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Government quotes

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“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

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

“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

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

“The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom

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

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

“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

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

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

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.” Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia

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

“In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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

“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

“The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum for determining the 'rules of the game' and as an umpire to interpret and enforce the rules decided on.” Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

“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

“peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History

“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

“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

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

“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

“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

“It is the purpose of government to see that not only the legitimate interests of the few are protected, but that the welfare and rights of the many are conserved.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward

“The fact is that the Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.” Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

“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

“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

“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

“Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us?” Thomas Paine, Common Sense

“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

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

“That government is best which governs least” Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

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

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

“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

“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

“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

“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

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

“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

“The need for government in these respects arises because absolute freedom is impossible. However attractive anarchy may be as a philosophy, it is not feasible in a world of imperfect men.” Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

“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

“religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an absolute government.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

“Good government should maintain the balance where every individual may have a place if he will take it, where every individual may find safety if he wishes it, where every individual may attain such power as his ability permits, consistent with...” Franklin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward

“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

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

“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

“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

“The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of...” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

“But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will.” George W. Bush, State of the Union Address

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Related topics

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

Related authors

Thomas Paine (7)
Henry David Thoreau (6)
Aristotle (5)
Thomas Jefferson (5)
Milton Friedman (5)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (4)
Ronald Reagan (4)
Adam Smith (3)
Woodrow Wilson (3)
Lao Tzu (3)
Albert Einstein (2)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (2)
Theodore Roosevelt (2)
Alexis de Tocqueville (2)
George W. Bush (2)
George Orwell (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Ambrose Bierce (1)
Confucius (1)
Malcolm X (1)

Related sources

Common Sense (7)
Civil Disobedience (6)
Capitalism and Freedom (5)
Politics (5)
The Social Contract (4)
Notes on the State of Virginia (4)
Inaugural Address (4)
The Wealth of Nations (3)
Tao Te Ching (3)
State of the Union Address (3)
The New Freedom (3)
Democracy in America (2)
The world as I see it (2)
Looking Forward (2)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (2)
The Devil's Dictionary (1)
Following the Equator (1)
Analects (1)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1)