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If the provisions of the Constitution be not upheld when they pinch as well as when they comfort, they may as well be abandoned.
George Sutherland
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The Constitution must be upheld in all circumstances, not just when it is convenient.

This quote emphasizes the importance of adhering to the principles and provisions of the Constitution at all times, even when they pose challenges or discomfort. It suggests that abandoning these principles in times of difficulty compromises their value and undermines the rule of law.

Themes

ConstitutionRule Of LawJusticePrinciplesUphold

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared during a discussion about civil rights to highlight the importance of constitutional protections.

More from George Sutherland

For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still time.
George SutherlandRead

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