quotations about government
The test of any government is not how popular it is with the powerful, but how honestly and fairly it deals with those who must depend on it.
JIMMY CARTER
Why Not the Best?
Government resembles the wall which surrounds our lands; a needful protection, but rearing no harvests, ripening no fruits. It is the individual who must choose whether the enclosure shall be a paradise or a waste.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING
Thoughts
All the gang of those who rule us
Hope our quarrels never stop
Helping them to split and fool us
So they can remain on top.
BERTOLT BRECHT
"Solidarity Song"
For government; let it be in the hands of one, assisted with some counsel; and let them have commission to exercise martial laws, with some limitation. And above all, let men make that profit, of being in the wilderness, as they have God always, and his service, before their eyes.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Plantations", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
The government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflux of the individuals composing it. The government that is ahead of the people will be inevitably dragged down to their level, as the government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up.
SAMUEL SMILES
Self-Help
Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find, that, as Force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is, therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular. The soldan of Egypt, or the emperor of Rome, might drive his harmless subjects, like brute beasts, against their sentiments and inclination. But he must, at least, have led his mamalukes or prætorian bands, like men, by their opinion.
DAVID HUME
"Of the First Principles of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
AYN RAND
Atlas Shrugged
I say, then, that the unhindered will of the wisest and best person would be the ideal government; without danger, for I mean one so wise and good that power would be no temptation to selfishness, no maker of fractiousness or mover of wrath or enticer to wealth, but a heavy weight of responsibility. The will of such a magistrate would be the best government, for even if he were not so wise as the combined wisdom of all the wise and good of the nation, perforce he would be better far, both in purposes and in understanding, than the level of all the good and all the bad together in a multitude.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
"Of Government", Essays
Government commences more casually and more imperfectly. It is probable, that the first ascendent of one man over multitudes began during a state of war; where the superiority of courage and of genius discovers itself most visibly, where unanimity and concert are most requisite, and where the pernicious effects of disorder are most sensibly felt. The long continuance of that state, an incident common among savage tribes, inured the people to submission; and if the chieftain possessed as much equity as prudence and valour, he became, even during peace, the arbiter of all differences, and could gradually, by a mixture of force and consent, establish his authority. The benefit sensibly felt from his influence, made it be cherished by the people, at least by the peaceable and well disposed among them.
DAVID HUME
"Of the Origin of Government", Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary
Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
To prevent government from becoming corrupt and tyrannous, its organization and methods should be as simple as possible, its functions be restricted to those necessary to the common welfare, and in all its parts it should be kept as close to the people and as directly within their control as may be.
HENRY GEORGE
Social Problems
So long as honest men neglect to vote;
So long as good men leave the cares of state
To weak, incompetent, or careless hands,
Or place them in the grip of scheming knaves,
Our safety is imperiled. Every man
On Freedom's ramparts must a warder be,
To warn of danger when the foe appears;
To meet the onset when the foe assaults.
Else--vain our hopes, and else the temple grand,
Of all our rights, and birth-right liberties,
Ere long will fall, and crumble in the dust,
A ruin, more abject and dire than Rome
Or Carthage was.
ANDREW DOWNING
"A Picture"
Society is older than government. But every persisting society implies the existence of government and laws; for a society without government and laws is at once overturned by its madmen and scoundrels and lapses into barbarism.
WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE
Socialistic
Our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter -- that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.
BARACK OBAMA
speech to joint session of Congress, sep. 9, 2009
As individuals, as families, as neighbors, as members of one community, people of all races and political views are usually decent, kind, compassionate. But in large corporations or governments, when great power accumulates in their hands, some become monsters even with good intentions.
DEAN KOONTZ
Dark Rivers of the Heart
The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly.
SAMUEL SMILES
Self-Help
It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most.
WALTER LIPPMANN
A Preface to Politics
Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will be like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all the host of stars turn towards it.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
In theory, the government of a free people is not one which shall in all circumstances govern, but one that shall effectually govern while it is maintaining right against wrong, and shall begin to fall in pieces as soon as it begins to maintain wrong against right. No country is truly free whose constitution does not furnish the citizen with protection against the wrong-doing of other citizens, and also guarantee him against the wrong-doing of the government itself. No oppressor is so intolerable as an oppressive government; for the private oppressor acts with his own force only, while the governmental oppressor acts with the irresistible force of the whole people.
WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE
Socialistic
In some respects government is like a game; before the players can even take the field to compete, they need to agree on a set of rules that decide how the game is to be played. Constitutions are the rules of the political game - who can vote, who can stand for office, what powers they are to have, the rights and duties of citizens and so on. Without these basic rules politics would degenerate into arbitrariness, brute force, or anarchy.
KENNETH NEWTON & JAN W. VAN DETH
Foundations of Comparative Politics