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Quotes about government

575 quotes from 235 people

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Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
- Democracy
Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations⁠—entangling alliances with none.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address (1801)
- Politics
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel or envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech at the Scottish Unionist Conference, Perth, Scotland (28 May 1948)
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to William Charles Jarvis (28 September 1820)
Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions.
Daniel Webster1782–1852
- America
Vote early and vote often.
Al Capone1899–1947
- Voting
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
?UnattributedOften credited to George Washington
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Thomas Cooper (29 November 1802)
- America
I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin1937–2008
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
- Laws
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine1737–1809Common Sense (January 10, 1776)In context
A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
Robert Frost1874–1963
- Laws
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
Benjamin Franklin1706–1790
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time.
E. B. White1899–1985The New Yorker (3 July 1943); reprinted as “Democracy” in The Wild Flag (1946)
- Democracy
An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.
Confucius551–479 BC