The constitution is an instrument, above all, for LIMITING the functions of government.

Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.

Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man's liberty.

After one of his [Hubert Humphrey] long-winded harangues I suggested he had probably been vaccinated with a phonograph needle. He responded by saying that I would have been a great success in the movies working for Eighteenth Century-Fox.

Extremism in defense of Liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws but to repeal them.

You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.