Quotes about government
575 quotes from 235 people
I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject.
Lawyer — One who protects us against robbers by taking away the temptation.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)The only distinction that democracies reward is a high degree of conformity.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914Epigrams, p. 358The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.
Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881Lothair (1870), Ch. 17.To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.
Edmund Burke1729–1797First Speech on the Conciliation with America (1774)Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804Remarks at the New York ratifying convention (1788), in Elliot’s Debates, vol. 2, p. 348The more the state “plans” the more difficult planning becomes for the individual.
Friedrich Hayek1899–1992The Road to Serfdom (1944), Chapter 6: Planning and the Rule of LawCertain other societies may respect the rule of force — we respect the rule of law.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Address at Vanderbilt UniversityMen of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law.
John Milton1608–1674Tetrachordon (1644–1645)The aim of the law is not to punish sins, but is to prevent certain external results.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 170 Mass. 18, 20 (1897) (opinion of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts).There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.
Calvin Coolidge1872–1933Telegram to AFL president Samuel Gompers (14 September 1919); concerning the 1919 Boston Police strike.The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Edward Carrington, Paris (27 May 1788)Individuals may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881Speech in the Guildhall, London (9 November 1866), quoted in The Times (10 November 1866), p. 9The freeman casting with unpurchased hand
The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.1809–1894“Poetry, a Metrical Essay”, Poems (1836)Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
Mark Twain1835–1910Mark Twain’s Notebook (1935), p. 381
