Quotations about:
    government


Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.


But the purposes underlying the Establishment Clause go much further than that. Its first and most immediate purpose rested on the belief that a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion. The history of governmentally established religion, both in England and in this country, showed that whenever government had allied itself with one particular form of religion, the inevitable result had been that it had incurred the hatred, disrespect and even contempt of those who held contrary beliefs. That same history showed that many people had lost their respect for any religion that had relied upon the support of government to spread its faith.

The Establishment Clause thus stands as an expression of principle on the part of the Founders of our Constitution that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its “unhallowed perversion” by a civil magistrate.

Black - destroy government and to degrade religion - wist.info quote

Hugo Black (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)
Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 431-432 (1962) [majority opinion]
    (Source)
 
Added on 17-Oct-12 | Last updated 6-Oct-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Black, Hugo

That therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right;

That it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it;

That though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
“Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom” (18 Jun 1779; enacted 16 Jan 1786)
    (Source)
 
Added on 9-Aug-12 | Last updated 4-Jul-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time ….

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
“Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom,” Preamble (18 Jun 1779; enacted 16 Jan 1786)
    (Source)

During final debate around the bill's passage:
  • the first clause was struck, changing the beginning to "Whereas Almighty God ...."
  • the phrase "and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint" was struck.
  • the phrase "but to extend it by its influence on reason alone" was struck.
See Jefferson's discussion about a failed amendment to the preamble here.
 
Added on 26-Jul-12 | Last updated 4-Jul-22
Link to this post | 1 comment
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

In a virtuous community men of sense and principle will always be placed at the head of affairs. In a declining state of public morals men will be so blinded to their true interests as to put the incapable and unworthy at the helm. It is therefore vain to complain of the follies or crimes of a government. We must lay the hands on our own hearts and say, Here is the sin that makes the public sin.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Individual and the State,” sermon, Second Church of Boston (1830-04-08)
 
Added on 13-Jul-12 | Last updated 27-Mar-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader; to pursue them requires not the aid of many counsellors. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
“A Summary View of the Rights of British America” (1774)
    (Source)

Addressed to King George III.
 
Added on 7-Jun-12 | Last updated 8-Aug-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except upon the side of mercy.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“Abraham Lincoln,” Lecture (1894)
    (Source)

Ingersoll used the final phrase here frequently about Lincoln, e.g., in The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child, an 1877 lecture, he wrote: "Abraham Lincoln was, in my judgment, in many respects, the grandest man ever president of the United States. Upon his monument these words should be written: 'Here sleeps the only man in the history of the world, who, having been clothed with almost absolute power, never abused it, except on the side of mercy.'"

The phrase "But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power" is often attributed, without citation, to Lincoln.
 
Added on 4-Jun-12 | Last updated 3-Dec-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Ingersoll, Robert Green

The second office of the government is honorable & easy, the first is but a splendid misery.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Elbridge Gerry (13 May 1797)
    (Source)

On the vice-presidency and presidency of the United States. Written after he had lost to John Adams, who became President and him Vice-President.
 
Added on 24-May-12 | Last updated 15-Aug-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Private enterprise did not get us atomic energy.

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Affluent Society, ch. 25, sec. 3 (1958)
 
Added on 11-May-12 | Last updated 14-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Galbraith, John Kenneth

The only index by which to judge a government or a way of life is by the quality of the people it acts upon. No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion — it is an evil government.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 147 (1955)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-Feb-12 | Last updated 24-Jun-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Hoffer, Eric

I have pledged myself and my colleagues in the cabinet to a continuous encouragement of initiative, responsibility and energy in serving the public interest. Let every public servant know, whether his post is high or low, that a man’s rank and reputation in this Administration will be determined by the size of the job he does, and not by the size of his staff, his office or his budget. Let it be clear that this Administration recognizes the value of dissent and daring — that we greet healthy controversy as the hallmark of healthy change. Let the public service be a proud and lively career. And let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government, in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and with honor in future years: “I served the United States Government in that hour of our nation’s need.”

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
State of the Union address (1961-01-30)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-Feb-12 | Last updated 20-Mar-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Kennedy, John F.

