Government Quotes
Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from birth what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government to do good.Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.William H. Borah
Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.Richard M. Nixon
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia
All in all, I am not surprised that the people who want to unravel the social contract start with young adults. Those who are urged to feel afraid, very afraid, have both the greatest sense of independence and the most finely honed skepticism about government.Ellen Goodman
Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.Chester Bowles
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.Thomas Jefferson
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.Bertrand Russell
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.Nadia Boulange
Our government sprang from and was made for the people - - Not the people for the government. To them it owes an allegiance from them it must derive its courage, strength, and wisdom.Andrew Johnson
Manufacturing and commercial monopolies owe their origin not to a tendency imminent in a capitalist economy but to governmental interventionist policy directed against free trade and laissez faire.Ludwig Mises
It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.Hubert H. Humphrey
The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.Justice Anthony Kennedy
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.Ronald Reagan
The Interstate Commerce commission, as its functions have now been limited by the courts is, or can be made, of great use to the railroads. It satisfies the public clamor for a government supervision of railroads, at the same time that that supervision is almost entirely nominal.Richard Olney, a lawyer for the Boston & Maine and Attorney General under Grover Cleveland, advising a railroad president
A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.Bertrand de Jouvenal
Religion... is the basis and foundation of government... before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.James Madison
A democratic government is only as strong as the alert conscience of its people.Charles W. Tobey
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.H. L. Mencken
A revolution of government is the strongest proof that can be given by a people of their virtue and good sense.John Adams, (Diary, 1786)
People in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than governments.Dwight D Eisenhowe
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.John Adams
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.Louis D. Brandeis
There has never been a perfect government, because men have passions and if they did not have passions, there would be no need for government.Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
The teaching of politics is that the Government, which was set for protection and comfort of all good citizens, becomes the principal obstruction and nuisance with which we have to contend? The cheat and bully and malefactor we meet everywhere is the Government.Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journal, 1860
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.George Washington
Every government is run by liars. Nothing they say should be believed.I. F. Stone 1907 - 1989
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.Gilbert Keith Chesterton
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.James Abram Garfield
Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.George Washington
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.Alexander Hamilton
The government is us we are the government, you and I.Theodore Roosevelt
Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism.Chief Justice Earl Warren
They who seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers... call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have right that these wants should be provided for, including the want of a sufficient restraint upon their passions.Edmund Burke
Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.I. F. Stone
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.Alexander Hamilton
