Government - Quotes & Sayings

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.

Mark Twain

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money.

Margaret Thatcher

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

George Bernard Shaw

Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.

John Locke

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

Winston Churchill

Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent - a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice - that struggle continues.

Bernie Sanders

Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

Mark Twain

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

James Madison

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

Will Rogers

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

Edward Abbey

I have embraced crying mothers who have lost their children because our politicians put their personal agendas before the national good. I have no patience for injustice, no tolerance for government incompetence, no sympathy for leaders who fail their citizens.

Donald Trump

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

Albert Einstein

Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it's wrong.

Ron Paul

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.

Barack Obama

If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con' what is the opposite of 'progress'?

Paul Harvey

It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.

Alexander Hamilton

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

Thomas Jefferson

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Ronald Reagan

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

P. J. O'Rourke

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Abraham Lincoln

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

John Adams

The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people.

Tom Clancy

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

Thomas Paine

Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity, it must be respectable - even to observe neutrality, you must have a strong government.

Alexander Hamilton

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

H. L. Mencken

An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.

Confucius

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

Ronald Reagan

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

H. L. Mencken

People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good, for the public good, and bad government is when politicians lie for their own selfish interests.

James Bovard

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

Hubert H. Humphrey

Good government is one of the most important factors in economic growth and social well-being.

Joe Lonsdale

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

Saint Augustine

Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.

Will Rogers

The U.S. immigration laws are bad - really, really bad. I'd say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government's name.

Bill Gates

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

Alexander Hamilton

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It's amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral, self-righteous, bullying laziness.

Penn Jillette

The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them in parliament.

Vladimir Lenin

Strong government doesn't mean simply military power or an efficient intelligence apparatus. Instead, it should mean effective, fair administration - in other words, 'good governance.'

Raghuram Rajan

As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe that the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.

Mike Pence

Being a patriot doesn't mean prioritizing service to government above all else. Being a patriot means knowing when to protect your country, knowing when to protect your Constitution, knowing when to protect your countrymen, from the violations of and encroachments of adversaries. And those adversaries don't have to be foreign countries.

Edward Snowden

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

James Madison

From my father's point of view, without a thought for self, a true patriot stands up against the stones of condemnation and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice or the halls of government.

Thomas Steinbeck

When private sector, government, social, and philanthropic leaders apply innovative partnerships and technologies to address social challenges and build sustainable communities, the impact is multiplied.

Tae Yoo

The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.

Anthony Kennedy

We are a coalition government, and that limits our options in some ways. Privatization happens to be one such area.

Manmohan Singh

If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.

Milton Friedman

History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.

Thomas Jefferson

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

Ansel Adams