes and regions, unless careers are open in it to talents, unless the way is prepared by an appropriate scheme of general education, unless public officials are subjected to internal and external criticism of a constructive nature, then the public personnel will become a bureaucracy dangerous to society and to popular government.
# Unless, as David Lilienthal has recently pointed out in an address on the Tennessee Valley Authority, an administrative system is so constructed and operated as to keep alive local and individual responsibilities, it is likely to destroy the basic well-springs of activity, hope, and enthusiasm necessary to popular government and to the following of a democratic civilization.”

Charles A. Beard (1874–1948) American historian

Administration, A Foundation of Government (1940)

Jay Leno photo

“Hillary says she has been tested. Well, I hope so. You never know what Bill might bring home.”

Jay Leno (1950) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, voice actor and television host

Guest monologue on The Tonight Show http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jay-leno-takes-jimmy-fallons-867267, 17 February, 2016
The Tonight Show

Bill O'Reilly photo

“John Stossel: That nun has something to complain about, but your "war on Christianity", you're just a 10-foot-tall crybaby.
Bill O'Reilly: I'm crying.
John Stossel: It's not so bad. I mean, no, Christians aren't being killed.
Bill O'Reilly: No, not yet.
John Stossel: And not in America, and they're not going to be.
Bill O'Reilly: They're verbally being killed.”

Bill O'Reilly (1949) American political commentator, television host and writer

2015-04-14
The O'Reilly Factor
Fox News
Television, quoted in * 2015-04-14
Fox's John Stossel Debunks O'Reilly's War On Religion Canard
Media Matters for America
http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/04/14/foxs-john-stossel-debunks-oreillys-war-on-relig/203287
referring to Little Sisters of the Poor's lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act mandating that employers offer insurance plans covering contraception

Francis Escudero photo
Richard A. Posner photo
William Hazlitt photo
Samuel Butler (poet) photo

“Still amorous and fond and billing,
Like Philip and Mary on a shilling.”

Samuel Butler (poet) (1612–1680) poet and satirist

Canto I, line 687
Source: Hudibras, Part III (1678)

Mahendra Chaudhry photo
Koila Nailatikau photo
Ta-Nehisi Coates photo
Virginia Foxx photo

“(The bill) is emblematic of the attempt by the majority party to control every aspect of our lives.”

Virginia Foxx (1943) American politician

Referring to S.982: "A bill to protect the public health by providing the Food and Drug Administration with certain authority to regulate tobacco products"
Quoted in [Kathryn A., Wolfe, http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003182272, Congress Sends Obama Legislation on Regulating Tobacco, Congressional Quarterly, June 12, 2009, 2009-11-14]
Tobacco Regulation

Laisenia Qarase photo
Joe Lieberman photo
David Silverman photo

“Bill O'Reilly: I'll tell you why it's not a scam. In my opinion, all right? Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that. You can explain why the tide goes in…
David Silverman: Tide goes in, tide goes out…?
O'Reilly: Yeah, see, the water — the tide comes in and it goes out, Mr. Silverman. It always comes in…
Silverman: Maybe it's Thor up on Mount Olympus who's making the tides go in and out…”

David Silverman (1957) American animator and director

2011-01-04
O'Reilly Debates Atheist Group President Over Religions Are 'Scams' Billboard
The O'Reilly Factor
Fox News
Television
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/transcript/o039reilly-debates-atheist-group-president-over-religions-are-039scams039-billboard
interviewed regarding American Atheists' Huntsville, Alabama "You Know They're All Scams" billboard

Kate Bush photo

“You say we're fantastic,
But still we don't head the bill.
Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)

Alison Bechdel photo
Francis Escudero photo
Harry Chapin photo

“Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go…
I stashed the bill in my shirt.”

Harry Chapin (1942–1981) American musician

Taxi
Song lyrics, Heads & Tales (1972)
Context: There was not much more for us to talk about,
Whatever we had once was gone.
So I turned my cab into the driveway,
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns.
And she said we must get together,
But I knew it'd never be arranged.
And she handed me twenty dollars,
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change."
Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go...
I stashed the bill in my shirt.

Robert Peel photo
Bill Clinton photo

“When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans, it was assumed that the Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly.”

Bill Clinton (1946) 42nd President of the United States

Television interview on MTV's Enough is Enough (19 April 1994) http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=49995
1990s
Context: When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans, it was assumed that the Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly. That is, when we set up this country, abuse of people by Government was a big problem. So if you read the Constitution, it's rooted in the desire to limit the ability of — Government's ability to mess with you, because that was a huge problem. It can still be a huge problem. But it assumed that people would basically be raised in coherent families, in coherent communities, and they would work for the common good, as well as for the individual welfare.

Fred Phelps photo

“Bill O'Reilly is a blaspheming hell-bound hypocrite claiming to be fair and balanced and running a no-spin zone. Hah! O'Reilly is of his father the Devil.”

Fred Phelps (1929–2014) American pastor and activist

"Bill O'Reilly & Rush Limbaugh: Satan's SpinDoctors." WBC Video News http://www.signmovies.net/videos/news/index.html. Westboro Baptist Church. July 27, 2006.
2000s, Bill O'Reilly & Rush Limbaugh: Satan's SpinDoctors (2006)
Context: Bill O'Reilly is a demon-possessed messenger of Satan. O'Reilly regularly slanders Westboro Baptist Church on his program, and he only has guests who join him in slandering Westboro Baptist Church, and refuses to allow Westboro Baptist Church to respond! Thus, Bill O'Reilly is a blaspheming hell-bound hypocrite claiming to be fair and balanced and running a no-spin zone. Hah! O'Reilly is of his father the Devil.