The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism is loyalty to the nation all the time, loyalty to the government when it deserves it.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“The Czar’s Soliloquy,” North American Review (Mar 1905)

Sometimes paraphrased: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
 
Added on 1-Feb-12 | Last updated 8-Aug-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Twain, Mark

All of you, I am sure, have heard many cries about Government interference with business and about “creeping socialism.” I should like to remind the gentlemen who make these complaints that if events had been allowed to continue as they were going prior to March 4, 1933, most of them would have no businesses left for the Government or for anyone else to interfere with — and almost surely we would have socialism in this country, real socialism, not the kind they define.

Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Speech, Butte, Montana (1950-05-12)
    (Source)
 
Added on 19-Aug-11 | Last updated 7-Sep-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Truman, Harry S

No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected.

Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Speech, Joint Session of the US Congress (12 Mar 1947)
    (Source)
 
Added on 5-Aug-11 | Last updated 6-Sep-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Truman, Harry S

Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French scientist and philosopher
Pensées, #298 (1670) [tr. Trotter (1931)]
 
Added on 23-May-11 | Last updated 17-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Pascal, Blaise

I hold it, therefore, certain, that to open the doors of truth, and to fortify the habit of testing everything by reason, are the most effectual manacles we can rivet on the hands of our successors to prevent their manacling the people with their own consent.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Tyler (28 Jun 1804)
    (Source)
 
Added on 23-May-11 | Last updated 14-Jul-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

The firmness with which the people have withstood the late abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment between them. As little is it necessary to impose on their senses, or dazzle their minds by pomp, splendor, or forms. Instead of this artificial, how much surer is that real respect, which results from the use of their reason, and the habit of bringing everything to the test of common sense.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Tyler (28 Jun 1804)
    (Source)
 
Added on 16-May-11 | Last updated 14-Jul-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a large scale?
 
[Remota itaque iustitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia?]

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
City of God [De Civitate Dei], Book 4, ch. 4 (4.4) (AD 412-416) [tr. Bettenson (1972)]
    (Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Set justice aside, then, and what are kingdoms but fair thievish purchases?
[tr. Healey (1610)]

Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies?
[tr. Dods (1871)]

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized brigandage?
[tr. Zema/Walsh (1950)]

And so if justice is left out, what are kingdoms except great robber bands?
[tr. Green (Loeb) (1963)]

Justice removed, then, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?
[tr. Dyson (1998)]

Remove justice, then, and what are kingdoms but large gangs of robbers?
[tr. Babcock (2012)]

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?
[E.g.]

 
Added on 28-Feb-11 | Last updated 27-Nov-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Augustine of Hippo

No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Tyler (28 Jun 1804)
    (Source)
 
Added on 18-Feb-11 | Last updated 14-Jul-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
Common Sense, “On the Origin and Design of Government in General” (14 Feb 1776)
    (Source)
 
Added on 26-Jan-11 | Last updated 17-Feb-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Paine, Thomas

The necessity of establishing some form of government [is] to supply the defect of moral virtue.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
Common Sense, “On the Origin and Design of Government in General” (14 Feb 1776)

Full text.

 
Added on 19-Jan-11 | Last updated 14-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Paine, Thomas

We have solved, by fair experiment, the great & interesting question Whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws; & we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely & openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason, & the serious convictions of his own enquiries.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Va. Baptist Associations of Chesterfield (21 Nov 1808)
    (Source)
 
Added on 4-Jan-11 | Last updated 8-Jul-22
Link to this post | 1 comment
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

I believe that the public temper is such that the voters of the land are prepared to support the party which gives the best promise of administering the government in the honest, simple, and plain manner which is consistent with its character and purposes. They have learned that mystery and concealment in the management of their affairs cover tricks and betrayal. The statesmanship they require consists in honesty and frugality, a prompt response to the needs of the people as they arise, and a vigilant protection of all their varied interests.

Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) American President (1885–1889, 1893–1897)
Letter accepting Democratic nomination for President (8 Aug 1884)
    (Source)
 
Added on 13-Dec-10 | Last updated 3-Nov-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Cleveland, Grover

The hand of the people has given the mortal blow to a conspiracy, which, in other countries would have called for an appeal to armies; and has proved that government to be the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to H. D. Tiffin (2 Feb 1807)
    (Source)
 
Added on 2-Nov-10 | Last updated 10-Jul-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Any government is in itself an evil insofar as it carries within it the tendency to deteriorate into tyranny. However, except for a very small number of anarchists, everyone of us is convinced that civilized society cannot exist without a government.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“A Reply to the Soviet Scientists” (Dec 1947), Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Feb 1948)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-Oct-10 | Last updated 19-Feb-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Einstein, Albert

The settled opinion here is, that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt., and exempt from its cognizance; that a connexion between them is injurious to both; that there are causes in the human breast which ensure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of the law; that rival sects, with equal rights, exercise mutual censorships in favor of good morals; that if new sects arise with absurd opinions or over-heated imaginations, the proper remedies lie in time, forbearance, and example; that a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and with a toleration, is no security for public quiet & harmony, but rather a source of discord & animosity; and, finally, that these opinions are supported by experience, which has shewn that every relaxation of the alliance between Law & religion, from the partial example of Holland to its consummation in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, &c., has been found as safe in practice as it is sound in theory.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Letter to Edward Everett (18 Mar 1823)
 
Added on 3-Aug-10 | Last updated 30-May-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Madison, James

Fear: A club used by priests, presidents, kings and policemen to keep the people from recovering stolen goods.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Roycroft Dictionary (1914)
    (Source)
 
Added on 11-May-10 | Last updated 14-Sep-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Hubbard, Elbert

National budgets are a nation’s theology walking.

Joan D. Chittister (b. 1936) American Benedictine nun, author and lecturer
“From Where I Stand,” column, National Catholic Reporter (17 Feb 2005)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-May-10 | Last updated 20-Jan-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Chittister, Joan

Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist, Supreme Court Justice
Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue, 275 U.S. 87, 100 (1927) [Dissent]
    (Source)

Full text is "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society, including the chance to insure.

References are also found (without citation) to a 1904 speech, "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society" (this variation is quoted by the IRS above the entrance of their headquarters).  Bartlett's (1980) cites the above wording, but incorrectly claims it was in 1904.

In Felix Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court (1938), Holmes is quoted as rebuking a secretary's query about hating to pay taxes:  "No, young feller. I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization."

More information here.
 
Added on 16-Apr-10 | Last updated 10-Apr-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr.

Our forefathers found the evils of free thinking more to be endured than the evils of inquest or suppression. They gave the status of almost absolute individual rights to the outward means of expressing belief. I cannot believe that they left open a way for legislation to embarrass or impede the mere intellectual processes by which those expressions of belief are examined and formulated. This is not only because individual thinking presents no danger to society, but because thoughtful, bold and independent minds are essential to wise and considered self-government.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
    (Source)
 
Added on 26-Feb-10 | Last updated 7-Mar-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Jackson, Robert H.

There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“A Lay Sermon” (1886)
    (Source)
 
Added on 21-Aug-09 | Last updated 2-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Ingersoll, Robert Green

A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps, both. 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 (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Letter to W. T. Barry (4 Aug 1822)
 
Added on 11-Aug-09 | Last updated 21-Apr-17
Link to this post | 1 comment
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Madison, James

The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
The Federalist #57 “The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many” (19 Feb 1788)
 
Added on 20-Apr-09 | Last updated 7-Aug-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Madison, James

A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life.

Political and intellectual functionaries exhibit this depression, passivity, and perplexity in their actions and in their statements, and even more so in their self-serving rationales as to how realistic, reasonable, and intellectually and even morally justified it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice. And the decline in courage, at times attaining what could be termed a lack of manhood, is ironically emphasized by occasional outbursts and inflexibility on the part of those same functionaries when dealing with weak governments and with countries that lack support, or with doomed currents which clearly cannot offer resistance. But they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists.

Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?

Alexander Solzhenitsen (1918-2008) Russian novelist, emigre [Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn]
“A World Split Apart,” Commencement Address, Harvard (8 Jun 1978)
    (Source)
 
Added on 13-Mar-09 | Last updated 28-Apr-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Solzhenitsen, Alexander

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.

John Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902) British historian
Letter to Mary Gladstone (24 Mar 1881)
 
Added on 18-Feb-09 | Last updated 12-Feb-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Acton, John Dalberg (Lord)

A government of laws, and not of men.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
“Novanglus” #7, Boston Gazette (6 Mar 1775)

Adams credited the line to James Harrington (1611-77), who wrote of "the empire of laws and not of men" (The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656)). Adams later used the term in the Massachusetts Constitution, Bill of Rights, article 30 (1780).
 
Added on 20-Jan-09 | Last updated 10-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Adams, John

The Stoics could only advise the wise man to hold aloof from politics, keeping the unwritten law in his heart. But when Christ said: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s,” those words, spoken on His last visit to the Temple, three days before His death, gave to the civil power, under the protection of conscience, a sacredness it had never enjoyed, and bounds it had never acknowledged; and they were the repudiation of absolutism and the inauguration of freedom.

John Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902) British historian
“The History of Freedom in Antiquity,” address to the Bridgenorth Institute (28 Feb 1877)
 
Added on 23-Dec-08 | Last updated 12-Feb-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Acton, John Dalberg (Lord)

No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literacy or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
The Meaning of It All, “The Uncertainty of Values” (1999)
    (Source)
 
Added on 17-Nov-08 | Last updated 10-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Feynman, Richard

I want to make a policy statement. I am unabashedly in favor of women.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Eleanor Roosevelt Award to Anna Kross (1964-03-04)
    (Source)

Preceding announcing his appointment of ten women to top administration posts. He further commented, after listing them:

This should, with the announcements that have preceded this one, and the ones that will follow this one, serve notice that this administration is not running a stag party.

 
Added on 20-Oct-08 | Last updated 27-Oct-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Lyndon

Cities may be rebuilt, and a People reduced to Poverty, may acquire fresh Property: but a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter to Abigail Adams (17 Jul 1775)
 
Added on 8-Jul-08 | Last updated 18-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Adams, John

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Journal, notes for an oration at Braintree (Spring 1772)
 
Added on 30-Jun-08 | Last updated 29-Mar-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Adams, John

Dishonor in public life has a double poison.  When people are dishonorable in private business, they injure only those with whom they deal or their own chances in the net world. When there is a lack of honor in Government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, President of the US (1928-32)
Address, Des Moines, Iowa (30 Aug 1951)
    (Source)
 
Added on 27-Mar-08 | Last updated 2-Oct-18
Link to this post | 1 comment
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Hoover, Herbert

There is surely no contradiction in saying that a certain section of the community may be quite competent to protect the persons and property of the rest, yet quite unfit to direct our opinions, or to superintend our private habits.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
Southey’s Colloquies on Society (1830)
 
Added on 24-Mar-08 | Last updated 16-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Macaulay, Thomas Babington

Nothing is so galling to a people, not broken in from the birth, as a paternal or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read and say and eat and drink and wear.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
Southey’s Colloquies on Society (1830)
 
Added on 12-Mar-08 | Last updated 16-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Macaulay, Thomas Babington

Government has an obligation not to inhibit the collection and dissemination of news…. I’m convinced that if reporters should ever lose the right to protect the confidentiality of their sources then serious investigative reporting will simply dry up. The kind of resourceful, probing journalism that first exposed most of the serious scandals, corruption and injustice in our nation’s history would simply disappear …. And let me tell you, reading about one’s failings in the daily papers is one of the privileges of high office in this free country of ours.

Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979) American politician
Speech to the Anti-Defamation League, Syracuse, NY (29 Nov 1972)
    (Source)
 
Added on 3-Mar-08 | Last updated 6-Jul-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Rockefeller, Nelson

Of the best rulers
The people (only) know that they exist;
The next best they love and praise;
The next they fear;
And the next they revile.
When they do not command the people’s faith,
Some will lose faith in them,
And then they resort to oaths!
But (of the best) when their task is accomplished, their work done,
The people all remark, “We have done it ourselves.”

