Quotes on Government And Politics

It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.

I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force...Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.

Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.