government

From the towering halls of grand institutions to the quiet frustrations of daily civic life, the apparatus of rule shapes the boundaries of human freedom, security, and ambition. The voices gathered in this collection dissect the eternal tension between authority and liberty, offering sharp critiques, pragmatic wisdom, and cynical wit regarding those who hold power. Whether examining the necessary shield of public order or the unintended chaos of heavy-handed regulation, these perspectives reveal just how profoundly political structures mirror the societies that build them. Dive into our curated collection to explore how thinkers, leaders, and satirists have grappled with the nature of governance across the ages.

1000

Total Quotes

457

Authors

Avg. Length

Top Authors in government

Discover the most quoted authors in this category

Thomas Jefferson

23 quotes

Mitt Romney

23 quotes

Marco Rubio

22 quotes

Ronald Reagan

17 quotes

Stephen Harper

16 quotes

Paul Ryan

16 quotes

James Madison

16 quotes

Rick Perry

16 quotes

Featured Quotes

Some of our most popular quotes in this category

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."

— Ronald Reagangovernment

"Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business."

— Tom Robbinsgovernment

"Every country has the government it deserves."

— Joseph de Maistregovernment

"Common sense tells us that the government's attempts to solve large problems more often create new ones. Common sense also tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health-care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy."

— Sarah Palingovernment

"What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long."

— Thomas Sowellgovernment

"The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the goverment."

— Franklin D. Rooseveltgovernment

All government Quotes

Browse all quotes in this category (1000 quotes, page 4 of 34)

"Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25 percent for domestic government agencies - an 84 percent increase when you include the failed stimulus. All of this new government spending was sold as 'investment.'"

-Paul Ryan

government

Top Authors in government

Thomas Jefferson

Mitt Romney

Marco Rubio

Ronald Reagan

Stephen Harper

Paul Ryan

James Madison

Rick Perry

Featured Quotes

All government Quotes

"Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25 percent for domestic government agencies - an 84 percent increase when you include the failed stimulus. All of this new government spending was sold as 'investment.'"

"America needs jobs, smaller government, less spending and a president with the courage to offer more than yet another speech."

"The measure of a man is not how great his faith is, but how great his love is. We must not let government programs disconnect our souls from each other."

"The honest truth is that if this government were to propose the massacre of the first-born, it would still have no difficulty in getting it through the Commons."

"Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men."

"Americans need never fear their government because of the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation."

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."

"Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?"

"It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes."

"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem."

"This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer."

"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."

"For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery."

"To rule is easy, to govern difficult."

"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."

"People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income."

"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."

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

"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."

"Governments never learn. Only people learn."

"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."

"You don't pay taxes - they take taxes."

"Washington is a place where politicians don't know which way is up and taxes don't know which way is down."

"Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."

"Democracy is an abuse of statistics."

"Talk is cheap - except when Congress does it."

"The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern."

"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."

Related Categories