Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate. Bertrand Russell
No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. Edward Gibbon
Although... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States. James K. Polk
Any institution which does not suppose the people good, and the magistrate corruptible, is evil. Maximilien Robespierre