Lao-tzu (604?-531? BC) Chinese philosopher, poet [also Lao-tse, Laozi]
The Wisdom of Laotse, ch 17 (1948) [tr. Lin Yutang]

Alt. trans. [Tao-te Ching tr. Wing-Tsit Chan]:
"The best are those whose existence is merely known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared. And the next are those who are reviled.
The great rulers accomplish their task; they complete their work.
Nevertheless their people say that they simply follow Nature."
 
Added on 28-Feb-08 | Last updated 6-Apr-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Lao-tzu

But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wicked situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any for of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men; so that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Speech at the Virginia Convention (20 Jun 1788)
    (Source)
 
Added on 28-Jan-08 | Last updated 3-Nov-20
Link to this post | 1 comment
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Madison, James

As it was 189 years ago, so today the cause of America is a revolutionary cause. And I am proud this morning to salute you as fellow revolutionaries. Neither you nor I are willing to accept the tyranny of poverty, nor the dictatorship of ignorance, nor the despotism of ill health, nor the oppression of bias and prejudice and bigotry. We want change. We want progress. We want it both abroad and at home — and we aim to get it.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“Remarks to College Students Employed by the Government During the Summer,” speech, White House (1965-08-04)
    (Source)
 
Added on 21-Jan-08 | Last updated 19-Jan-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Lyndon

Yes, Gentlemen; if I am asked why we are free with servitude all around us, why our Habeas Corpus Act has not been suspended, why our press is still subject to no censor, why we still have the liberty of association, why our representative institutions still abide in all their strength, I answer, It is because in the year of revolutions we stood firmly by our government in its peril; and, if I am asked why we stood by our government in its peril, when men all around us were engaged in pulling governments down, I answer, It was because we knew that though our government was not a perfect government, it was a good government, that its faults admitted of peaceable and legal remedies, that it had never inflexibly opposed just demands, that we had obtained concessions of inestimable value, not by beating the drum, not by ringing the tocsin, not by tearing up the pavement, not by running to the gunsmiths’ shops to search for arms, but by the mere force of reason and public opinion.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
Speech on re-election to Parliament, Edinburgh (2 Nov 1852)
    (Source)

On the various revolutions and counter-revolutions in Europe in 1848.
 
Added on 10-Oct-07 | Last updated 16-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Macaulay, Thomas Babington

I believe that the essence of government lies with unceasing concern for the welfare and dignity and decency and innate integrity of life for every individual. I don’t like to say this and wish I didn’t have to add these words to make it clear but I will — regardless of color, creed, ancestry, sex or age.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Civil Rights symposium, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas (1972-12-12)
    (Source)

(Source (Video)). Johnson's last public speech.
 
Added on 6-Oct-07 | Last updated 9-Feb-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Lyndon

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Churchill - democracy - wist_info

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, House of Commons (11 Nov 1947)
    (Source)

See Inge.
 
Added on 17-Aug-07 | Last updated 4-Jan-22
Link to this post | 2 comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Churchill, Winston

We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
“Declaration of Independence,” original rough draft (Jun 1776)
    (Source)

Compare to the final version, as modified and adopted by the Continental Congress.
 
Added on 14-Aug-07 | Last updated 4-Jul-22
Link to this post | 2 comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

It is contended by many that ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look upon the book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government made by the people and for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods have had nothing to do. And yet there are some judges dishonest and cowardly enough to solemnly decide that this is a Christian country, and that our free institutions are based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“Individuality” (1873)
 
Added on 11-Aug-06 | Last updated 2-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Ingersoll, Robert Green

FIRST STRANGER: Men must learn now with pity to dispense,
For policy sits above conscience.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Timon of Athens, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 93ff (3.2.93-94) (1606) [with Thomas Middleton]
    (Source)
 
Added on 14-Oct-05 | Last updated 8-Feb-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Shakespeare, William

The priceless heritage of our society is the unrestricted constitutional right of each member to think as he will. Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we have no claim to it. It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error. We could justify any censorship only when the censors are better shielded against error than the censored.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442-443 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
    (Source)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 26-Dec-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Jackson, Robert H.

I wish men to be free
As much from mobs as kings — from you as me.

Lord Byron
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 9, st. 25 (1823)
    (Source)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 26-Mar-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Byron, George Gordon, Lord