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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