Quotes
Quotes about Government
All government--indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act--is founded on compromise and barter.
And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.
Nothing's more dull and negligent Than an old, lazy government, That knows no interest of state, But such as serves a present strait.
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.
A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom.
A government is not an old pair of socks that you throw away.
A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.
Truth is the glue that holds government together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go.
A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.
Which government is best? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labour of the industrious.
Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy, for democracy is the most expensive and nefarious kind of government ever heard of on earth.
The worst government is the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.
Governments exist to protect the rights of minorities. The loved and the rich need no protection: they have many friends and few enemies.
A wise government knows how to enforce with temper, or to conciliate with dignity, but a weak one is odious in the former, and contemptible in the latter.
The true art of government consists in not governing too much.
Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it.
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
Many people say that government is necessary because some men cannot be trusted to look after themselves, but anarchists say that government is harmful because no men can be trusted to look after anyone else.
If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National.
The point to remember is that what the Government gives it must first take away.
He mocks the people who proposes that the government shall protect the rich that they in turn may care for the laboring poor.
