Republic Quotes - Page 2

• Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.

  John Marshall

  Differences, Democracies Have, Order

  John Marshall (1836). “The life of George Washington: commander in chief of the American forces, during the war which established the independence of his country, and first president of the United States”, p.447

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• When free discussion is denied, hardening of the arteries of democracy has set in, free institutions are but a lifeless form, and the death of the republic is at hand.

  William Randolph Hearst

  Democracies Have, Hands, Democracy

  "In the News", June 13, 1941.

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• The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Military, Citizens, Weight

  Speech, New York, N.Y., 11 Nov. 1902

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• I feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile.

  B. R. Ambedkar

  Country, Strong, Men

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• REPUBLIC, n. A nation in which, the thing governing and the thing governed being the same, there is only a permitted authority to enforce an optional obedience.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Obedience, Authority, Nations

  Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (2000). “The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires”, p.218, Univ. of Tennessee Press

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• It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers; but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.

  James Madison

  Republican Government, Tyranny Of The Majority, Injustice

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.241

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• The Republican form of government is the highest form of government: but because of this it requires the highest type of human nature, a type nowhere at present existing.

  Herbert Spencer

  Nature, Thinking, Government

  'Essays' (1891) vol. 3 'The Americans'

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• The state is nothing but an instrument of opression of one class by another - no less so in a democratic republic than in a monarchy.

  Friedrich Engels

  Class, States, Instruments

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• The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic.

  Joseph Story

  Gun, Liberty, Second Amendment

  Joseph Story (1833). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.708

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• The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter,to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens and greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended.

  James Madison

  Country, Differences, Numbers

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government”, p.58, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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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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• It is our sacred duty to transmit unimpaired to our posterity the blessings of liberty which were bequeathed to us by the founders of the Republic.

  Andrew Johnson

  Blessing, Liberty, Sacred

  Andrew Johnson (1967). “The Papers of Andrew Johnson: September 1868-April 1869”, p.288, Univ. of Tennessee Press

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• A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Simple, Men, Good Man

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.99, Race Point Publishing

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• Freedom isn't free. It shouldn't be a bragging point that 'Oh, I don't get involved in politics,' as if that makes someone cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.

  Bill Maher

  Liars, Government, People

  Bill Maher (2003). “When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism”, New Millenium

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• Republicanism and ignorance are in bitter antagonism.

  Alphonse de Lamartine

  Ignorance, Bitter, Antagonism

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• When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fall, Independence, Heirs

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils - no, nor the human race, as I believe - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.

  Plato

  Kings, Plato, Philosophy

  Plato (2015). “The Republic”, p.206, First Avenue Editions

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• Society is a republic. When an individual tries to lift themselves above others, they are dragged down by the mass, either by ridicule or slander.

  Victor Hugo

  Society, Trying, Individual

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• Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.

  Seneca the Younger

  Country, 4th Of July, Patriotic

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• The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

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• A government of laws, and not of men.

  John Adams

  Men, Law, Presidential

  "Novanglus Papers" no. 7 (1774). Almost certainly derived from James Harrington, but Adams's use of the phrase gave it wide circulation in the United States. He also used "government of laws, and not of men" in the Declaration of Rights drafted for the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. See Cox 1; Gerald Ford 3; James Harrington 1

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• In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Work, India, Genius

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.725, Library of Alexandria

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• A Republic, if you can keep it.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Political, Historical, Politics

  Quoted in American Historical Review, Apr. 1906

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• Citizenship consists in the service of the country.

  Jawaharlal Nehru

  Country, India, Citizenship

  Jawaharlal Nehru (1949). “Speeches”

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• Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.

  Baron de Montesquieu

  Tyrants, Luxury, Poverty

  "The Spirit of the Laws" by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Book VII: Consequences of the Different Principles of the Three Governments with Respect to Sumptuary Laws, Luxury and the Condition of Women, Ch. 4: Of Sumptuary Laws in a Monarchy, 1748.

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