Government Quotes - page 16

The people want government that works for them at every level. They want good government that begins at their doorstep in the barangay, and does not end before the closed door of a bureaucrat in Metro Manila. (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)
When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness: When these things can be said, then may the country boast of its constitution and its government. View quote
Thomas Paine
It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and talents; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions. View quote
Thomas Paine
Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interest, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. View quote
Thomas Paine
WHEREFORE, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows, that whatever FORM thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. View quote
Thomas Paine
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one. View quote
Thomas Paine
Republicans want smaller government for the same reason crooks want fewer cops; it's easier to get away with murder. View quote
James Carville
Canadian federalism is more than a form of government. It's also a system of values that allows different people in diverse communities to live and work together in harmony for the good of all. View quote
Jean Chrétien
A leader has to know how the system functions - not just the system of government but the whole social and economic system, including business, the unions, and the universities. View quote
Jean Chrétien
On the same day I was sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada, I announced the most sweeping reform ever undertaken in the structure of our federal government. View quote
Kim Campbell
Is the scrupulous attention I am paying to the government of my tongue at all proportioned to that tremendous truth revealed through St. James, that if I do not bridle my tongue, all my religion is vain? (Frederick William Faber)
Government, in the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government. View quote
William Lyon Mackenzie King
The Senate is indeed a deliberative body, and that quality serves the nation well. A slow-moving government helps us maintain a stable government. But slow moving is not the same as immobile. View quote
John Danforth
The government have only a small majority in the House of Commons. I want to make it quite clear that this will not affect our ability to govern. Having been charged with the duties of Government we intend to carry out those duties. View quote
Harold Wilson
I think Churchill would be appalled at the Thatcher government. View quote
Edward Heath
We have had eight years of consistent and persistent attacks on those four years in government - and on me, personally, but that does not matter - by people who were collectively responsible for those four years. View quote
Edward Heath
Although I am still in favour of a National Government in these difficult times, and shall probably be found in the great majority of cases in the Government Lobby, there are some issues that have arisen, or are likely to arise, upon which I am unable to give the Government the support which it has, perhaps, the right to expect from those receiving the Government Whip. It occurs to me, therefore, that it would perhaps be more satisfactory if I was no longer regarded as being among the supporters of the present Administration. View quote
Harold Macmillan
Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking. View quote
Clement Attlee
A change in the form of government, why should that make a difference in the way he lived? View quote
Kim Stanley Robinson
Money equals power; power makes the law; and law makes government. View quote
Kim Stanley Robinson
If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. (Henry David Thoreau)
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
The only government that I recognize--and it matters not how few are at the head of it, or how small its army--is that power thatestablishes justice in the land, never that which establishes injustice. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
I ignore polling as a method of government. I think that shows a certain weakness of mind - an inability to chart a course whichever way the wind blows, whichever way the media encourages the people to go, you follow. If you can't force or are unwilling to force your people to follow you, with or without threats, you are not a leader. View quote
Lee Kuan Yew
Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government. View quote
Lee Kuan Yew