Government Quotes - Page 19

• What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

  James Madison

  Reflection, Human Nature, Federalist

  1788 The Federalist, Jan.

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• We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

  Ayn Rand

  Gun, Historical, Citizens

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.320, Penguin

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• The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Yield

  Thomas Jefferson (2015). “Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson”, p.5, Lulu.com

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• I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Believe, Men, Politics

  Civil Disobedience (1849) See Ralph Waldo Emerson 29; O'Sullivan 1; Shipley 1

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• Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been

  Winston Churchill

  Wise, Time, Freedom

  Speech in House of Commons, 11 Nov. 1947

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• The less government we have the better.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Liberty

  Essays, Second Series "Politics" (1844)

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• The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

  Benjamin Rush

  Bible, God, Religious

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.8

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• All good government must begin at home.

  Hugh Reginald Haweis

  Home

  Hugh Reginald Haweis (1875). “Speech in Season”, p.191

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• Being nice to governments doesn't work, they are such lying bastards.

  Joy Baluch

  Nice, Lying, Being Nice

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• The safety of the state is the highest law.

  Justinian I

  Law, Safety, States

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• Democracy is direct self-government over all the people, for all the people, by all the people.

  Theodore Parker

  Self, People, Democracy

  Sermon at Music Hall, Boston, Mass., 4 July 1858 See Lincoln 42; Theodore Parker 1; Daniel Webster 5

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• A wise government knows how to enforce with temper, or to conciliate with dignity.

  George Grenville

  Wise, Political, Politics

  Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, George Grenville (1769). “The Speech of a Right Honourable Gentleman, on the Motion for Expelling Mr. Wilkes, Friday, February 3, 1769”, p.41

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• Public instruction should be the first object of government.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Firsts, Instruction, Should

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• The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away. -Ronald Reagan In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

  Saint Augustine

  Justice, Mind, Stealing

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• I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding females.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Mean, Female, Admitting

  Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.144, Jazzybee Verlag

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• I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Admitting, Privilege, Burden

  Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.52, Jazzybee Verlag

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• 

  Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.

  John Quincy Adams

  Patriotic, Reflection, Political Will

  "American Prohibition Year Book, Volumes 10-12" (p. 111), 1910.

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• 

  The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

  Winston Churchill

  Funny, Trust, Witty

  Winston S. Churchill (2013). “Churchill By Himself”, p.1079, RosettaBooks

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• Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

  C. S. Lewis

  Wisdom, Religious, Freedom

  "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment". "God in the Dock". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1970.

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• History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.

  Thomas Jefferson

  History, Historical, Bad Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States”, p.82

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• Power is not alluring to pure minds.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Powerful, Mind

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, correspondence and private papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. by T.J. Randolph”

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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, Political Will

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

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• We must judge of a form of government by it's general tendency, not by happy accidents

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Judging, Judgement, Happy Accidents

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• If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

  Aristotle

  Freedom, Equality, Democracies Have

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.131, Aristotle

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• The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Political, Democracy, Liberty

  "The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Writings from Lao Tzu to". Book by David Boaz, 1997.

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