Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
[Welche Regierung die beste sei? Diejenige, die uns lehrt, uns selbst zu regieren.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Sprüche in Prosa: Maximen und Reflexionen [Proverbs in Prose: Maxims and Reflections] (1833) [tr. Saunders (1893), “Life and Characters,” #225]
(Source)
From Art and Antiquity, Vol. 5, #3, Individual Points (1826).
(Source (German)). Alternate translations:I am asked: which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
[tr. Rönnfeldt (1900)]You ask which form of government is the best? Whichever teaches us to govern ourselves.
[tr. Stopp (1995), #353]
Quotations about:
self-governance
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The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 176 (1955)
(Source)
