116 Executive Branch Quotes

Following is our list of executive branch quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about what is branch executive.

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Famous Executive Branch Quotes

The executive branch of this government never has, nor will suffer, while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity. — George Washington

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. — Theodore Roosevelt

In the scheme of our national government, the presidency is preeminently the people's office. — Grover Cleveland

The President is the CEO of this business that we call America. — Bill Ackman

. . . [The Judicial Branch] may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments. — Alexander Hamilton

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war. — James Madison

Politics are usually the executive expression of human immaturity. — Vera Brittain

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power. — Andrew Jackson

When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making. — Bob Woodward

There are currently 3 branches of Government: 1. Raytheon 2. Black Rock 3. Pharmaceutical Companies. Follow the money. — Douglas Macgregor

Those who govern must see how the people react to administration. Ultimately, the people are the final arbiters. — Lal Bahadur Shastri

The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived. — James Madison

We can't have a decent government unless those in power exercise self restraint. — William Howard Taft

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. — Frank Zappa

In government, the scum rises to the top. - Friedrich August von Hayek

In government, the scum rises to the top. — Friedrich August von Hayek

Short Executive Branch Quotes

  • When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship. — Harry S Truman
  • When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship. — Harry S. Truman
  • The government has the right to change laws and rules and regulations. — Jamie Dimon
  • I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law — Barack Obama
  • Evaluate the people in your life; then promote, demote, or terminate. You're the CEO of your life! — Tony Gaskins
  • Its sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. — Ten Bears

Executive Branch Image Quotes

Executive branch quote Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.
Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.

Executive Branch Of Government Quotes

[T]he opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves, in their, own sphere of action, but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch. — Thomas Jefferson

A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government. — Thomas Jefferson

So that the executive and legislative branches of the national government depend upon, and emanate from the states. Every where the state sovereignties are represented; and the national sovereignty, as such, has no representation. — Joseph Story

Executive branch quote Ideas hold little intrinsic value without execution.
Ideas hold little intrinsic value without execution.

The advance planning and sense stimuli employed to capture a $10 million cigarette or soap market are nothing compared to the brainwashing and propaganda blitzes used to ensure control of the largest cash market in the world: the Executive Branch of the United States Government. — Phyllis Schlafly

Under the doctrine of separation of powers, the manner in which the president personally exercises his assigned executive powers is not subject to questioning by another branch of government. — Richard M. Nixon

The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. — James Madison

Executive branch quote Vision without execution is hallucination.
Vision without execution is hallucination.

What's brilliant about the United States system of government is separation of power. Not only the executive, legislative, judicial branches, but also the independence of the military from civilians, an independent media and press, an independent central bank. — Feisal Abdul Rauf

Under our system of three branches of government, the courts ultimately are the checks on the legislative and executive branches when they exceed or even abuse the limits of their power. — Nina Totenberg

No, if there is an aspect of the executive branch of the government that needs looking at, I'm liable to be called in to look at it. But I'm not the only one. — Bill Goldberg

In the United States there are three parts of our government - the judiciary, the legislative and the executive - and the powers are divided on purpose. And that was - that - so that no one branch could run off. — Philip M. Breedlove

Executive Power Quotes

Democracy is necessarily despotism, as it establishes an executive power contrary to the general will; all being able to decide against one whose opinion may differ, the will of all is therefore not that of all: which is contradictory and opposite to liberty. — Immanuel Kant

Knowledge isn't power; it's potential power. Execution trumps knowledge any day of the week. — Tony Robbins

When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. — Montesquieu

Executive branch quote Vision without execution is hallucination.
Vision without execution is hallucination.

When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. — Baron de Montesquieu

Such as it is, the press has become the greatest power within the Western World, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and judiciary. One would like to ask; by whom has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself. — Richard Dawkins

Executive branch quote Vision without execution is hallucination.
Vision without execution is hallucination.

