Carl Schmitt

"Sovereign is he who decides on the exception."

"The exception is more interesting than the rule."

"Every general norm presupposes a normal, regular situation in which it can function."

"Political theology is the science of the exception."

"The state of exception is not chaos or anomie; it is a space in which the normal order is suspended."

"Decisionism without normativism is blind; normativism without decisionism is empty."

"The friend-enemy distinction is the basis of all politics."

"A people without a state is like a body without a soul."

"Law is not reason divorced from emotion."

"The exception proves the rule."

"Liberalism has never solved the problem of the enemy."

"True authority requires the freedom to decide."

"The will of the people cannot be rationalized away."

"Legitimacy and legality are not identical."

"Every genuine statement presupposes a particular standpoint."

"Power without decision is impotent."

"The boundary defines the territory."

"Whom does the land belong to? The question cannot be answered by law alone."

"Democracy is possible only where there exists a demos with a strong collective consciousness."

"Neutrality is impossible in matters of principle."

"The constitution is not merely a legal text but an existential decision."

"Language is not neutral; it always carries political weight."

"Identity presupposes differentiation from something else."

"The moment of decision is beyond all rational calculation."

"Fear is the foundation of all political order."

"Authority requires the power to command and the duty to obey."

"Convention precedes content in the constitution."

"The nation-state remains the ultimate political unit."

"Formal legality can conceal profound injustice."

"Modernity has not overcome the problem of the exception."