Government Quotes

It is often said by reformers that government should be conducted upon business principles.

The Senate is indeed a deliberative body, and that quality serves the nation well. A slow-moving government helps us maintain a stable government. But slow moving is not the same as immobile.

There's an old saying that the government is your partner from birth, but they don't get to come to all the meetings.

If we quickly cast aside our constitutional form of government, then the enemy will not be the terrorists, it will be us.

What was I elected for? ... This is a matter of core principle.

The devotion of democracy to education is a familiar fact. . . . [A] government resting upon popular suffrage cannot be successful unless those who elect . . . their governors are educated.

Government itself at length must fall To nature's state, where all have right to all.

I expect my next job to be outside government.

Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It's the system that functions in the pinches that survive

There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.... I'm the responsible officer of the Government.

No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue.

Self-government requires qualities of self-denial and restraint.

The federal government's most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the incentives and opportunities for private expenditures.

As government grows, its increased power to grant favors or inflict pain attracts more people who would abuse the system.

Almost all government starts at a very local level at some point.

If you want to learn about the whole government and how it operates, the Appropriations Committee is the best place to learn it.

The worst enemy of good government is not our ignorant foreign voter, but our educated domestic railroad president, our prominent business man, our leading lawyer.

Say, oh well, the Republicans don't like this therefor I shouldn't do it. What kind of a government would that be. We're not a parliamentary system.

If it is dangerous to suppose that government is always right, it will sooner or later be awkward for public administration if most people suppose that it is always wrong.

I mean, you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you now?

Local self-government…is the life-blood of liberty.

Separation prevents the government from determining church policy, whether directly or indirectly.

Since separation precludes financial support or special privilege from government, the churches are free to engage in prophetic criticism of the government and to work for social justice.

You're lucky to head a coalition government. I am a coalition government on my own.

Gold is a relic from a time when government's were less trustworthy in these matters (currency debasement) than they are now.

Government machinery has been described as a marvelous labor saving device which enables ten men to do the work of one.

Right now there’s kind of a generational change. Young Americans do not trust this government. Without trusting government you can't do a lot of things.

Excessive administration secrecy... feeds conspiracy theories and reduces the public's confidence in government.

The first thing we have to do is get spending under control in Washington. It's completely out of control. We Republicans came to power to change government, and government changed us.

Each Middle East country has their own unique kinds of challenges; but the fundamentals, the desire for democracy and freely elected governments is a common thread throughout.

We have been lied to and terrorized by our own government, and it is time to take action.

The government cannot put a chocolate on every one of their pillows and tuck them in at night.

Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.

Most libertarians are worried about government but not worried about business. I think we need to be worrying about business in exactly the same way we are worrying about government.

As far as bands doing that in a way where they think they're going to fight the government, the only people they're really hurting is the fans.

We have an extreme rightwing government in Britain, although it's called the Labour government. That's confused a lot of people, but it's confusing them less and less.

Romney is right that the Obama vision is too centered on government. But his is too centered on the promotion of business and wealth creation at the expense of everything else.

The thing is, Obama is right that it would be a calamity for the government to default on its debt by not meeting its obligations. Such a thing has never happened and can't be allowed to happen.

In the north east, there, they have had quite a bit of government offices moving in. It's not a new policy.

He made an enormous contribution to British politics in opposition and in government [on Robin Cook]

Governments steal from citizens through taxes and through the subterfuge of monetizing their own IOUs.

It seems strange to make a priori arguments about the relative performance of governments and the markets in health care when there is so much empirical evidence.

The great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community... that in the operation of human institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the same.

I have more government than I want, more government than I need, more government than I can afford.

I can imagine [the government] trying to tell Steven Spielberg 'We need 50 different cuts of your movie for each state.' It will screw us up in a real way.

One of the things that voters have said about Donald Trump, since he has no government experience, is that he will be able to surround himself with good advisers.

I can describe to you the taste of government cheese.

In the twentieth century the number of people killed by their own governments under authoritarian regimes is four times the number killed in all this century's wars combined.

Our government is a gift from God, who calls us to be good stewards of it.

[T]he only way to shrink the trade deficit is for the government to prohibit us from buying whatever we want.