Government Quotes
Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.Harry S Truman
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny their figure deformity.Alexander Hamilton
Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.I. F. Stone
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government is to live under the government of worse men.Plato, The Republic
The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.Henry David Thoreau
The point to remember is what the government gives it must first take away.John S. Coleman
Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism.Chief Justice Earl Warren
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.Thomas Jefferson
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.George Washington
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.Gerald R. Ford
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.George Washington
I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.Dwight D. Eisenhowe
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! It is a dangerous servant and a terrible master.George Washington
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.Sir Winston Churchill
The Second Amendment reveals a profound principle of American government - The principle of civilian ascendency over the military.William Orville Douglas
The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust our own government statements. I had no idea until then that you could not rely on them.William Fullbright
The process of creating new, democratic organs of government power is beginning, and, as never before, the greatest responsibility rests with the broadcast media.Eduard Sagalaev
The incestuous relationship between government and big business thrives in the dark.Jack Anderson
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.Thomas Jefferson
The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government.George Washington
In rivers and bad governments, the lightest things swim at the top.Benjamin Franklin
Every culture has its distinctive and normal system of government. Yours is democracy, moderated by corruption. Ours is totalitarianism, moderated by assassination.Unknown Russian
We are the men of intrinsic value, who can strike our fortunes out of ourselves, whose worth is independent of accidents in life, or revolutions in government we have heads to get money, and hearts to spend it.George Farquha
Of all the inventions that have helped to unify China perhaps the airplane is the most outstanding. Its ability to annihilate distance has been in direct proportion to its achievements in assisting to annihilate suspicion and misunderstanding among provincial officials far removed from one another or from the officials at the seat of government.Madame Chiang
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.William Ellery Channing
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptable. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse Dune, Missionaria Protectiva
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.John Quincy Adams
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office.H. L. Mencken
A democratic government is only as strong as the alert conscience of its people.Charles W. Tobey
What government is the best That which teaches us to govern ourselves.Johann von Goethe
The art of government is the organization of idolatry.George Bernard Shaw
The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.Dave Barry
In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one part of the citizens to give to the other.Voltaire, The Portable Voltaire
I make a fortune from criticizing the policy of the government, and then hand it over to the government in taxes to keep it going.George Bernard Shaw
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered... deeply... finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.George Washington
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.George Bernard Shaw
For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.Bob Wells
