GOVERNMENT QUOTES VII

quotations about government

For, as far as this life of mortals is concerned, which is spent and ended in a few days, what does it matter under whose government a dying man lives, if they who govern do not force him to impiety and iniquity?

ST. AUGUSTINE

The City of God

Tags: St. Augustine


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

LORD BYRON

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Tags: Lord Byron


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

Tags: David Hume


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

PATRICK CUMING

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


Contempt for government undermines its ability to protect all citizens. Good government should be based on facts. It should invest in maintenance of basic services, whether infrastructure repairs or public health, and be prepared for crises. Above all, it should attract the best and most professional people to public service. Unless we believe that public service is an honorable calling, we will never motivate talented people to join or achieve high performances. But none of this is possible unless those in positions of public trust carry out their jobs honorably, with respect for the institutions and the public they serve.

ROSABETH MOSS KANTER

America the Principled

Tags: Rosabeth Moss Kanter


A wise Government seeks to provide the opportunity through which the best of individual achievement can be obtained, while at the same time it seeks to remove such obstruction, such unfairness as springs from selfish human motives.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Address at San Diego Exposition, Oct. 2, 1935

Tags: Franklin D. Roosevelt


A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel.

FRANK HERBERT

Dune

Tags: Frank Herbert


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

Tags: Benjamin Whichcote


A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.

EDWARD R. MURROW

attributed, People Before Profit


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

Tags: David Hume


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

Tags: Susan B. Anthony


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

Tags: Abigail Adams


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

Tags: Albert Einstein


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

Tags: George Washington


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

Tags: Charles Caleb Colton


When government disappears, it's not as if paradise will take its place. When governments are gone, other interests will take their place.

LAWRENCE LESSIG

keynote address at the "One Planet, One Net" symposium, October 10, 1998

Tags: Lawrence Lessig


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

Tags: Bill Maher


A civil servant doesn't make jokes.

EUGENE IONESCO

The Killer

Tags: Eugene Ionesco


Government has no rights; it is a delegation from several individuals for the purpose of securing their own. It is therefore just, only so far as it exists by their consent, useful only so far as it operates to their well-being.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

"Declaration of Rights"

Tags: Percy Bysshe Shelley


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

Tags: Aristotle