Government Quotes
Welcome to Government Quotes. Here you will find famous quotes and quotations about Government.
Government Quotes and Quotations
A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon - it won't work and you can't fire it. ~George S. Patton
A Conservative government is an organised hypocrisy. ~Benjamin Disraeli
A corporation's primary goal is to make money. Government's primary role is to take a big chunk of that money and give it to others. ~Larry Ellison
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. ~Barry Goldwater
A survey says that American workers work the first three hours every day just to pay their taxes. So that's why we can't get anything done in the morning: We're government workers. ~Jay Leno
Americans no longer look to government for economic security; rather, they look to their portfolios. ~Bill Owens
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? ~Will Rogers
Applause, mingled with boos and hisses, is about all that the average voter is able or willing to contribute to public life. ~Elmer Davis
As a governor, I am naturally inclined to focus on the domestic side of protecting the United States. ~Bill Owens
Because of our Congressional committee system, our government is closer to a gerontocracy than a democracy. ~Charles Frankel
Government Quotes and Quotations
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt. ~Herbert Hoover, attributed
Bureaucracy gives birth to itself and then expects maternity benefits. ~Dale Dauten
Bureaus are extrusions from the body politic - they are pus. ~Martin H. Fischer
But let us remember, at the same time, government is sacred, and not to be trifled with. ~Jonathan Mayhew
But no one has yet succeeded in reducing the size or scope of the federal government. ~James Q. Wilson
Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard Lamm
Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens - and then everybody disagrees. ~Boris Marshalov
Democracy becomes a government of bullies tempered by editors. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Democracy cannot flourish half rich and half poor, any more than it can flourish half free and half slave. ~Felix G. Rohatyn
Government Quotes and Quotations
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear. ~Alan Coren
Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. ~James Russell Lowell
Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think. ~Author Unknown
Democracy is an abuse of statistics. ~Jorge Luis Borges
Democracy is like a raft: It won't sink, but you will always have your feet wet. ~Russell B. Long
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. ~H.L. Mencken
Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be. ~Sydney J. Harris
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb. ~Author unknown
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. ~George Bernard Shaw
Democracy: The state of affairs in which you consent to having your pocket picked, and elect the best man to do it. ~Benjamin Lichtenberg
Government Quotes and Quotations
Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists. ~John Kenneth Galbraith
Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us. ~P.J. O'Rourke
Everybody wants to eat at the government's table, but nobody wants to do the dishes. ~Werner Finck
Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there. ~P. J. O'Rourke
Fire, water, and government know nothing of mercy. ~Proverb
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery. ~Jonathan Swift
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good. ~H.L. Mencken
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O'Rourke
Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. ~Ayn Rand
Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people. ~Henry Clay
Government Quotes and Quotations
Government is an unnecessary evil. Human beings, when accustomed to taking responsibility for their own behavior, can cooperate on a basis of mutual trust and helpfulness. ~Fred Woodworth
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~George Washington
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. ~Thomas Paine
Governments should not possess instruments of coercion and violence denied to their citizens. ~Edgar A. Suter
Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. ~William Ewart Gladstone
Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. ~William E. Gladstone
How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over two hundred varieties of cheese? ~Charles de Gaulle
I have long believed taxpayers make better use of their money than the government ever could. ~Kay Bailey Hutchison
I never would believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden. ~Richard Rumbold
If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion. ~George Bernard Shaw
Government Quotes and Quotations
If Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock. ~Arthur Goldberg
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress? ~Author Unknown
If human beings are fundamentally good, no government is necessary; if they are fundamentally bad, any government, being composed of human beings, would be bad also. ~Fred Woodworth
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. ~James Madison
If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops. ~Kelvin Throop
If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con' what is the opposite of 'progress'? ~Paul Harvey
I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it. ~Alexander Woollcott
I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it. ~Alexander Woollcott
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? ~St. Augustine
In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of the state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state. ~Baron de Montesquieu
Government Quotes and Quotations
Information is the currency of democracy. ~Thomas Jefferson
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. ~Mark Twain
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. ~Thomas Jefferson
It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government. ~John Gardner
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes. ~Andrew Jackson
It might be more worthwhile if we stopped wringing our hands and started ringing our congressmen. ~Author Unknown
It's every American's duty to support his government, but not necessarily in the style to which it has become accustomed. ~Thomas Clifford
It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting. ~Tom Stoppard
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. ~James Madison
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. ~Otto von Bismarck
Government Quotes and Quotations
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. ~Benjamin Franklin
Let the people think they govern and they will be governed. ~William Penn
Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. ~Larry Flynt
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. ~Denis Diderot
Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. ~Reinhold Niebuhr
Morphine and state relief are the same. You go dopey, feel better and are worse off. ~Martin H. Fischer
Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them. ~Lily Tomlin
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham Lincoln
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham Lincoln
No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session. ~Author Unknown
Government Quotes and Quotations
No nation is fit to set in judgment upon any other nation. ~Woodrow Wilson
Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln. ~Will Rogers
Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ~Louis Brandeis
Our nation is built on the bedrock principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. ~Adrian Cronauer
Our political institutions work remarkably well. They are designed to clang against each other. The noise is democracy at work. ~Michael Novak
People come to Washington believing it's the center of power. I know I did. It was only much later that I learned that Washington is a steering wheel that's not connected to the engine. ~Richard Goodwin
People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income. ~Robert Half
Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds. ~John Perry Barlow
Talk is cheap - except when Congress does it. ~Cullen Hightower
That government is best which governs least. ~Henry David Thoreau
Government Quotes and Quotations
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston Churchill
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away. ~Ronald Reagan
The cure for capitalism's failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone. ~Robert L. Heilbroner
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. ~Lord Acton
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. ~Robert M. Hutchins
The essence of good government is trust. ~Kathleen Sebelius
The government deficit is the difference between the amount of money the government spends and the amount it has the nerve to collect. ~Sam Ewing
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. ~Milton Friedman
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.~ Thomas Paine
The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words. ~National Review
Government Quotes and Quotations
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. ~William E. Borah
The mistakes made by Congress wouldn't be so bad if the next Congress didn't keep trying to correct them. ~Cullen Hightower
The most important political office is that of the private citizen. ~Louis Brandeis
The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them. ~Karl Marx
The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power. ~Andrew Jackson
Government Quotes and Quotations
The People, though we think of a great entity when we use the word, means nothing more than so many millions of individual men. ~James Bryce
The plague of government is senile delinquency. ~Mignon McLaughlin
The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government. ~Henry Ward Beecher
There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic. ~Charles de Secondat
This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer. ~Will Rogers
Government Quotes and Quotations
To hear some men talk of the government, you would suppose that Congress was the law of gravitation, and kept the planets in their places. ~Wendell Phillips
To rule is easy, to govern difficult. ~Johann W. von Goethe
Treaties are like roses and young girls - they last while they last. ~Charles de Gaulle
Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true. ~Polish Proverb
Washington is a place where politicians don't know which way is up and taxes don't know which way is down. ~Robert Orben
Government Quotes and Quotations
We are imperfect. We cannot expect perfect government. ~William Howard Taft
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~Winston Churchill
When a machine begins to run without human aid, it is time to scrap it - whether it be a factory or a government. ~Alexander Chase
When government accepts responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves. ~George Pataki
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. ~Thomas Jefferson
Government Quotes and Quotations
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint. ~Alexander Hamilton
You don't pay taxes - they take taxes. ~Chris Rock
You know why there are so many whitefish in the Yellowstone River? Because the Fish and Game people have never done anything to help them. ~Russell Chatham
Young lovers and young nations face the same problem: after orgasm, what? ~Mignon McLaughlin
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