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Government Quotes

Jefferson leads this page, followed by Milton Friedman, Robert LeFevre and Lincoln. Most of it is political philosophy, with a few jokes mixed in: P. J. O’Rourke in Parliament of Whores (1991) says giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys, and Will Rogers, in 1935, said a comedian needs no credit when the whole government is working for him.

Two well-known lines are flagged. “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants” is credited to William Penn, but the oldest wording the notes cite is from a 1949 speech by Norman Vincent Peale. The one about a government big enough to give you everything being big enough to take it away is credited to Barry Goldwater, and the notes point to older versions of it.

Random quote on Government

Most quoted on government:

In 2008, I will join the opposition and criticise the government.

Vladimir Putin

But history tells us that true progress is only possible where governments exist to serve their people, and not the other way around.

Barack Obama Cape Town University Address (2013)

Unless the power of the corporation can be organized on an accepted principle of legitimacy, it will... be taken over by a Central government...

Peter Drucker The Future of Industrial Man (1942)

Relegating conservation to government is like relegating virtue to the Sabbath. Turns over to professionals what should be daily work of amateurs.

Aldo Leopold Lecture notes ms (1935)

Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government — I will stand against you.

Glenn Beck

Government's become just a battle of power between the two parties.

Jesse Ventura I Ain't Got Time To Bleed (1999)

Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.

George Mason Remarks on Annual Elections (1775)

Popular congresses are the only means to achieve popular democracy. Any system of government other than popular congresses is undemocratic.

Muammar Gaddafi The Green Book (1975)

The Soviet Government deems it its sacred duty to extend the hand of assistance to its brother Ukrainians and White Russians inhabiting Poland.

Vyacheslav Molotov

The separation of races happened long before the Nationalist Government. God separated the races.

P. W. Botha

The "government of all the people", if we have to have government, can at best be only the government of the majority.

Errico Malatesta Neither Democrats, Nor Dictators: Anarchists (1926)

Government means the right to make the law and to impose it on everyone by force: without a police force there is no government.

Errico Malatesta Neither Democrats, Nor Dictators: Anarchists (1926)

In my opinion, a war between England and Germany was a war between brothers. In my inner self I admired the English government and political system.

Walter Schellenberg

Being on President Nixon's enemies list was the highest single honor I've ever received. Who knows who's listening to me now and what government list I'm on?

Paul Newman

Governments which live in fear of tomorrow's headline are incapable of any change.

Tony Abbott

The few remaining communist governments, such as North Korea and Cuba, were no longer portrayed as instruments of Moscow, but as evils in their own right.

Michael Parenti Against Empire (1995)

The incoming government is not going to leave our people in the dark. Paddy likes to know what the story is.

Enda Kenny

The state is a bankrupt institution. The only alternative to this bankrupt 'humanistic' system is a God-centered government.

Rousas John Rushdoony David Cantor and Alan M. Schwartz (1995)

Not everyone understands this. But we (ROC government) have done what needed to be done, and we will keep doing so until the very end.

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou (2013)

Naturally these penalties were applicable only to private citizens, not military commanders or government executives. The powerful are jealous of their toys.

Richard Morgan Altered Carbon (2002)

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