Oliver Ellsworth quotes

The powers of congress must be defined, but their means must be adequate to the purposes of their constitution. It is possible there may be abuses and misapplications; still, it is better to hazard something than to hazard at all.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Mean #Abuse #Purpose

All good men wish the entire abolition of slavery, as soon as it can take place with safety to the public, and for the lasting good of the present wretched race of slaves. The only possible step that could be taken towards it by the convention was to fix a period after which they should not be imported.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Taken #Men #Race

Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything, which enervate a necessary government; excite a jealousy of the rulers who are our own choice, and keep society in confusion for want of a power sufficiently concentered to promote good.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Freedom #Mean #Government

Systems of religious error have been adopted in times of ignorance. It has been the interest of tyrannical kings, popes, and prelates to maintain these errors. When the clouds of ignorance began to vanish and the people grew more enlightened, there was no other way to keep them in error but to prohibit their altering their religious opinions by severe persecuting laws. In this way persecution became general throughout Europe.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Religious #Kings #Ignorance

Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Evil #Liberty #World

The Thirteen States are Thirteen Sovereign bodies.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Body #Sovereign #Constitution

The sole purpose and effect of it is to exclude persecution and to secure the important right of religious liberty.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Religious #Atheism #Liberty

Legislatures have no right to set up an inquisition and examine into the private opinions of men. Test-laws are useless and ineffectual, unjust and tyrannical.
-- Oliver Ellsworth

#Men #Law #Atheism

One's mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do.

Our fans want us to be happy and if that means being married or having a girlfriend, they are okay with that. Of course, in this industry it is a bit harder to have normal relationships, but it is possible.

Understand that legal and illegal are political, and often arbitrary, categorizations; use and abuse are medical, or clinical, distinctions.

Transcend your abuse and transform it into a source of courage, creativity and compassion.

What is it in absinthe that makes it a separate cult? The effects of its abuse are totally distinct from those of other stimulants. Even in ruin and in degradation it remains a thing apart: its victims wear a ghastly aureole all their own, and in their peculiar hell yet gloat with a sinister perversion of pride that they are not as other men.

I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."

We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we forget, is the common lot.

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes

Having a purpose is the little secret of the nonpretties. Something to do always beats something to look at.