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Quotes about government

575 quotes from 235 people

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All government — indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act — is founded on compromise and barter.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Speech to the Electors of Bristol (3 November 1774); reported in The Works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke (1899), vol. 2, p. 95
- Democracy
- Politics
People must be governed in a manner agreeable to their temper and disposition; and men of free character and spirit must be ruled with, at least, some condescension to this spirit and this character.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation (1769), page 76.
A functioning police state needs no police.
William S. Burroughs1914–1997Naked Lunch (1959), “Benway”, p. 31
- Power
There is simply no room left for ‘freedom from the tyranny of government’ since city dwellers depend on it for food, power, water, transportation, protection, and welfare.
William S. Burroughs1914–1997Cities of the Red Night (1981)
- Freedom
You don’t get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier.
George W. Bushborn 1946Responding to the difficulties of governing Texas, “The Taming of Texas,” Governing Magazine (July 1998)
This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic.
George W. Bushborn 1946Comments on the storming of US Capitol (2021)
- Democracy
- Voting
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
Compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government.
George W. Bushborn 1946George W. Bush’s First Inaugural Address (2001)
- Charity
The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.
John C. Calhoun1782–1850Speech (13 February 1835)
There 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).
- Politics
Vote early and vote often.
Al Capone1899–1947
- Voting
I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin1937–2008
He who first shortened the labor of copyists by device of movable types was disbanding hired armies, and cashiering most kings and senates, and creating a whole new democratic world: he had invented the art of printing.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Sartor Resartus (1833–1834), Bk. I, ch. 5.
- Democracy
- Technology
“Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Chapter XIIIn context
- Comedy
- Laws