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Quote#Success & Failure

Constitutional statutes … which embody the settled public opinion of…

Quote byRutherford B. Hayes · 1822–1893

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1922 - 1926), Diary (17 February 1882).

English (original)

Constitutional statutes … which embody the settled public opinion of the people who enacted them and whom they are to govern — can always be enforced. But if they embody only the sentiments of a bare majority, pronounced under the influence of a temporary excitement, they will, if strenuously opposed, always fail of their object; nay, they are likely to injure the cause they are framed to advance.

— Rutherford B. Hayes

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