Corrupt Government Quotes

• We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.

  Aesop

  Witty, Government, Political Will

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Power, Men, Intellectual

  73 Copy quote

• A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

  Edward Abbey

  Inspirational, Country, Freedom

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.17, RosettaBooks

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• The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Thinking, Social Taboos

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.145, Vintage

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• Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.

  Oscar Ameringer

  Life, Witty, Art

  71 Copy quote

• A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

  Everybody's Political What's What? ch. 30 (1944)

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• Government ought to be all outside and no inside. . . . Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Believe, Mean, Government

  26 Copy quote

• The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.

  Tacitus

  Peace, Freedom, War

  "Annals". Book by Tacitus, Book III, 27,

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• We will vote for the country we want; we will vote for the future we want; we will vote for the politics we want; and we will vote to put this corrupt government cartel out of business and out of business immediately.

  Donald Trump

  Country, Government, Want

  Source: time.com

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• When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Witty, Funny Inspirational, Government

  P J O'Rourke (1992). “Parliament of Whores-Open Mark”, Vintage Books USA

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• 

  Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Trust, Time, Democracies Have

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.235, Cambridge University Press

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• I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the most corrupt government on the earth.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Government, Earth

  7 Copy quote

• Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Inspirational, Funny, Money

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government”, p.24, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Thinking, Social Taboos

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.145, Vintage

  48 Copy quote

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  A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay.

  Amos Bronson Alcott

  Fall, Government, Mind Your Own Business

  53 Copy quote

• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

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• When a nation is over-reliant on one or two commodities like oil or precious minerals, corrupt government ministers and their dodgy associates hoard profits and taxes instead of properly allocating them to schools and hospitals.

  Bono

  School, Two, Oil

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  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  Lord Acton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Work

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

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• I think the American government is now the most corrupt government in the world.

  Ginger Baker

  Thinking, Government, World

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• It really is my opinion that media in general are so bad that we have to question whether the world wouldn't be better off without them altogether. They are so distortive to how the world actually is that the result is.. we see wars, and we see corrupt governments continue on.

  Julian Assange

  War, Lying, Government

  "WikiLeaks revelations only tip of iceberg - Assange". Interview with Laura Emmett, www.rt.com. May 2, 2011.

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• We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.

  Louis Thomas McFadden

  Country, Government, Practice

  "100 Years Is Enough: Time to Make the Fed a Public Utility" by Ellen Brown, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 23, 2013.

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• No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Music, Religious, Government

  13 Copy quote

• Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.

  Lord Acton

  Exercise, Men, Influence And Power

  "Historical Essays and Studies". Book by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, oll.libertyfund.org. 1907.

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• Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.

  Wendell Phillips

  Government, Tyrants, People

  Wendell Phillips (1864). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters”, p.421

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• The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson...

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Freedom, Real, World Government

  "F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928-1945" edited by Elliott Roosevelt, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, (p. 373), 1950.

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