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States are not made, nor patched; they grow:
Grow slow through centuries of pain,
And grow correctly in the main;
But only grow by certain laws,
Of certain bits in certain jaws.

— John Masefield

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Government

More quotes by John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky.

God warms his hands at man's heart when he prays.

Love is a flame to burn out human wills,
Love is a flame to set the will on fire,
Love is a flame to cheat men into mire.

Death opens unknown doors. It is most grand to die.

When Life knocks at the door no one can wait,
When Death makes his arrest we have to go.

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Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.

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The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

James Madison

Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.

Leon Trotsky The Revolution Betrayed (1936)

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

John Adams

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Masefield (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.