GOVERNMENT QUOTES III

quotations about government

Government quote

I see nothing quite conclusive in the art of temporal government,
But violence, duplicity and frequent malversation.
King rules or barons rule:
The strong man strongly and the weak man by caprice.
They have but one law, to seize the power and keep it.

T. S. ELIOT

Murder in the Cathedral

Tags: T. S. Eliot


One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

CARL SAGAN

The Demon-Haunted World

Tags: Carl Sagan


Do you know what happens with people who cannot govern themselves? That's right. Others come in to govern for them.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

Blood Meridian

Tags: Cormac McCarthy


The Government is a servant and never should be anything but a servant. The moment the people become adjuncts to government, then the law of retribution begins to work, for such a relation is unnatural, immoral, and inhuman.

HENRY FORD

introduction, My Life and Work

Tags: Henry Ford


In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

JAMES MADISON

Federalist No. 51, Feb. 6, 1788

Tags: James Madison


All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.

FRANK HERBERT

Chapterhouse: Dune

Tags: Frank Herbert


The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

RONALD REAGAN

remarks to Future Farmers of America, Jul. 28, 1988

Tags: Ronald Reagan


Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.

LAURENCE J. PETER

The Peter Principle


The State is composite: part ass, part vulture, but principally milch-cow.

ABRAHAM MILLER

Unmoral Maxims

Tags: Abraham Miller


The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

speech at Asheville, Sep. 9, 1902

Tags: Theodore Roosevelt


To leave a people to themselves, is generally the best service their rulers can render.

WILLIAM E. CHANNING

Thoughts

Tags: William E. Channing


While all other Sciences have advanced, that of Government is at a stand; little better understood; little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.

JOHN ADAMS

letter to Thomas Jefferson, Jul. 9, 1813

Tags: John Adams


No people are so easy to govern as the intelligent, and none are so hard to govern as the ignorant.

HENRY WARD BEECHER

Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit

Tags: Henry Ward Beecher


Most people want nothing to happen. That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking of what things they can do next. That is not what people want. People want to be left alone to look after their cattle.

ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Tags: Alexander McCall Smith


Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter, Oct. 31, 1786

Tags: George Washington


We ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form. Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all Divines and moral Philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow, that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest number of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best.

JOHN ADAMS

Thoughts on Government

Tags: John Adams


Many have been thought capable of governing, until they have been called to govern.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon

Tags: Charles Caleb Colton


For just experience tells, in every soil,
That those who think must govern those that toil.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH

The Traveller

Tags: Oliver Goldsmith


But who will guard the guardians themselves?

JUVENAL

Satire VI

Tags: Juvenal


The love of dominion, is so strong in the breast of man, that many not only submit to, but court all the dangers, and fatigues, and cares of government.

DAVID HUME

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

Tags: David Hume