Quotes from John Marshall

When a law is in its nature a contract, when absolute rights have vested under that contract, a repeal of the law cannot divest those rights.

The power to tax involves the power to destroy;...the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create.

In a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen.

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.

The French Revolution will be found to have had great influence on the strength of parties, and on the subsequent political transactions of the United States.

To obtain a just compromise, concession must not only mutual-it must be equal also....There can be no hope that either will yield more than it gets in return.

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives an injury. One of the first duties of government is to afford that protection.

I was born on the 24th of September 1755 in the county of Fauquier, at that time one of the frontier counties of Virginia. My father possessed scarcely any fortune and had received a very limited education - but was a man to whom nature had been bountiful, and who had assiduously improved her gifts.

During intervals of humanity, some disposition has been manifested to permit the return of those who have never offended, who have been banished by a terror which the government itself has reprobated, & to permit in case of arrestation, an investigation of the fact of emigration as well as of the identity of the person accus'd.

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.

When a law is in its nature a contract, when absolute rights have vested under that contract, a repeal of the law cannot divest those rights. The people can act only by their agents and, within the powers conferred upon them, their acts must be considered as the acts of the people.

This provision is made in a constitution, intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.

The Cherokee Nation… is a distinct community, occupying its own territory… which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress.

The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.

Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.

We must never forget that it is a constitution we are expounding.

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is…. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each…. This is of the very essence of judicial duty.

The Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.

The law does not expect a man to be prepared to defend every act of his life which may be suddenly and without notice alleged against him.

The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their will, and lives only by their will.