Benoît Mandelbrot photo

“When you seek some unspecified and hidden property, you don't want extraneous complexity to interfere. In order to achieve homogeneity, I decided to make the motion end where it had started. The resulting motion biting its own tail created a distinctive new shape I call Brownian cluster. … Today, after the fact, the boundary of Brownian motion might be billed as a "natural" concept. But yesterday this concept had not occurred to anyone.”

Benoît Mandelbrot (1924–2010) Polish-born, French and American mathematician

A Theory of Roughness (2004)
Context: When you seek some unspecified and hidden property, you don't want extraneous complexity to interfere. In order to achieve homogeneity, I decided to make the motion end where it had started. The resulting motion biting its own tail created a distinctive new shape I call Brownian cluster. … Today, after the fact, the boundary of Brownian motion might be billed as a "natural" concept. But yesterday this concept had not occurred to anyone. And even if it had been reached by pure thought, how could anyone have proceeded to the dimension 4/3? To bring this topic to life it was necessary for the Antaeus of Mathematics to be compelled to touch his Mother Earth, if only for one fleeting moment.

Felix Frankfurter photo

“It must never be forgotten, however, that the Bill of Rights was the child of the Enlightenment. Back of the guarantee of free speech lay faith in the power of an appeal to reason by all the peaceful means for gaining access to the mind.”

Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American judge

Writing for the court, Milk Wagon Drivers Union of Chicago, Local 753. v. Meadowmoor Dairies, Inc., 312 U.S. 287 (1941).
Judicial opinions
Context: It must never be forgotten, however, that the Bill of Rights was the child of the Enlightenment. Back of the guarantee of free speech lay faith in the power of an appeal to reason by all the peaceful means for gaining access to the mind. It was in order to avert force and explosions due to restrictions upon rational modes of communication that the guarantee of free speech was given a generous scope. But utterance in a context of violence can lose its significance as an appeal to reason and become part of an instrument of force. Such utterance was not meant to be sheltered by the Constitution.

P. J. O'Rourke photo
Franklin D. Roosevelt photo

“Congress passed a Fair Labor Standards Act, commonly called the Wages and Hours Bill. That Act”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States

1930s, Fireside Chat in the night before signing the Fair Labor Standards (1938)
Context: After many requests on my part the Congress passed a Fair Labor Standards Act, commonly called the Wages and Hours Bill. That Act — applying to products in interstate commerce-ends child labor, sets a floor below wages and a ceiling over hours of labor. Except perhaps for the Social Security Act, it is the most far-reaching, far-sighted program for the benefit of workers ever adopted here or in any other country. Without question it starts us toward a better standard of living and increases purchasing power to buy the products of farm and factory.

John F. Kennedy photo

“We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Saturday Review (29 October 1960), p. 44
1960
Context: If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all — except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.

Lyndon B. Johnson photo

“Liberty was the second article of our covenant. It was self-government. It was our Bill of Rights.”

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, 36th president of the United States (in office from 1963 to 1969)

1960s, Inaugural address (1965)
Context: Liberty was the second article of our covenant. It was self-government. It was our Bill of Rights. But it was more. America would be a place where each man could be proud to be himself: stretching his talents, rejoicing in his work, important in the life of his neighbors and his nation. This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth seem to tower beyond the control and even the judgment of men. We must work to provide the knowledge and the surroundings which can enlarge the possibilities of every citizen. The American covenant called on us to help show the way for the liberation of man. And that is today our goal. Thus, if as a nation there is much outside our control, as a people no stranger is outside our hope.

Michelle Obama photo

“And you know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did.”

Michelle Obama (1964) lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady of the United States

2000s, Democratic National Convention speech (2008)
Context: And you know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. Like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves. And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.

Robert H. Jackson photo

“We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent.”

Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) American judge

319 U.S. 641
Judicial opinions, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
Context: We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.

P. J. O'Rourke photo
Thomas Edison photo

“If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

Commenting on Henry Ford's currency plan in ”Ford sees wealth in Muscle Shoals”, New York Times (6 December 1921), p. 6 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E11F63B5A1B7A93C4A91789D95F458285F9.
Context: If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good, makes the bill good, also. The difference between the bond and the bill is the bond lets money brokers collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%, whereas the currency pays nobody but those who contribute directly in some useful way. … It is absurd to say our country can issue $30 million in bonds and not $30 million in currency. Both are promises to pay, but one promise fattens the usurers and the other helps the people.

Tom Lehrer photo

“As long as you're billed as a comedian, I guess you can say anything.”

Tom Lehrer (1928) American singer-songwriter and mathematician

Quotes from interviews, Insider Audio interview (1997)
Context: I remember when Richard Pryor said something about how in South Africa, all the black people should pick up guns and kill all the white people, and they went right on with the interview, and nobody stopped him on that. "Oh good old Richard, what a card." As long as you're billed as a comedian, I guess you can say anything.

P. J. O'Rourke photo