American Government Quotes

• Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties... They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty... that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Mean, Men, Political

  Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 375, 1927.

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• American government was founded on a belief and a faith in God and in doing what is right and just.

  Ginny Brown-Waite

  Faith, Government, Belief

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• Social Security is one of the greatest achievements of the American government, protecting our elderly against poverty and assuring young people of a more secure future.

  Mark Foley

  Government, Elderly, People

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• The links between the American government and the Iraqi government are so close that you cannot judge one without asking at least the other what he has done by this time.

  Jacques Verges

  Government, Usa, Judging

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• Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts - a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Art, Marine, Army

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.198, Graphic Arts Books

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• I've always admired President Chavez for standing up to imperialism and the meddling of the American government in South America.

  Cindy Sheehan

  Government, America, President

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• The time has come for the American government to recognize the damage that has occurred to our economy, and to take firm action to curtail what I believe is both unfair and illegal foreign competition.

  Norm Dicks

  Believe, Government, Competition

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• This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Country, Freedom, 4th Of July

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1861

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• The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Men, Issues

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• When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Truth, Knowledge

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.216

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• An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.

  Thomas Jefferson

  4th Of July, Government, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• 

  Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

  Herbert Hoover

  Children, Blessed, Government

  Herbert Hoover (1938). “Addresses upon the American road”

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• We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

  John Adams

  Religious, Revenge, Passion

  John Adams (1854). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.229

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• I would support a Presidential candidate who pledged to take the following steps: ... At the end of the war in the Persian Gulf, press for a comprehensive Middle East settlement and for a 'new world order' based not on Pax Americana but on peace through law with a stronger U.N. and World Court.

  George McGovern

  War, Order, Law

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• This American government - what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Integrity, Men, Vitality

  Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience: Top American Literary”, p.206, 谷月社

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• This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Country, People, Constitution Of The United States

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1861

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• The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Government, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Inaugural addresses and messages. Replies to public addresses. Indian addresses. Miscellaneous: 1. Notes on Virginia; 2. Biographical sketches of distinguished men; 3. The batture of New Orleans”, p.400

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• In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

  James Madison

  Power, Men, Liberty

  The Federalist no. 51 (1788)

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• Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

  Ronald Reagan

  Freedom, Military, Moving

  Remarks to state chairs of National White House Conference on Small Business, 15 Aug. 1986

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• A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which 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, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.65, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people... it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

  John Quincy Adams

  Religious, Business, 4th Of July

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• There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

  John Adams

  Inspirational, Trust, Freedom

  'Notes for an Oration at Braintree' (Spring 1772)

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• I have sworn upon the altar of god.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Government, Faith Religion

  Letter to Benjamin Rush, 23 Sept. 1800

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• Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.

  Thomas Jefferson

  4th Of July, Government, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (1853). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.82

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• The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.

  Thomas Jefferson

  4th Of July, Government, Liberty

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