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Quotes about government

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Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Morality
So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, November 12, 1936 “Debate on the Address”, criticizing Stanley Baldwin’s record on rearmament against Hitler.
- Clever Jabs
As there can be no second class citizens before the law of America, so⁠—we believe⁠—there can be no second-class nations before the law of the world community.
Dwight D. Eisenhower1890–1969Address at the Philadelphia Convention Hall (1956)
- Justice
- Laws
The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- War & Peace
All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Morality
- Voting
The State never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
Our country is more important than the politics of the moment. Let the officials elected by the people fulfill their duties and represent our voices in peace and safety.
George W. Bushborn 1946Comments on the storming of US Capitol (2021)
- Democracy
- Politics
I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Farewell Address (1989)
- Freedom
The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The Individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.
Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948Modern Review (October, 1935) p. 412. Interview with Nirmal Kumar Bose (9/10 November 1934)
An unjust law is itself a species of violence.
Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948Non-Violence in Peace & War (1962) Vol. 2, edited by Mahadev Haribhai Desai, p. 144
- Justice
- Laws
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
But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
Religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
James Madison1751–1836Letter to Edward Livingston (10 July 1822)
- Religion
The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.
James Madison1751–1836Federalist No. 48 (1 February 1788)
- Power