Honest Government Quotes

• The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Art, Honesty, Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1853). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.141

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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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• 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

  Tyrants, Libertarian Party, Democracies Have

  C. S. Lewis (2014). “God in the Dock”, p.324, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

  C. S. Lewis

  Peace, War, Government

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.45, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Weed, Blow, Marijuana

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• It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

  C. S. Lewis

  Libertarian Party, Democracies Have, Government

  C. S. Lewis (2014). “God in the Dock”, p.324, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• An honest government is the childish dream of the gullible men!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Dream, Men, Honest

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• Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Weed, Men, Blow

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• Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Fun, Men, Political

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• Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.

  Russell Kirk

  Kings, Men, Self

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• By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, Army, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.11, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reeactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Wish, Taxation

  Thomas Jefferson (1855). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.195

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• I am committed to making Georgia a model for open and honest government

  Roy Barnes

  Government, Georgia, Honest

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• I want to assure you that working in transition period is an ungrateful job for any honest government.

  Robert Kocharian

  Jobs, Government, Ungrateful

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