GOVERNMENT QUOTES VII

quotations about government

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.

JAMES A. GARFIELD

letter to B. A. Hinsdale, April 21, 1880


When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of.

CONFUCIUS

The Wisdom of Confucius

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A thousand years scarce serve to form a state;
An hour may lay it in the dust.

LORD BYRON

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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The Government of Man should be the Monarchy of Reason; it is too often a Democracy of Passions, or an Anarchy of Humours.

BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE

Moral and Religious Aphorisms

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A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel.

FRANK HERBERT

Dune

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Good Government is like a fruitful Season in a temperate Soil.

PATRICK CUMING

sermon preached in the Old Church of Edinburgh, December 18, 1745


Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government, we have no future. We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.

JIMMY CARTER

Inaugural Address, January 20, 1977

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Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

The World As I See It

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Let the people think they govern, and they will be govern'd.

WILLIAM PENN

Some Fruits of Solitude

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In all governments, there must of necessity be both the law and the sword; laws without arms would give us not liberty, but licentiousness; and arms without laws would produce not subjection, but slavery. The law, therefore, should be unto the sword, what the handle is to the hatchet; it should direct the stroke and temper the force.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon

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We assert the province of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unalienable rights. We throw to the winds the old dogma that governments can give rights.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

during her trial for voting in the presidential election of Nov. 1872

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In all governments, there is a perpetual intestine struggle, open or secret, between Authority and Liberty, and neither of them can ever absolutely prevail in the contest.

DAVID HUME

"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

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A great sacrifice of liberty must necessarily be made in every government; yet even the authority, which confines liberty, can never, and perhaps ought never, in any constitution, to become quite entire and uncontrollable.

DAVID HUME

"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

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To form a new government requires infinite care and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid, the superstructure must be bad.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter to John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1776

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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.

BILL MAHER

When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden

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Whether government be a good or a bad thing, it is fair that men of equal abilities and virtues should equally share in it; that they should receive the advantage of it as their right, or bear the burden of it as their duty.

ARISTOTLE

Politics

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The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government.

ABIGAIL ADAMS

letter to John Adams, Nov. 27, 1775

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A general government shall do all those things which pertain to it, and all the local governments shall do precisely as they please in respect to those matters which exclusively concern them.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

speech at Columbus, September 16, 1859

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Man, born in a family, is compelled to maintain society from necessity, from natural inclination, and from habit. The same creature, in his further progress, is engaged to establish political society, in order to administer justice, without which there can be no peace among them, nor safety, nor mutual intercourse. We are, therefore, to look upon all the vast apparatus of our government, as having ultimately no other object or purpose but the distribution of justice.

DAVID HUME

"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

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The populace must think their ruler is a greater man than they, else why should they follow him? Above all a leader must be a showman, giving his people the bread and circuses they require.

BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON

Dune: House Atreides

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