GOVERNMENT QUOTES
quotations about government
A government of laws, and not of men.
JOHN ADAMS
Novanglus Essays
We want government to stave off lawlessness and war and chaos and economic misery so that we can wholeheartedly enjoy the pure goodness of life.
GARRISON KEILLOR
"Art Appreciation,", A Prairie Home Companion, Nov. 17, 2009
The mode of governing the country, according to the existing laws, is mostly worn into a rut, and most administrations move in it because it is easier to move there than anywhere else.
WALTER BAGEHOT
The English Constitution
The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
There are but two sorts of government: one where men show their teeth at each other, and one where men show their tongues and lick the feet of the strongest.
GEORGE ELIOT
Romola
People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.
ALAN MOORE
V for Vendetta
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
JAMES MADISON
The Federalist, Feb. 6, The Federalist, Feb. 6, 1788
The reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community.
ABIGAIL ADAMS
letter to John Adams, November 27, 1775
Government is merely a servant – merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.
MARK TWAIN
The Bible According to Mark Twain
A government is a living organism. Like every living thing its prime characteristic is a blind, unreasoned instinct to survive. You hit it, it will fight back.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
Stranger in a Strange Land
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
GERALD FORD
presidential address to a joint session of Congress, August 12, 1974
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, Jun. 18, 1778
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
RONALD REAGAN
New York Times, Nov. 14, 1965
It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
First Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1861
Who knows what the hell a government is or what the hell a government does.
ANNE RICE
Memnoch the Devil
If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.
BARACK OBAMA
speech, Aug. 28, 2006
There is good government when those who are near are made happy, and when those who are afar are attracted.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
JAMES BOVARD
Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty
The will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1825
Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.
RONALD REAGAN
First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981