Zephyr Teachout Quotes

Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel.

My plan is to govern as long as I can.

Clemency exists for reasons of "humanity and good policy" and to provide "easy access to exceptions." The founders gave the president solo, unfettered clemency "responsibility" (Hamilton's word) because governments naturally tend to make criminal law overly severe, and one person "appears to be a more eligible dispenser of the mercy of government, than a body of men.

Prosecutorial charging and plea bargaining discretion, jury discretion to convict of one or another amorphously distinguished capital or non-capital crime, and gubernatorial discretion to grant or withhold clemency are all equally uncontrolled and uncontrollable.

The person who manages the state is me.

Governing is about selecting.

The president has to govern.

Pilate was merciful till it became risky.

Clemency is the noblest trait which can reveal a true monarch to the world.

Power should be reserved for weightlifting and boats, and leadership really involves responsibility.

The Christian - the biblical - concept of mercy toward wrongdoers only exists in relation to justice. Showing mercy, in relation to wrongdoing, means treating someone better than they deserve.

Politics is activity in relation to power.

Elected leaders who forget how they got there won't the next time.

Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

There is another side to chivalry. If it dispenses leniency, it may with equal justification invoke control.

Think carefully before asking for justice. Mercy might be safer.

My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility.

Well, surely, I am not in charge of South Africa.

At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility.

In politics, as in business, leadership is crucial.

There should be a law that you can't shut down the government - that you don't have that power.

The purpose of a politician is to be a leader. A politician has to lead. Otherwise he's just a follower.

Ambition, in a private man is a vice, is in a prince the virtue.

What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?