Self-government Quotes

• India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.

  Will Durant

  Mother, Philosophy, Race

  "The Case for India". Book by Will Durant, 1931.

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• Good government is no substitute for self-government.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Government, Self, Citizenship

  Mahatma Gandhi (2014). “Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation”, p.74, The Floating Press

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• Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will; collections of men by that of their majority; for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Exercise, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private : Published by the Order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original Manuscripts, Deposited in the Department of State”, p.496

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• Local self-government…is the life-blood of liberty.

  John Lothrop Motley

  Government, Self, Blood

  "The Rise of the Dutch Republic" by John Lothrop Motley, New York: Harper, vol. 3, part 6, ch. 1, (p. 416), 1861.

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• No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty could be divorced from local self-government. No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Government, Self, Liberty

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• I think it's time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers... Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them for ourselves.

  Ronald Reagan

  Father, Believe, Thinking

  Ronald Reagan (2004). “Speaking My Mind: Selected Speeches”, p.26, Simon and Schuster

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• Self-government means self support.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Mean, Government, Self

  Calvin Coolidge (2001). “The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century”, Images from the Past Incorporated

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• I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Liberty, May

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.165, Cambridge University Press

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• The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Self, Doe

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.499

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• Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Trust, Kings, Angel

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

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• May it be to the world... to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Blessing, Government

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin. Reports and opinions while Secretary of State”, p.450

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• Self-denial is the test and definition of self-government.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Self, Government, Culture

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• the qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. they are the result of habit and long training.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Educational, Government, Self

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.341

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• Ignorance and bigotry, like other insanities, are incapable of self-government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Ignorance, Government, Self

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”

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• All power is inherent in the people.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers”, p.404

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• Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

  Thomas Jefferson

  People, Authority, Responsible

  Thomas Jefferson, H. A. Washington (2011). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private”, p.32, Cambridge University Press

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• That future depends on the values of self-government, our sense of duty, loyalty, self-confidence and regard for the common good. We are a diverse country, and getting more diverse. And these virtues are what keep this great country together.

  Jeff Miller

  Loyalty, Country, Self Confidence

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  The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.458, Penguin

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• I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government Debt, People, Revolution

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.26, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• The rights of the people to the exercise and fruits of their own industry can never be protected against the selfishness of rulers not subject to their control at short periods.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Rights, People

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.218, Cambridge University Press

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• I deem no government safe which is under the vassalage of any self-constituted authorities, or any other authority than that of the nation, or its regular functionaries.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Self, Safe

  B. L. Rayner, Thomas Jefferson (1834). “Life of Thomas Jefferson: with selections from the most valuable portions of his voluminious and unrivalled private correspondence : with portrait”, p.385

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• Self Government won't work without self discipline.

  Paul Harvey

  Government, Self, Discipline

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• Near eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for SOME men to enslave OTHERS is a "sacred right of self-government." These principles can not stand together. They are as opposite as God and mammon; and whoever holds to the one, must despise the other.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Running, Religious, Men

  Abraham Lincoln (2009). “The Portable Abraham Lincoln”, p.72, Penguin

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• Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

  Walter E. Williams

  Men, Independence, Unalienable Rights

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• All great enterprises have a pearl of faith at their core, and this must be ours: that Americans are still a people born to liberty.

  Mitch Daniels

  People, Liberty, Pearls

  Keynote Speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee, delivered 11 February 2011, Ronald Reagan Centennial Dinner, Washington, D.C.

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