If men were angels, no government would be necessary. 27 more views from James Madison
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes. 9 thoughts from Andrew Jackson
Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. 105 other wisdom & wit from Albert Einstein
The people are the government, administering it by their agents they are the government, the sovereign power. 9 more sayings from Andrew Jackson
A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both. 27 quotes from James Madison
A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person. 27 views from James Madison
Above all we should not forget that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgement and individual conscience of mankind. 5 more wisdom & wit from William Godwin
Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and organized government. 6 more sayings from Grover Cleveland
Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party - though they are quite numerous - is no freedom at all. 4 more quotes from Rosa Luxemburg
Good government is the outcome of private virtue. 3 quotes from John Jay Chapman
Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government. 27 wisdom & wit from James Madison
The essence of Government is power and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. 27 sayings from James Madison
The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government, Government should not support the people. 6 wisdom & wit from Grover Cleveland
The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. 27 other wisdom & wit from James Madison
There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. 9 thoughts from Andrew Jackson
Though the people support the government the government should not support the people. 6 quotes from Grover Cleveland
To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. 27 more wisdom & wit from James Madison
Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government. 70 more quotes from Thomas Jefferson
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. 70 quotes from Thomas Jefferson
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is. 70 sayings from Thomas Jefferson
I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. 70 wisdom & wit from Thomas Jefferson
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. 70 other quotes from Thomas Jefferson
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. 16 more thoughts from Otto von Bismarck
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. 70 views from Thomas Jefferson
No government ought to be without censors and where the press is free no one ever will. 70 other quotes from Thomas Jefferson
That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part. 70 other thoughts from Thomas Jefferson
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government. 70 other quotes from Thomas Jefferson
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. 70 wisdom & wit from Thomas Jefferson
The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind. 70 thoughts from Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. 70 quotes from Thomas Jefferson
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. 70 quotes from Thomas Jefferson
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. 70 wisdom & wit from Thomas Jefferson
A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward. 16 wisdom & wit from Otto von Bismarck
Aggression is simply another name for government. 2 more quotes from Benjamin Tucker
Government is essentially immoral. 20 sayings from Herbert Spencer
I never knew a government yet that wanted to do anything. 9 thoughts from Anthony Trollope
I would have been glad to have lived under my wood side, and to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than to have undertaken this government. 5 thoughts from Oliver Cromwell
If it were not for the government, we should have nothing to laugh at in France. 11 other wisdom & wit from Nicolas Chamfort
Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule. 14 quotes from Edward Gibbon
Old forms of government finally grow so oppressive that they must be thrown off even at the risk of reigns of terror. 20 thoughts from Herbert Spencer
The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow an any cost. To delay action is the same as death. 14 quotes from Vladimir Lenin
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves. 11 more quotes from William Ellery Channing
The second office in the government is honorable and easy the first is but a splendid misery. 70 sayings from Thomas Jefferson
A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years. 26 thoughts from Harry S. Truman
A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it. 26 sayings from Harry S. Truman
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. 52 other wisdom & wit from Gilbert K. Chesterton
For Forms of Government let fools contest whatever is best administered is best. 43 other wisdom & wit from Alexander Pope
Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure. 45 quotes from Bertrand Russell
My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight. 46 more quotes from John F. Kennedy
The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor. 16 other wisdom & wit from Hubert H. Humphrey
The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power. 11 quotes from John Stuart Mill
The Negro revolution is controlled by foxy white liberals, by the Government itself. But the Black Revolution is controlled only by God. 21 sayings from Malcolm X
The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world - no ideals. 14 other quotes from Golda Meir
The weather is like the government, always in the wrong. 7 views from Jerome K. Jerome
When decisions on nuclear power stations and runways are delayed and the government dilly-dallies, people think they aren't important. 22 more thoughts from James Dyson
When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship. 26 more quotes from Harry S. Truman
The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government. 58 other sayings from Henry Ward Beecher
By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. 10 views from John Maynard Keynes
