Quotes about government
575 quotes from 235 people
Woodrow Wilson1856–1924Woodrow Wilson: “7th Annual Message”, December 2, 1919The State has its root in time, and will ripe and rot in time.
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906Letter to Georg Brandes (17 February 1871), as translated in Henrik Ibsen: Björnstjerne Björnson. Critical Studies (1899) by Georg Morris Cohen BrandesOfficeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.
Grover Cleveland1837–1908Message to the heads of departments in the service of the US Government (14 July 1886).State interference is an evil, where it cannot be shown to be a good.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935The Common Law (1881), pp. 88-96Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.
William Ewart Gladstone1809–1898Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 115.“Free competition enforced by law” is a grotesque contradiction in terms.
Ayn Rand1905–1982“Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” The Objectivist Newsletter (February 1962) p. 1There is such a thing as society. It’s just not the same thing as the state.
David Cameronborn 1966Speech after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest (6 December 2005).The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth.
Bill Clintonborn 1946Remarks at the Dedication of the Thomas J. Dodd Archives and Research Center in Storrs, Connecticut, October 15, 1995The root of a nation’s misfortunes has to be sought in the moral failings of the government.
Aung San Suu Kyiborn 1945In Quest of Democracy (1991)A decrease in the quantity of legislation generally means an increase in the quality of life.
George Willborn 1941Column, December 23, 2007, “The Gift Of Doing Very Little” at washingtonpost.com.In university they don’t tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.
Doris Lessing1919–2013Martha Quest (1952), Part III, ch. 2An open society is always in danger. It must constantly reaffirm its principles in order to survive.
George Sorosborn 1930Speech at the National Press Club (2004)There’s reason good, that you good laws should make:
Men’s manners ne’er were viler, for your sake.
Ben Jonson1572–1637Epigrams (1616), XXIV: To the Parliament
Muhammad Ali Jinnah1876–1948Address to the Constituent Assembly (1947)
Milton Friedman1912–2006Interview with Richard Heffner on The Open Mind (7 December 1975)