I was born under Communism. I know what it's like to live in a system where you can't speak, you have to whisper. Where the state is so pervasive and so intrusive.

[Y]ou wonder why anyone would make the mistake of calling it the Commerce Clause instead of the 'Hey, you -can-do-whatever-you-feel-like Clause?

This is really a pretty good system you have here. What do you call it? "Due process". We're very proud of it.

Appellate review is not a magic wand and we undermine public confidence in the judicial process when we make it look like it is.

The more heavily the government regulates the market, the more competition is impeded.

Most of us continue to believe that those who show utter contempt for human life by committing remorseless, premeditated murder justly forfeit the right to their own life.

Just to prove that even the silliest idea can be pursued to its illogical conclusion, Legal Realism spawned Critical Legal Studies.

Millions of people toil in the shadow of the law we make, and much of their livelihood is made possible by the existence of intellectual property rights.

My advice would be to whoever is going after judges by name, whether it's the president or anybody else, I think it's a terrible idea. I don't think it's a very smart thing to do a Muslim ban.

If we as a society are willing to take away human life, we should be willing to watch it.

The death penalty is barbaric. And I think we as a society need to come face-to-face with that. If we're not willing to face up to the cruelty, we ought not to be doing it.

The end is never the end. It's always the the beginning of something.

It’s not the dead people you got to worry about… It’s the living that are scary.

Sometimes when I remember we aren't the same person, it shocks me.

For the first 10 years of my life in Congress, I had been too timid to tell the truth as I saw it. In a way I had betrayed my trust.

You can't depend on the exposure of a TV screen to keep your feet on the ground and your food tasting delicious. You've got to push yourself.

The dignity of history.

I can't speak for others, but I find the fundamental idea that a life worth living is one during which one strives every day to become a better person to be compelling.

Giving calls for genius.

Those who miss meditation miss the whole dance of life.

Your non attachment to the mundane is your charm. Your attachment to the divine is your beauty.