GOVERNMENT QUOTES VII

quotations about government

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1801

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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

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Let the people think they govern, and they will be govern'd.

WILLIAM PENN

Some Fruits of Solitude

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For, as far as this life of mortals is concerned, which is spent and ended in a few days, what does it matter under whose government a dying man lives, if they who govern do not force him to impiety and iniquity?

ST. AUGUSTINE

The City of God

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When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of.

CONFUCIUS

The Wisdom of Confucius

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We assert the province of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unalienable rights. We throw to the winds the old dogma that governments can give rights.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

during her trial for voting in the presidential election of Nov. 1872

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Most traditional governments divide people, setting them against each other to weaken the society and make it governable.

BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON

The Butlerian Jihad

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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 thousand years scarce serve to form a state;
An hour may lay it in the dust.

LORD BYRON

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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Free government is self-government. A government of the people by the people. The best government of this sort is that which the people think best.

WALTER BAGEHOT

The English Constitution

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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

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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

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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

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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

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In all governments, there is a perpetual intestine struggle, open or secret, between Authority and Liberty, and neither of them can ever absolutely prevail in the contest.

DAVID HUME

"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

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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

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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

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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.

EDWARD R. MURROW

attributed, People Before Profit


Government is like a sincere alcoholic, who does not want to cause irreparable damage to his liver and yet cannot give up excessive drinking.

N. S. SAKSENA

Terrorism History and Facets


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

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