Lions don't have to roar. There is power in silence, confidence, and persistence. Those who work don't talk, and those who talk don't work. Handle your business. Measure your efforts by results. Focus your time, energy, and activity on mastering and executing a plan. — Les Brown

A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. — Aldous Huxley

The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. — Daniel Webster

Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills? — Kahlil Gibran

Executive Orders Quotes

Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool. - Paul Begala

Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool. — Paul Begala

Donald Trump also will repeal all these executive amnesty orders that President Obama has put into place. — Kellyanne Conway

Hitler had a police state of the first order. And those who showed any sign of being weak-kneed faced prison or often summary execution. That prevented a lot of people who knew that the war was not going to turn out well for Germany from giving up. — Rick Atkinson

Executive branch quote Be nice to geeks, you'll probably end up working for one.
Be nice to geeks, you'll probably end up working for one.

In the military, as in any organization, giving the order might be the easiest part. Execution is the real game. — Russel Honore

I've got a pen, and I've got a phone, and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive action. I've got a pen to talk executive actions where congress won't. Where congress isn't acting, I'll act on my own. I have got a pen and I got a phone. And that is all I need. — Barack Obama

It is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander-in-chief. — Nathan Hale

When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome. — William James

Butler is branded a felon, an outlaw, an enemy of Mankind, and so ordered that in the event of his capture, the officer in command of the capturing force do cause him to be immediately executed by hanging. — Jefferson Davis

In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial.' — William Safire

I will cancel every illegal Obamacare executive order. I will cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities. Out. — Donald Trump

Branches Of Government Quotes

Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. — James Madison

Watergate provides a model case study of the interaction and powers of each of the branches of government. It also is a morality play with a sad and dramatic ending. — Bob Woodward

What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter. — Terry Pratchett

The Council on Foreign Relations is the American branch of a society which originated in England ... [and] ... believes national boundaries should be obliterated and one-world rule established. — Carroll Quigley

The reality is that our independent judiciary is the most respected branch of our government and the envy of the world. — Ted Olson

When justices seize authority from the other branches of the federal government, as well as state and local governments, under the rubric of judicial review, that’s tyranny. — Mark Levin

It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. Thats set out in the Constitution. — Sandra Day O'Connor

The Supreme Court and courts in general have been usurping the role of the legislative branch of government. — Todd Akin

The Three Branches of Government: Money, Television, and Bullshit — P. J. O'Rourke

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so. — Jeremy Bentham

Legislative Branch Quotes

No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him. — Thomas Jefferson

I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them. — George W. Bush

One single object . . . [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation. — Thomas Jefferson

Our executive branch does not believe in interfering with what the legislative branch chooses to do. We believe in federalism. — Kellyanne Conway

Every proper exertion has been made and will be continued to carry out the wishes of Congress in relation to the tobacco trade, as indicated in the several resolutions of the House of Representatives and the legislation of the two branches. — Martin Van Buren

In our system of government, the judicial and legislative branches have different roles. Judges are not politicians. Judges must decide cases, not champion causes. Judges must settle legal disputes, not pursue agendas. Judges must interpret and apply the law, not make the law. — Orrin Hatch

The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. — James Madison

[W]ar is a question, under our constitution, not of Executive, but of Legislative cognizance. It belongs to Congress to say whether the Nation shall of choice dismiss the olive branch and unfurl the banners of War. — Alexander Hamilton

You can't have the legislative and executive branch working in a parallel universe...the partisanship that has gripped Washington has prevented us from dealing with the issues that this country needs to grapple with to determine its future. — Olympia Snowe

Global climate change is real. The legislative branch of our government is our last line of defense against pollution which is why I am so grateful to have the NRDC making our voice heard. — Kyra Sedgwick

People Writing About Executive Branch

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James Madison
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Read quotes by George Washington

George Washington
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Read quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt
quotes on leadership, imperialism and nature

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Read quotes by Grover Cleveland

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Read quotes by Bill Ackman

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Read quotes by Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton
quotes on education, federalism and tyranny

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More Executive Branch Quotes

I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with [the president] trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm President of the United States of America. — Sayings

I believe Watergate shows that the system did work. Particularly the Judiciary and the Congress, and ultimately an independent prosecutor working in the Executive Branch. — Bob Woodward

In the executive branch, winning by a whisker is as good as winning in a landslide, but not so in the Senate. — Lincoln Chafee

For those who believe executive branch officials will voluntarily interpret their surveillance authorities with restraint, I believe it is more likely that I will achieve my life-long dream of playing in the NBA. — Ron Wyden

