Government Quotes
Ed, we just witnessed a peaceful transition in government. Do you realize how miraculous that is... Today, tiny Cicely, Alaska, stood up and put another W in the win category for democracy.Jeff Melvoin
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
A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to Farce, or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.James Madison
Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.Harry S Truman, Lecture at Columbia University, 28 Apr. 1959
I bear solemn witness to the fact that NATO heads of state and of government meet only to go through the tedious motions of reading speeches, drafted by others, with the principal objective of not rocking the boat.Pierre Elliott Trudeau
No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will.Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Washington, September 9, 1792
Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.Chester Bowles
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.John Adams
A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy.Benjamin Disraeli, Speech in the House of Commons, Mar. 3, 1845
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.William H. Borah
The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.Justice Anthony Kennedy
All governments eventually lean further and further towards aristocracy.Frank Herbert, Dune
Government cannot make us equal it can only recognize, respect, and protect us as equal before the law.Clarence Thomas
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 real object of those who resorted to Secession, as well as those who sustained it, was not to overthrow the Government of the United States but to perpetuate the principles upon which it was founded. The object in quitting the Union was not to destroy, but to save the principles of the Constitution.Alexander Hamilton Stephens
On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.Will Rogers
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.Ronald Reagan
Governments never learn. Only people learn.Milton Friedman
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.Thomas Jefferson
The less government we have the better.Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of these days, the people are going to demand peace of the government, and the government is going to have to give it to them.Dwight Eisenhowe
Religion... is the basis and foundation of government... before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.James Madison
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.Alexander Hamilton
When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.Sir Winston Churchill
History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation, Jan 16, 1984
He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.Confucius, The Confucian Analects
The government is us we are the government, you and I.Theodore Roosevelt
A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, 1787
If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.Frank Herbert, The Dosadi Experiment
In rivers and bad governments, the lightest things swim at the top.Benjamin Franklin
The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers wthout government, I should not hesita.Thomas Jefferson
The incestuous relationship between government and big business thrives in the dark.Jack Anderson
Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.Thomas Jefferson
The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.Dave Barry
The function of government ought to be: make sure you have good water to drink, somebody picking up the garbage, good roads to drive on, enough electricity to turn your light bulbs and your record player on, and whatever smaller amounts of regulatory assistance is necessary to make this society work.Frank Zappa, Interview with this submitter, New York City, 5/08/1980
If government could create jobs and raise children, socialism would have worked.George Gilde
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
