quotations about government
Government resembles the wall which surrounds our lands; a needful protection, but rearing no harvests, ripening no fruits. It is the individual who must choose whether the enclosure shall be a paradise or a waste.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING
Thoughts
The test of any government is not how popular it is with the powerful, but how honestly and fairly it deals with those who must depend on it.
JIMMY CARTER
Why Not the Best?
All the gang of those who rule us
Hope our quarrels never stop
Helping them to split and fool us
So they can remain on top.
BERTOLT BRECHT
"Solidarity Song"
Government commences more casually and more imperfectly. It is probable, that the first ascendent of one man over multitudes began during a state of war; where the superiority of courage and of genius discovers itself most visibly, where unanimity and concert are most requisite, and where the pernicious effects of disorder are most sensibly felt. The long continuance of that state, an incident common among savage tribes, inured the people to submission; and if the chieftain possessed as much equity as prudence and valour, he became, even during peace, the arbiter of all differences, and could gradually, by a mixture of force and consent, establish his authority. The benefit sensibly felt from his influence, made it be cherished by the people, at least by the peaceable and well disposed among them.
DAVID HUME
"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary
It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most.
WALTER LIPPMANN
A Preface to Politics
Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
As individuals, as families, as neighbors, as members of one community, people of all races and political views are usually decent, kind, compassionate. But in large corporations or governments, when great power accumulates in their hands, some become monsters even with good intentions.
DEAN KOONTZ
Dark Rivers of the Heart
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
AYN RAND
Atlas Shrugged
To prevent government from becoming corrupt and tyrannous, its organization and methods should be as simple as possible, its functions be restricted to those necessary to the common welfare, and in all its parts it should be kept as close to the people and as directly within their control as may be.
HENRY GEORGE
Social Problems
Government is the most dangerous institution known to man. Throughout history it has violated the rights of men more than any individual or group of individuals could do: it has killed people, enslaved them, sent them to forced labor and concentration camps, and regularly robbed and pillaged them of the fruits of their expended labor.
JOHN HOSPERS
The Libertarian Alternative
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
RONALD REAGAN
remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business, Aug. 15, 1986
So long as honest men neglect to vote;
So long as good men leave the cares of state
To weak, incompetent, or careless hands,
Or place them in the grip of scheming knaves,
Our safety is imperiled. Every man
On Freedom's ramparts must a warder be,
To warn of danger when the foe appears;
To meet the onset when the foe assaults.
Else--vain our hopes, and else the temple grand,
Of all our rights, and birth-right liberties,
Ere long will fall, and crumble in the dust,
A ruin, more abject and dire than Rome
Or Carthage was.
ANDREW DOWNING
"A Picture"
So when any of the four pillars of government, are mainly shaken, or weakened (which are religion, justice, counsel, and treasure), men had need to pray for fair weather. But let us pass from this part of predictions (concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken from that which followeth); and let us speak first, of the materials of seditions; then of the motives of them; and thirdly of the remedies.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Seditions And Troubles", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Society is older than government. But every persisting society implies the existence of government and laws; for a society without government and laws is at once overturned by its madmen and scoundrels and lapses into barbarism.
WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE
Socialistic
The government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflux of the individuals composing it. The government that is ahead of the people will be inevitably dragged down to their level, as the government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up.
SAMUEL SMILES
Self-Help
The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly.
SAMUEL SMILES
Self-Help
A government may endure for several ages, though the balance of power and the balance of property do not coincide. This chiefly happens where any rank or order of the state has acquired a large share in the property; but, from the original constitution of the government, has no share in the power. Under what pretence would any individual of that order assume authority in public affairs? As men are commonly much attached to their ancient government, it is not to be expected, that the public would ever favour such usurpations. But where the original constitution allows any share of power, though small, to an order of men who possess a large share of property, it is easy for them gradually to stretch their authority, and bring the balance of power to coincide with that of property.
DAVID HUME
"Of the First Principles of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Notes on Virginia
In some respects government is like a game; before the players can even take the field to compete, they need to agree on a set of rules that decide how the game is to be played. Constitutions are the rules of the political game - who can vote, who can stand for office, what powers they are to have, the rights and duties of citizens and so on. Without these basic rules politics would degenerate into arbitrariness, brute force, or anarchy.
KENNETH NEWTON & JAN W. VAN DETH
Foundations of Comparative Politics
Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will be like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all the host of stars turn towards it.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius