Quotes on Government And Society

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.

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

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

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

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

Man is not free unless government is limited.

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.

What matters is abuse, and how it is anchored in a religion that denies women their rights as humans. What matters is that atrocities against women and children are carried out in Europe. What matters is that governments and societies must stop hiding behind a hollow pretense of tolerance so that they can recognize and deal with the problem.

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

A government of laws, and not of men.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all . . . . It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain

The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.