Government Quotes

What is nature? Art thou not the living government of God? O Heaven, is it in very deed He then that ever speaks through thee, that lives and loves in thee, that lives and loves in me?

Government is emphatically a machine: to the discontented a taxing machine, to the contented a machine for securing property.

Each government minister views the circumstances of each issue differently. An interior minister has a different view of visa liberalization than does a foreign minister.

Combating climate change requires government policy, and most conservatives hate the idea of more government regulation. Because they hate the prescription, they deny the diagnosis.

If I had to choose between government and a free press, I would choose a free press.

I would rather have newspapers without a government than a government without newspapers.

A single good government is a blessing to the whole earth.

We need a revolution every 20 years just to keep government honest.

The general (federal) government will tend to monarchy, which will fortify itself from day to day, instead of working its own cures.

The persons and property of our citizens are entitled to the protection of our government in all places where they may lawfully go.

I pledge undying hostility to any government restrictions on the free minds of the people.

I rejoice when I hear of young men of virtue and talents, worthy to receive and likely to preserve the splendid inheritance of self- government, which we have acquired and shaped for them.

They are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes.

As government grows, freedom recedes.

No government can continue good, but under the control of the people.

Those who bear equally the burthens of Government should equally participate of its benefits.

A cold-blooded, calculation, unprincipled, usurper, without a virtue, no statesman, knowing nothing of commerce, political economy, or civil government, and supplying ignorance by bold presumption.

Government is being founded on opinion, the opinion of the public, even when it is wrong, ought to be respected to a certain degree.

Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent.

I deny the power of the general government to making paper money, or anything else a legal tender.

Man ... feels that he is a participator in the government of affairs not merely at an election, one day in the year, but every day.

Taxation is, in fact, the most difficult function of government and that against which their citizens are most apt to be refractory.

The only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it.

It will be said that great societies cannot exist without government.

It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that [a society without government, as among our Indians] is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population.

The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others.

I have so much confidence in the good sense of man, and his qualifications for self-government, that I am never afraid of the issue where reason is left free to exert her force.

If virtuous, the government need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting the truth, either in religion, law, or politics.

A government held together by the bands of reason only, requires much compromise of opinion.

With all the imperfections of our present government, it is without comparison the best existing, or that ever did exist.

The present generation has the same right of self-government which the past one has exercised for itself.

The opinions of men should not be the object of any government. Our civil rights are no more dependent on our religious beliefs than they are dependent upon our thoughts about geometry or physics!

Religion, morality, and knowledge are necessary for good government... Therefore schools and the means of educating the people should always be encouraged.

I find that he is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.

The cement of this union is in the heart blood of every American. I do not believe there is on earth a government established on so immovable a basis.

We act not for ourselves but for the whole human race. The event of our experiment is to show whether man can be trusted with self - government.

Government governed least is government governed best.

Those are governed best who are governed least.

The only greater [evil] than separation... [is] living under a government of discretion.

The best commentary on the principles of government which has ever been written.

An hereditary aristocracy... will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world.

The States should be urged to concede to the General Government, with a saving of chartered rights, the exclusive power of establishing banks of discount for paper.

No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see... all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what we wish, but what is practicable.

Blest is that government where no art thrives.

European museums are all dependent on government financing. The moment European governments are under financial pressure, their budgets are cut.

The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason.

Government is a necessary evil

Lay then the axe to the root, and teach governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind.

The representative system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by collecting wisdom where it can be found.

Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.