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Quotes about government

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Let us not commit ourselves to the absurd and senseless dogma that the color of the skin shall be the basis of suffrage, the talisman of liberty.
James A. Garfield1831–1881Oration at Ravenna, Ohio (1865)
- Race
- Voting
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
The Executive, except for recommendation and veto, has no legislative power.
Robert H. Jackson1892–1954Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) (concurring), at 654-655.
- Presidency
Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
- Liberty
The judge is condemned when the guilty is absolved.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCSentences, Maxim 407
- Justice
- Laws
Democracy, in a word, is meant to be an aristocracy which has broadened into a universal aristocracy.
Leo Strauss1899–1973Liberalism: Ancient and Modern (1968), “What is liberal education,” pp. 4-5
- Democracy
Liberal education is the ladder by which we try to ascend from mass democracy to democracy as originally meant.
Leo Strauss1899–1973Liberalism: Ancient and Modern (1968), “What is liberal education,” pp. 4-5
- Democracy
- Education
The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy.
Edward Abbey1927–1989Abbey’s Road (1979)
- Democracy
- Guns
The Constitution requires an adoption in toto, and for ever.
James Madison1751–1836Letter to Alexander Hamilton (1788)
- America
A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible.
George Orwell1903–1950The Prevention of Literature (1946)
- Power
Treat the negro as a citizen and a voter, as he is and must remain, and soon parties will be divided, not on the color line, but on principle.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Sixth State of the Union Address (1874)
- Race
- Voting
All laws for the purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition.
Robert G. Ingersoll1833–1899Some Mistakes of Moses (1879) Section III, “The Politicians”.
- Anti-Religion
- Laws
Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.
John Adams1735–1826Diary entry (31 July 1796)
- Virtue
Now this is the Law of the Jungle⁠—as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
Rudyard Kipling1865–1936The Second Jungle Book (1895)
- Laws
The really basic thing in government is policy. Bad administration, to be sure, can destroy good policy, but good administration can never save bad policy.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speech to the Los Angeles Town Club, Los Angeles, California (11 September 1952); Speeches of Adlai Stevenson (1952), p. 36