Government Quotes
Every culture has its distinctive and normal system of government. Yours is democracy, moderated by corruption. Ours is totalitarianism, moderated by assassination.Unknown Russian
The 1976 Bicentennial is not going to be invented in Washington, printed in triplicate by the Government Printing Office and mailed to you by the United States Postal Service.Richard Milhous Nixon
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one.Thomas Paine
We hold these truths to be self - Evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments a.Thomas Jefferson
Government, is the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.MacKenzie King
The art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of the citizens to give to the other.Voltaire
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
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
In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one part of the citizens to give to the other.Voltaire, The Portable Voltaire
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
What government is the best That which teaches us to govern ourselves.Johann von Goethe
The government is us we are the government, you and I.Theodore Roosevelt
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.George Washington
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.Alexander Hamilton, Speech on 21 June 1788 urging ratification of the Constitution in New York.
The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity and until they do and find the cure all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.Richard Feynman
The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.Dave Barry
When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.Sir Winston Churchill
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.John Quincy Adams
Government can easily exist without laws, but law cannot exist without government.Bertrand Russell
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 popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to Farce, or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.James Madison
I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.Dwight D. Eisenhowe
And that this country shall have a new birth of freedom, and that this government, of the people, for the people, by the people, shall not perish from the Earth.Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
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
As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.George Washington
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.Thomas Jefferson
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government they have only a talent for getting and holding office.H. L. Mencken
No government can be long secure without formidable opposition.Benjamin Disraeli
For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.Bob Wells
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered... deeply, ... finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.George Washington, First Inaugural Address, Apr. 30, 1789
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is in prison.Henry David Thoreau
Public confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensable to faith in democracy; and when we lose faith in the system, we have lost faith in everything we fight and spend for.Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
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
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.Thomas Jefferson
There is no legitimacy on earth but in a government which is the choice of the nation.Joseph Bonaparte
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.William Ellery Channing
If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism if our government is to function it must have dissent.Henry Commage
