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Quotes about government

575 quotes from 235 people

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A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
Fred Allen1894–1956
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956
The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
Patrick Henry1736–1799Speech on the Federal Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention (Monday, 9 June 1788), as contained in The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: Volume 3, ed. Jonathan Elliot, published by the editor
There is no force so democratic as the force of an ideal.
Calvin Coolidge1872–1933
- Democracy
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956Minority Report: H.L. Mencken’s Notebooks (1956)
- Voting
The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
Calvin Coolidge1872–1933
History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826
If we have Senators and Congressmen there that can’t protect themselves against the evil temptations of lobbyists, we don’t need to change our lobbies, we need to change our representatives.
Will Rogers1879–1935
When the president does it that means that it is not illegal.
Richard Nixon1913–1994Interview with David Frost (May 19, 1977); printed in The New York Times (May 20, 1977), p. A16
- Laws
- Presidency
The new rage is to say that the government is the cause of all our problems, and if only we had no government, we’d have no problems. I can tell you, that contradicts evidence, history, and common sense.
Bill Clintonborn 1946
It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.
Tom Stoppard1937–2025Jumpers (1972), Act I
- Democracy
Egalitarians create the most dangerous inequality of all⁠—inequality of power. Allowing politicians to determine what all other human beings will be allowed to earn is one of the most reckless gambles imaginable. Like the income tax, it may start off being applied only to the rich but it will inevitably reach us all.
Thomas Sowellborn 1930
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
It’s going to be the ballot or the bullet.
Malcolm X1925–1965“The Ballot or the Bullet” speech (1964)
- Guns
- Voting