quotations about government
A wise Government seeks to provide the opportunity through which the best of individual achievement can be obtained, while at the same time it seeks to remove such obstruction, such unfairness as springs from selfish human motives.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Address at San Diego Exposition, Oct. 2, 1935
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
Contempt for government undermines its ability to protect all citizens. Good government should be based on facts. It should invest in maintenance of basic services, whether infrastructure repairs or public health, and be prepared for crises. Above all, it should attract the best and most professional people to public service. Unless we believe that public service is an honorable calling, we will never motivate talented people to join or achieve high performances. But none of this is possible unless those in positions of public trust carry out their jobs honorably, with respect for the institutions and the public they serve.
ROSABETH MOSS KANTER
America the Principled
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
Man, born in a family, is compelled to maintain society. Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a large scale?
ST. AUGUSTINE
City of God
A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.
EDWARD R. MURROW
attributed, People Before Profit
Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
The World As I See It
Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.
JOHN BASIL BARNHILL
"Indictment of Socialism No. 3", Barnhill-Tichenor Debate on Socialism
To form a new government requires infinite care and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid, the superstructure must be bad.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1776
The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government.
ABIGAIL ADAMS
letter to John Adams, Nov. 27, 1775
When government disappears, it's not as if paradise will take its place. When governments are gone, other interests will take their place.
LAWRENCE LESSIG
keynote address at the "One Planet, One Net" symposium, October 10, 1998
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
JAMES A. GARFIELD
letter to B. A. Hinsdale, April 21, 1880
A great sacrifice of liberty must necessarily be made in every government; yet even the authority, which confines liberty, can never, and perhaps ought never, in any constitution, to become quite entire and uncontrollable.
DAVID HUME
"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary
In all governments, there must of necessity be both the law and the sword; laws without arms would give us not liberty, but licentiousness; and arms without laws would produce not subjection, but slavery. The law, therefore, should be unto the sword, what the handle is to the hatchet; it should direct the stroke and temper the force.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
The Government of Man should be the Monarchy of Reason; it is too often a Democracy of Passions, or an Anarchy of Humours.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
A general government shall do all those things which pertain to it, and all the local governments shall do precisely as they please in respect to those matters which exclusively concern them.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech at Columbus, September 16, 1859
A civil servant doesn't make jokes.
EUGENE IONESCO
The Killer
Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant.
BILL MAHER
When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden
The populace must think their ruler is a greater man than they, else why should they follow him? Above all a leader must be a showman, giving his people the bread and circuses they require.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON
Dune: House Atreides