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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.

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Most quoted on government:

The ‘liberty’ of one is his permission to act as he pleases, supported against interference by the power of the concern or government
of which he is a member.

John R. Commons

The last time there were so many Thapas in government, the Panchayat regime collapsed under their weight.

Manjushree Thapa

What we are seeing from this government is a deliberate decision not to deliver a proper Brexit

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Wales voted Leave, but it does not mean that the Welsh government should sit back and let Brexit take its course

Leanne Wood

The government is turning lives upside down by callously playing hard ball over Brexit and it needs to take its responsibilities far more seriously

Caroline Lucas

Any time you want to grant the government new authority, imagine it in the hands of the worst statesmen in American history.

Paul D. Miller Why Socialism Is Bad (2018)

There will be integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level of the government I lead and I will work day in and day out to get the job done.

Rishi Sunak

The government's priority remains the earliest termination of this hijacking and the earliest return of the passengers, crew and aircraft.

Jaswant Singh

This time a government of the people has come to govern with the people and for the people, to build from the bottom up.

Pedro Castillo

I don’t know what it means to work under the armpit of the government

Marie Immaculée Ingabire

Believe in that but my only reservation is whether government will have the willpower and sincerity to implement it.

Helen Ukpabio

“The importance of close cooperation between the Government of Tanzania and Africa CDC.”

Samia Suluhu Hassan

Only the federal government wields the power to lead a national mobilization that can decarbonize the economy fast enough.

Rhiana Gunn-Wright All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (2020)

“If you want more banks to open and if you want investment to come, they have to have confidence in our government

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

“We need a government to be disciplined,”

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Revolution is a complete change, an overturning of dead soil, a new way of life, with new government, new laws.

Juan González The Vote or the Gun (1970)

Every time we develop a new module to be used by government entities, we encounter issues which are seen at implementation

Fanfan Rwanyindo Kayirangwa

They (youth) should participate in the government’s programs as required, ask for advice and accept to be corrected

Clarisse Imaniriho

I can assure you that the government is doing something towards revitalising public universities.

Florence Obi

"My crime was daring to have books that the apartheid government deemed unhealthy for a native's mind."

Mamphela Ramphele

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