The question whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches. — Thomas Jefferson

The Supreme Court must serve as an independent check on abuses by the executive branch and the protector of our liberties, not a cheerleader for an imperial presidency. — Edward Kennedy

Of the over 100,000 wildfires that happen in the U.S. each year, not a single one would get started without the fire triangle: Oxygen, heat and fuel. Fire needs all three to exist. It's like the three branches of our government: Legislative, judicial and executive. The fewer there are, the safer we are. — Stephen Colbert

When the American people look at the political process play out, they hear all the spinning and all the doctrinaire language, and they still walk away with the belief that they're not being represented in Congress, that there's no trust in the executive branch. — David Gregory

In an era where the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge [Samuel] Alito's support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling. — Samuel Alito

What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed? — James Madison

Everything is about accountability to the American people, accountability of the executive branch ... [and] accountability of the oversight of the Congress. — Jay Rockefeller

Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly has been disturbed over what he sees as the erosion of presidential powers since the Watergate scandal and has urged Bush to take a stronger stand against what Cheney sees as congressional intrusions into the executive branch. — Helen Thomas

We didn't pass any constitutional amendments that affected the executive branch while I was governor. — John Engler

Leaking classified information is a crime. And if we have evidence that somebody in the executive branch is committing a crime, we should prosecute that person. — Paul Ryan

I speak as a private citizen and not as a representative of the Executive Branch of the United States government. The impression that people of faith are uniformly opposed to stem-cell research is not documented by surveys. In fact, many people of strong religious conviction think this can be a morally supportable approach. — Richard Dawkins

The executive branch maneuvered this result deftly. — Andrew Cohen

If in order to avoid further Communist expansion in Asia and particularly in Indo-China, if in order to avoid it we must take the risk by putting American boys in, I believe that the executive branch of the government has to take the politically unpopular position of facing up to it and doing it, and I personally would support such a decision. — Richard M. Nixon

It is good to be back in the Peoples House. But this cannot be a real homecoming. Under the Constitution, I now belong to the executive branch. The Supreme Court has even ruled that I am the executive branchhead, heart, and hand. — Gerald R. Ford

I have a duty to protect the Executive Branch from legislative encroachment. — George W. Bush

It's really not a stretch. The checks and balances are the same. The drums are the executive branch. The jazz orchestra is the legislative branch. Logic and reason are like jazz solos. The bass player is the judicial branch. One our greatest ever is Milt Hinton, and his nickname is "The Judge." — Wynton Marsalis

[R]efusing or not refusing to execute a law to stamp it with its final character . . . makes the Judiciary department paramount in fact to the Legislature, which was never intended and can never be proper. — James Madison

Good union leaders make excellent public leaders in the legislative and executive branches. — Robert Kennedy

The president and the executive branch are always going to have greater latitude and greater authority when it comes to protecting America because sometimes you just have to respond quickly and not everything that is a danger can be publicized and be subject to open debate, but there have to be some guardrails. — Barack Obama

[I watch] all that stuff - Game of Thrones and all the other series. How about House of Cards? As for Boardwalk Empire - that's another period of government overreach, but at least they use the amendment process! In real life, the executive branch, by violating the Constitution, is using statutes in place of constitutional amendments to diminish our liberty. — Edward Snowden

A representative assembly, although extremely well qualified, and absolutely necessary, as a branch of the legislative, is unfit to exercise the executive power, for want of two essential properties, secrecy and dispatch. — John Adams

The most effective executive branch officials try to help legislators develop explanations for the votes they are being asked to take. — Robert Zoellick

You don't just give the executive branch unlimited resources, unlimited power. Our founders were very concerned about too much power being invested in any one, in any branch. The balance of power is fundamental to our system. — Mike Huckabee

The time has passed in America when this party can be the party of compassion and let the executive branch run foreign policy. It won't work. We have to be the party that can stand toe to toe with George W. Bush on national security, as well as the party of compassion. — Wesley Clark

The people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of those whom they invest with authority either in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches. — John Witherspoon

It is the union of independence and dependence of these branches - legislative, executive and judicial - and of the governmental functions possessed by each of them, that constitutes the marvellous genius of this unrivalled document. — J. Reuben Clark

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