Sam Ervin Quotes & Sayings

What James Madison and the other men of his generation had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment was that there should be no official relationship of any character between government and any church or many churches, and no levying of taxes for the support of any church, or many churches, or all churches, or any institution conducted by any of them. — Sam Ervin

There is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes or makes it the official duty of a president to have anything to do with criminal activities. — Sam Ervin

Political freedom cannot exist in any land where religion controls the state, and religious freedom cannot exist in any land where the state controls religion. — Sam Ervin

I'll have you understand I am running this court, and the law hasn't got a damn thing to do with it! — Sam Ervin

Divine right went out with the American Revolution and doesn't belong to the White House aides. What meat do they eat that makes them grow so great? — Sam Ervin

I used to think that the Civil War was our country's greatest tragedy, but I do remember that there were some redeeming features in the Civil War in that there was some spirit of sacrifice and heroism displayed on both sides. I see no redeeming features in Watergate. — Sam Ervin

Humor makes our heavy burdens light and smoothes the rough spots in our pathways. — Sam Ervin

Recalling an old magistrate's words to a young attorney, The rain it raineth on the just And also on the unjust fella; But chiefly on the just, because The unjust steals the just's umbrella. — Sam Ervin

A school prayer amendment would confer upon public school boards a power the First Amendment now denies to Congress and the states, that is, the power to establish religion. — Sam Ervin

The President seems to extend executive privilege way out past the atmosphere. What he says is executive privilege is nothing but executive poppycock. — Sam Ervin

Government is contemptuous of true religion when it confiscates the taxes of Caesar to finance the things of God. — Sam Ervin

I believe in a wall between church and state so high that no one can climb over it. When religion controls government, political liberty dies; and when government controls religion, religious liberty perishes. Every American has the constitutional right not to be taxed or have his tax money expended for the establishment of religion. For too long the issue of government aid to church related organizations has been a divisive force in our society and in the Congress. It has erected communication barriers among our religions and fostered intolerance. — Sam Ervin

Religious faith is not a storm cellar to which men and women
can flee for refuge from the storms of life. It is instead, an
inner spiritual strength which enables them to face those
storms with hope and serenity. — Sam Ervin

A judicial activist is a judge who interprets the Constitution to mean what it would have said if he, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it. — Sam Ervin

When religion controls government, political liberty dies; and when government controls religion, religious liberty perishes. — Sam Ervin

Polygraph tests are 20th-century witchcraft. — Sam Ervin

I've always been worried about people who are willing to work for nothing. Sometimes that's all you get from them, nothing. — Sam Ervin

The Supreme Court has made God unconstitutional. — Sam Ervin

If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate were, in effect, breaking into the home of every citizen. — Sam Ervin

If religious freedom is to endure in America, the responsibility for teaching religion to public school children must be left to the homes and churches of our land, where this responsibility rightfully belongs. It must not be assumed by the government through the agency of the public school system. — Sam Ervin