Famous Government Quotes

"Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor"

James Russell Lowell, Poet

"Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists"

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master"

George Washington, President

"Democracy is an abuse of statistics"

Jorge Luis Borges, Poet

"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

"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, Journalist

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

Thomas Jefferson, President

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

P. J. O'Rourke, Journalist

"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, Journalist

"Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us"

P. J. O'Rourke, Journalist

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

Will Rogers, Actor

"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, Actor

"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, Actor

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

Thomas Paine, Writer

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

Jonathan Swift, Writer

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

Saint Augustine, Saint

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

Lord Acton, Historian

"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, Writer

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary"

James Madison, President

"It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government"

John W. Gardner, Educator

"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, Activist

"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, Businessman

"As a governor, I am naturally inclined to focus on the domestic side of protecting the United States"

Bill Owens, Politician

"Americans no longer look to government for economic security; rather, they look to their portfolios"

Bill Owens, Politician

"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 D. Brandeis, Judge

"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, Critic

"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, Businessman

"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

"Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home"

William E. Gladstone, Leader

"But let us remember, at the same time, government is sacred, and not to be trifled with"

Jonathan Mayhew, Clergyman

"So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system"

Milton Friedman, Economist

"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, Statesman

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

Chris Rock, Comedian

"Our nation is built on the bedrock principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"

Adrian Cronauer, Entertainer

"Talk is cheap - except when Congress does it"

Cullen Hightower, Writer

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

Paul Harvey, Journalist

"I have long believed taxpayers make better use of their money than the government ever could"

Kay Bailey Hutchison, Politician

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

Robert Orben, Entertainer

"Bureaucracy gives birth to itself and then expects maternity benefits"

Dale Dauten

"Government alone cannot solve the problems we deal with in our correctional facilities, treatment centers, homeless shelters and crisis centers - we need our faith-based and community partners"

Dirk Kempthorne, Politician