Quotes about government

"Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power vested in it; a liberty to follow my own will in all things, when the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject to the inconstant, unknown, arbitrary will of another man."

Locke, John on government   

"Government has no other end, but the preservation of property."

Locke, John on government   

"Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from the birth as a paternal, or in other words a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read and say and eat and drink and wear."

Macaulay, Thomas B. on government   

"We must judge a government by its general tendencies and not by its happy accidents."

Macaulay, Thomas B. on government   

"What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

Madison, James on government   

"Every country has the government it deserves."

Maistre, Joseph De on government
3 fans of this quote   

"Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens, then everybody disagrees."

Marshalov, Boris on government   

"The whole duty of government is to prevent crime and to preserve contracts."

Melbourne, Lord on government   

"Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent."

Mencken, H. L. on government   

"Not wishing to be disturbed over moral issues of the political economy, Americans cling to the notion that the government is a sort of automatic machine, regulated by the balancing of competing interests."

Mills, C. Wright on government   

"To administer is to govern: to govern is to reign. That is the essence of the problem."

Mirabeau, Comte De on government   

"It is very easy to accuse a government of imperfection, for all mortal things are full of it."

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on government   

"Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought."

Morrow, Dwight Whitney on government   

"The government can destroy wealth but it cannot create wealth, which is the product of labor and management working with creation."

Murray, Bill on government   

"No government is safe unless fortified by goodwill."

Nepos, Cornelius on government   

"For its part, Government will listen. We will strive to listen in new ways -- to the voices of quiet anguish, to voices that speak without words, the voices of the heart, to the injured voices, and the anxious voices, and the voices that have despaired of being heard."

Nixon, Richard M. on government   

"If you join government, calmly make your contribution and move on. Don't go along to get along; do your best and when you have to -- and you will -- leave, and be something else."

Noonan, Peggy on government   

"The government is huge, stupid, greedy and makes nosy, officious and dangerous intrusions into the smallest corners of life -- this much we can stand. But the real problem is that government is boring. We could cure or mitigate the other ills Washington visits on us if we could only bring ourselves to pay attention to Washington itself. But we cannot."

O'Rourke, P. J. on government   

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

O'Rourke, P. J. on government   

"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."

Paine, Thomas on government
4 fans of this quote   

"That state is best ordered when the wicked have no command, and the good have."

Pittacus on government   

"The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men."

Plato on government
3 fans of this quote   

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"It is easy to rule over the good."

Plautus, Titus Maccius on government
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"For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best."

Pope, Alexander on government   

"In the councils of a state, the question is not so much, what ought to be done? As, what can be done?"

Proverb, French on government   

"Office without pay makes thieves."

Proverb, German on government   

"Who so taketh in hand to frame any state or government ought to presuppose that all men are evil, and at occasions will show themselves so to be."

Raleigh, Sir Walter on government
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"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."

Reagan, Ronald on government
6 fans of this quote   

"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

Reagan, Ronald on government
4 fans of this quote   

"Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them."

Reagan, Ronald on government
4 fans of this quote   

"Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse."

Reagan, Ronald on government
3 fans of this quote   

"A government is the only vessel that leaks from the top."

Reston, James on government   

"The ship of state is the only known vessel that leaks from the top."

Reston, James on government   

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."

Rogers, Will on government   

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for."

Rogers, Will on government
5 fans of this quote   

"It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose."

Roosevelt, Franklin D. on government
3 fans of this quote   

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

Roosevelt, Theodore on government   

"There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a democrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the money touch, but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers."

Roosevelt, Theodore on government   

"I don't judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of the partisan."

Rostand, Jean on government   

"The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries itself the causes of its destruction."

Rousseau, Jean Jacques on government