GOVERNMENT QUOTES V

quotations about government

The federal government has never been known for its sense of humor.

LAURELL K. HAMILTON

Obsidian Butterfly

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The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly.

SAMUEL SMILES

Self-Help

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In theory, the government of a free people is not one which shall in all circumstances govern, but one that shall effectually govern while it is maintaining right against wrong, and shall begin to fall in pieces as soon as it begins to maintain wrong against right. No country is truly free whose constitution does not furnish the citizen with protection against the wrong-doing of other citizens, and also guarantee him against the wrong-doing of the government itself. No oppressor is so intolerable as an oppressive government; for the private oppressor acts with his own force only, while the governmental oppressor acts with the irresistible force of the whole people.

WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE

Socialistic

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Our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter -- that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.

BARACK OBAMA

speech to joint session of Congress, sep. 9, 2009

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The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

JAMES MADISON

speech at Virginia State Convention, Dec. 2, 1829

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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

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All government is an ugly necessity.

G. K. CHESTERTON

A Short History of England

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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

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Ceremonies are the first thing to be attended to in the practice of government.

CONFUCIUS

The Wisdom of Confucius

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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

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The government's monopoly is what has allowed it to produce so bad a product for so long.

DAVID R. HENDERSON

The Joy of Freedom


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


Yet it is instructive to trace the various causes, which produced the strength of one nation, and the decline and weakness of another; to learn by what arts one man has been able to subjugate millions of his fellow creatures, the motives which have put him upon action, and the causes of his success--sometimes driven by ambition and a lust of power; at other times, swallowed up by religious enthusiasms, blind bigotry, and ignorant zeal; sometimes enervated with luxury and debauched by pleasure, until the most powerful nations have become a prey and been subdued by these Sirens, when neither the number of their enemies, nor the prowess of their arms, could conquer them.

ABIGAIL ADAMS

letter to John Quincy Adams, December 26, 1783

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I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare -- I have no use for him either.

SOPHOCLES

Antigone

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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

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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


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

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Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government, we have no future. We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.

JIMMY CARTER

Inaugural Address, January 20, 1977

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A scientific body to which had been confided the government of society would soon end by devoting itself no longer to science at all, but to quite another affair; and that affair, as in the case of all established powers, would be its own eternal perpetuation by rendering the society confided to its care ever more stupid and consequently more in need of its government and direction.

MIKHAIL BAKUNIN

God and the State

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We are not to expect perfection in this world; but mankind, in modern times, have apparently made some progress in the science of government.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, Feb. 7, 1788

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