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Quotes about government

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Freedom of Nature is, to be under no other restraint but the Law of Nature.
John Locke1632–1704Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690), Ch. IV, sec. 22
- Freedom
- Laws
I grew up here in Washington, D.C., back during the quaint, old-fashioned “Rule of Law” period.
Julia Louis-Dreyfusborn 1961Mark Twain Prize Acceptance Speech (2018)
- Clever Jabs
- Laws
Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march.
Douglas MacArthur1880–1964Victory broadcast (1945)
- Democracy
- Freedom
Government consists in nothing else but so controlling subjects that they shall neither be able to, nor have cause to do it harm.
Niccolò Machiavelli1469–1527
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 Machiavelli1469–1527The Prince (1532), Chapter XIIIn context
- Laws
- Power
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 51 (1788)In contextOften credited to Alexander Hamilton
A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.
James Madison1751–1836Letter to W.T. Barry (4 August 1822), in The Writings of James Madison (1910) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 9, p. 103
- Knowledge
Justice is the end of Government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
- Justice
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
James Madison1751–1836Speech in the Virginia Constitutional Convention, 2 December 1829, The Writings of James Madison: 1819-1836 (1910), ed. Galliard Hunt, p. 361
- Power
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 62
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
The Constitution requires an adoption in toto, and for ever.
James Madison1751–1836Letter to Alexander Hamilton (1788)
- America
The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, & most prone to it.
James Madison1751–1836Letter to Thomas Jefferson (2 April 1798); published in The Writings of James Madison (1906) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 6, pp. 312-14
- Presidency
- War & Peace
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.
James Madison1751–1836Letter to Thomas Jefferson (17 October 1788), in The Writings of James Madison, Vol. 5 (1904)
- Power