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Government quotes

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“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“It runs as follows: The State is made for man, not man for the State.” Albert Einstein, “The world as I see it” - 1949

“Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons, and no government can stand which is not founded upon justice.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1835

“It is solely on the basis of this common interest that every society should be governed.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.” Thomas Jefferson, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America” - 1774

“Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“There is no art which one government sooner learns of another, than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.” Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” - 1776

“But we must remember that good laws, if they are not obeyed, do not constitute good government.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“Were there a people of gods, their government would be democratic. So perfect a government is not for men.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“For governing a country well there is nothing better than moderation.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” - 1776

“The Government is unresponsive to the needs of the little man. Under five-seven, it is impossible to get your Congressman on the phone.” Woody Allen, “Side Effects” - 1980

“The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power.” Milton Friedman, “Capitalism and Freedom” - 1962

“The trouble with the theory is that government is not a machine, but a living thing.” Woodrow Wilson, “The New Freedom” - 1913

“A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.” John Dewey, “Democracy and Education” - 1916

“there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” Mark Twain, “Following the Equator” - 1897

“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition laws. For 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” - 1949

“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is, in reality, instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.” Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” - 1776

“The position now taken by the Government is absolutely destructive of legitimate business, because they outline no rule of conduct for business of any magnitude.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913

“One of the principles whose application was the source of much hostility was this: It is better for the Government to help a poor man to make a living for his family than to help a rich man make more profit for his company.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913

“Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forc'd by...” Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” - 1791

“For if liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state, especially of the highest of all. The government is everywhere sovereign in the state, and the constitution is in fact the government.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“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, “Analects”

“The only true world solution today is governments guided by true religion—of the spirit.” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“It is preposterous to suppose that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules of government for all who are to come after them, and under unforeseen contingencies.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“The whole difference is that, in the family, the love of the father for his children repays him for the care he takes of them, while, in the State, the pleasure of commanding takes the place of the love which the chief cannot have for the peoples...” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“In a word, it is the best and most natural arrangement that the wisest should govern the many, when it is assured that they will govern for its profit, and not for their own.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1981

“All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.” Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1981

“We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around.” Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1981

“My friends, some years ago, the Federal Government declared war on poverty, and poverty won.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 25 January 1988

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” - 1776

“I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when disordered; and with this maxim in view,...” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” - 1776

“Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows, that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” - 1776

“For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government.” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” - 1776

“No theory of government was ever given a fairer test or a more prolonged experiment in a democratic country than democratic socialism received in Britain. Yet it was a miserable failure in every respect.” Margaret Thatcher, “The Downing Street Years” - 1993

Related topics

democracy freedom people justice religion state constitution wisdom leadership power equality law politics action interest obedience liberty property welfare monarchy

Related authors

Henry David Thoreau (5)
Aristotle (5)
Thomas Jefferson (5)
Thomas Paine (5)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (4)
Ronald Reagan (4)
Milton Friedman (4)
Lao Tzu (3)
Woodrow Wilson (3)
Albert Einstein (2)
Adam Smith (2)
Theodore Roosevelt (2)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (2)
George W. Bush (2)
Mark Twain (1)
George Orwell (1)
Benjamin Franklin (1)
Malcolm X (1)
Confucius (1)
Ulysses S. Grant (1)

Related sources

Civil Disobedience (5)
Politics (5)
Common Sense (5)
The Social Contract (4)
Inaugural Address (4)
Notes on the State of Virginia (4)
Capitalism and Freedom (4)
State of the Union Address (3)
Tao Te Ching (3)
The New Freedom (3)
The world as I see it (2)
The Wealth of Nations (2)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (2)
Looking Forward (2)
1984 (1)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1)
Analects (1)
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1)
Democracy in America (1)