Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about government

575 quotes from 235 people

Most readBy personPage 25 of 39

The proper role of government is exactly what John Stuart Mill said in the middle of the 19th century in On Liberty. The proper role of government is to prevent other people from harming an individual.
Milton Friedman1912–2006America’s Drug Forum interview (1991)
Our government should not be run like a business; it should be run like a family. A business might rightfully put its short-term profits first, but a functional family puts the well-being of its children first.
Marianne Williamsonborn 1952Marianne Williamson: If We Want a Prosperous America Tomorrow, Take Care of Our Children Today, Newsweek (23 July 2020)
- Family
Dissents speak to a future age.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg1933–2020Interview with Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio (2 May 2002)
- Laws
We are over-lawyered and under-represented.
Jimmy Carter1924–2024Remarks at the 100th Anniversary Luncheon of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (4 May 1978)
- Laws
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
Princes are not bound to give an account of their Actions but to God alone.
Charles I of England1600–1649Declaration on the dissolution of Parliament (10 March 1628)
- Power
A healthy republican government must rest upon individuals, not upon classes or sections.
Theodore Roosevelt1858–1919A Square Deal (1903)
In addition to the teaching of truths the Law aims at the removal of injustice from mankind.
Maimonides1138–1204Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.32
- Justice
- Laws
I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization itself.
Gerald Ford1913–2006Our Long National Nightmare Is Over (1974)
- Truth & Lies
If a law commands me to sin I will break it; if it calls me to suffer, I will let it take its course unresistingly.
Angelina Grimké1805–1879“Appeal to the Christian Women of the South” (1836)
- Laws
- Morality
In situations of de facto diversity, attempts to impose a single way of life on an entire population is a formula for dictatorship.
Francis Fukuyamaborn 1952Liberalism and its Discontents (2020)
- Politics
By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
John Maynard Keynes1883–1946The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), Chapter VI, pp. 235-236
- Economics
Suffrage once given can never be taken away, and all that remains for us now is to make good that gift by protecting those who have received it.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Conversation reported in John Russell Young, Around the World with General Grant (1879), p. 362
- Voting
If Selma taught us anything, it’s that our work is never done. The American experiment in self-government gives work and purpose to each generation.
Barack Obamaborn 1961Selma 50th Anniversary Address (2015)
- America
- Democracy
In terms of our liberal democracy and constitutional order, Trump is an extinction-level event. It’s long past time we started treating him as such.
Andrew Sullivanborn 1963“America Has Never Been So Ripe for Tyranny” in New York Magazine (2 May 2016)
- Democracy
- Politics