Government Quotes
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government is to live under the government of worse men.Plato, The Republic
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.Alexander Tyle
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.Benjamin Franklin
He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.Confucius, The Confucian Analects
Government, is the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.MacKenzie King
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.John Adams
On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.Will Rogers
No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.Edward Abbey
The point to remember is what the government gives it must first take away.John S. Coleman
An elephant is a mouse, built to government specifications.John Herro
In rivers and bad governments, the lightest things swim at the top.Benjamin Franklin
The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust our own government statements. I had no idea until then that you could not rely on them.William Fullbright
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.Sir Winston Churchill
The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor.Hubert H. Humphrey
People in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than governments.Dwight D Eisenhowe
Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.Aristotle
Ed, we just witnessed a peaceful transition in government. Do you realize how miraculous that is... Today, tiny Cicely, Alaska, stood up and put another W in the win category for democracy.Jeff Melvoin
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered... deeply, ... finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.George Washington, First Inaugural Address, Apr. 30, 1789
A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy.Benjamin Disraeli, Speech in the House of Commons, Mar. 3, 1845
I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government but civilization itself.Gerald R. Ford, Inaugural Address, 9 August 1974
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.Thomas Jefferson
Judge of thine improvement, not by what thou speakest or writest, but by the firmness of thy mind, and the government of thy passions and affections.Thomas Fulle
In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.Ambrose Bierce
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.George Bernard Shaw
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.Alexander Hamilton
Government expands to absorb revenue - And then some.Tom Wicke
A compassionate government keeps faith with the trust of the people and cherishes the future of their children.Lyndon B. Johnson
Under the doctrine of separation of powers, the manner in which the president personally exercises his assigned executive powers is not subject to questioning by another branch of government.Richard Milhous Nixon
When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.Herbert Clark Hoove
I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.Dwight D. Eisenhowe
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.Gerald R. Ford
The Interstate Commerce commission, as its functions have now been limited by the courts is, or can be made, of great use to the railroads. It satisfies the public clamor for a government supervision of railroads, at the same time that that supervision is almost entirely nominal.Richard Olney, a lawyer for the Boston & Maine and Attorney General under Grover Cleveland, advising a railroad president
Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.Clement Atlee
What government is the best That which teaches us to govern ourselves.Johann von Goethe
The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government.George Washington
The art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of the citizens to give to the other.Voltaire
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.Thomas Jefferson