Government in the U.S. today is a senior partner in every business in the country. 15 thoughts from Norman Cousins
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. 3 wisdom & wit from Frederic Bastiat
I work for a Government I despise for ends I think criminal. 10 thoughts from John Maynard Keynes
There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience. 8 other quotes from Stokely Carmichael
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. 115 quotes from George Bernard Shaw
If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. 117 other quotes from Henry David Thoreau
That government is best which governs least. 117 thoughts from Henry David Thoreau
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. 19 wisdom & wit from Alexis de Tocqueville
Acquire a government over your ideas, that they may come down when they are called, and depart when they are bidden. 3 sayings from Isaac Watts
Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. 115 other views from George Bernard Shaw
Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power. 8 more wisdom & wit from Benito Mussolini
How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. 117 other quotes from Henry David Thoreau
In other words, a democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. 19 quotes from Alexis de Tocqueville
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds. 2 other quotes from Thurgood Marshall
The art of government is the organisation of idolatry. 115 more quotes from George Bernard Shaw
The universe never did make sense I suspect it was built on government contract. 14 views from Robert A. Heinlein
This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it's all checks and no balances. 3 other thoughts from Gracie Allen
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. 117 other quotes from Henry David Thoreau
Democracy is an abuse of statistics. 7 thoughts from Jorge Luis Borges
Government has no other end, but the preservation of property. 15 quotes from John Locke
I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other. 50 quotes from Napoleon Bonaparte
If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end. 20 other views from Herbert Hoover
It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business. 20 quotes from Herbert Hoover
When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned. 20 quotes from Herbert Hoover
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. 60 other wisdom & wit from H. L. Mencken
Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be. 13 more quotes from Sydney J. Harris
All government, of course, is against liberty. 60 other sayings from H. L. Mencken
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. 60 thoughts from H. L. Mencken
Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us. 21 other quotes from Leo Tolstoy
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time. 60 more quotes from H. L. Mencken
I don't look for much to come out of government ownership as long as we have Democrats and Republicans. 27 other quotes from Kin Hubbard
I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual. 63 views from Samuel Johnson
It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most. 8 quotes from Walter Lippmann
Where might is mixed with wit, there is too good an accord in a government. 9 other sayings from Elizabeth I
But let us remember, at the same time, government is sacred, and not to be trifled with. 2 more quotes from Jonathan Mayhew
Let the people think they govern and they will be governed. 15 quotes from William Penn
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. 16 quotes from Denis Diderot
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. 18 thoughts from John Adams
A government of laws, and not of men. 18 more quotes from John Adams
I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it. 33 more quotes from Dwight D. Eisenhower
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad. 16 thoughts from Denis Diderot
The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people. 6 more thoughts from William O. Douglas
The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries. 18 sayings from John Adams
The government is us we are the government, you and I. 36 more sayings from Theodore Roosevelt
The happiness of society is the end of government. 18 quotes from John Adams
We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels. 3 more quotes from Henry A. Wallace
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? 57 thoughts from Will Rogers
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery. 19 sayings from Jonathan Swift
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. 74 more views from Winston Churchill
Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it. 98 sayings from Mark Twain
Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln. 57 other quotes from Will Rogers
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. 98 quotes from Mark Twain
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. 74 views from Winston Churchill
This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer. 57 more wisdom & wit from Will Rogers
To hear some men talk of the government, you would suppose that Congress was the law of gravitation, and kept the planets in their places. 14 other quotes from Wendell Phillips
We have the best government that money can buy. 98 other quotes from Mark Twain
We live under a government of men and morning newspapers. 14 quotes from Wendell Phillips
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. 74 views from Winston Churchill
A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay. 13 views from Amos Bronson Alcott
A tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one, and enjoying a monopoly sanctioned and licensed by government. 3 other views from Spiro T. Agnew
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. 78 more sayings from Voltaire
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. 57 more quotes from Will Rogers
By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more. 52 more views from Albert Camus
Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle. 25 quotes from Will Durant
Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. 7 quotes from Louis D. Brandeis
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. 57 other sayings from Will Rogers
If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep. 57 more quotes from Will Rogers
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another. 78 quotes from Voltaire
It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for. 57 more quotes from Will Rogers
It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you. 57 quotes from Will Rogers
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third. 78 other quotes from Voltaire
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination. 78 quotes from Voltaire
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. 78 other views from Voltaire
There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you. 57 quotes from Will Rogers
Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it. 57 other quotes from Will Rogers
Today it is not big business that we have to fear. It is big government. 14 views from Wendell Phillips
Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. 7 thoughts from William E. Gladstone
A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy. 75 more wisdom & wit from Benjamin Disraeli
Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles. 19 more thoughts from Woodrow Wilson
If Liberia has failed, then, it is no evidence of the failure of the Negro in government. It is merely evidence of the failure of slavery. 6 more sayings from Carter G. Woodson
If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it. 19 other wisdom & wit from Woodrow Wilson
It is the duty of government to make it difficult for people to do wrong, easy to do right. 7 more thoughts from William E. Gladstone
No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. 75 more quotes from Benjamin Disraeli
That fatal drollery called a representative government. 75 quotes from Benjamin Disraeli
The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people. 2 other wisdom & wit from Andrew Johnson
The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity. 2 other wisdom & wit from Martin Van Buren
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed too severe, seldom executed. 96 other thoughts from Benjamin Franklin
There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic. 10 more sayings from Charles de Secondat
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. 10 other thoughts from Edward Abbey
All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. 37 quotes from Edmund Burke
As long as I don't write about the government, religion, politics, and other institutions, I am free to print anything. 3 other sayings from Pierre Beaumarchais
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government. 13 wisdom & wit from Alexander Hamilton
If everybody in this town connected with politics had to leave town because of chasing women and drinking, you would have no government. 9 other quotes from Barry Goldwater
It's not tyranny we desire it's a just, limited, federal government. 13 more sayings from Alexander Hamilton
No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal. 24 views from Franklin D. Roosevelt
No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision. 4 quotes from Barbara Tuchman
Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government. 37 views from Edmund Burke
Say what you like about my bloody murderous government,' I says, 'but don't insult me poor bleedin' country. 10 more thoughts from Edward Abbey
The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. 9 other thoughts from Barry Goldwater
The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people. 12 more quotes from Daniel Webster
The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written. 24 thoughts from Franklin D. Roosevelt
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government. 96 quotes from Benjamin Franklin
Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. 12 other thoughts from Daniel Webster
Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. 24 other thoughts from James Russell Lowell
Government is not reason it is not eloquent it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. 30 other thoughts from George Washington
Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth. 47 more thoughts from Abraham Lincoln
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one. 31 quotes from Thomas Paine
No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent. 47 views from Abraham Lincoln
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. 30 more quotes from George Washington
The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them. 47 wisdom & wit from Abraham Lincoln
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. 47 sayings from Abraham Lincoln
A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation. 6 views from Barbara Jordan
Democracy is the form of government that gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. 24 more quotes from James Russell Lowell
Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government. 7 quotes from Buffalo Bill
I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts. 6 views from Harold MacMillan
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. 13 thoughts from Ansel Adams
It is the duty of Her Majesty's government neither to flap nor to falter. 6 views from Harold MacMillan
Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government. 30 more views from George Washington
Of all tasks of government the most basic is to protect its citizens against violence. 2 wisdom & wit from John Foster Dulles
Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government. 7 quotes from Jeremy Bentham
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one. 31 other sayings from Thomas Paine
The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government. 30 other quotes from George Washington
The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. 30 other quotes from George Washington
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state. 32 more quotes from Michel de Montaigne
When man lives under government, he is fallen, his worth is gone, and his nature tarnished. 2 sayings from Adam Weishaupt