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state quotes

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“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
“It runs as follows: The State is made for man, not man for the State.” Albert Einstein, The world as I see it
“The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
“A state half slave and half free cannot exist.” Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
“It is our belief that the state is the servant of the citizen and not his master.” John F. Kennedy, State of the Union Address
“Every tax ought to be so contrived, as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the state.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
“The economy is in a depression, and the United States has become a fascist state where the government uses TV and giant screens in the neighborhoods to distract people from the fact that nobody has a job.” Arnold Schwarzenegger, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story
“A State for one man is no State at all.” Sophocles, Antigone
“The excess of liberty, whether in States or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.” Plato, The Republic
“There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.” Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
“The art of war is of vital importance to the State.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“AMNESTY, n. The state's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
“The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.” Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays
“As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State 'What does it matter to me?' the State may be given up for lost.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
“the States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters.” Plato, The Republic
“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
“if the earlier forms of society are natural, so is the state, for it is the end of them, and the nature of a thing is its end.” Aristotle, Politics
“We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of law; limits on the power of the state; respect for women; private property; free speech; equal justice;...” George W. Bush, State of the Union Address
“We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.” Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years
“The State in particular is turned into a quasi-animate personality from whom everything is expected. In reality it is only a camouflage for those individuals who know how to manipulate it.” Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self
“A State, I said, arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of mankind; no one is self-sufficing, but all of us have many wants.” Plato, The Republic
“The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the State but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.” Albert Einstein, The world as I see it
“What is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
“Fundamentally, there are only two ways of co-ordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion—the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary...” Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
“If the Sovereign desires to govern, or the magistrate to give laws, or if the subjects refuse to obey, disorder takes the place of regularity, force and will no longer act together, and the State is dissolved and falls into despotism or anarchy.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
“The word finance is a slavish word, unknown in the city-state.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
“In every ordered State, wealth is a sacred thing: in democracies it is the only sacred thing.” Anatole France, Penguin Island

Related topics

government freedom democracy property constitution tyranny slavery individualism cooperation welfare liberty men power nature war man equality wealth people law

Related authors

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (3)
Plato (3)
Aristotle (2)
Adam Smith (2)
Albert Einstein (2)
Henry David Thoreau (1)
Sun Tzu (1)
John F. Kennedy (1)
Carl Jung (1)
Ambrose Bierce (1)
Anatole France (1)
Emma Goldman (1)
Margaret Thatcher (1)
Milton Friedman (1)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1)
Barack Obama (1)
Ulysses S. Grant (1)
George W. Bush (1)
Sophocles (1)
Niccolò Machiavelli (1)

Related sources

The Social Contract (3)
The Republic (3)
State of the Union Address (2)
The world as I see it (2)
Politics (2)
The Wealth of Nations (2)
The Art of War (1)
Civil Disobedience (1)
The Prince (1)
Anarchism and Other Essays (1)
Inaugural Address (1)
Antigone (1)
Capitalism and Freedom (1)
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1)
The Downing Street Years (1)
The Undiscovered Self (1)
The Devil's Dictionary (1)
Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story (1)
Penguin Island (1)