Government quotes

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Henry_Brooks_Adams

State Hostility

“The hostility of the state would be assured toward any system or science that might not strengthen its arm.”
  • Source: Henry Brooks Adams, In the Degradation of the Democratic Dogma (1919), 129.

John_Adams

Study

“The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”
  • Source: John Adams in a letter to wife Abigail Adams (12 May 1780).
Keywords: Study_quotes Science_quotes Government_quotes Legislation_quotes Administration_quotes Negotiation_quotes Political_quotes War_quotes Liberty_quotes Mathematics_quotes Philosophy_quotes Geography_quotes Natural_History_quotes Naval_quotes Navigation_quotes Commerce_quotes Agriculture_quotes Art_quotes Painting_quotes Poetry_quotes Music_quotes Architecture_quotes Statuary_quotes Tapestry_quotes Porcelain_quotes

Winston Churchill

Democracy

“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.”
  • Source: Winston Churchill. Speech delivered 1947-11-11 to the U.K. House of Commons.
Keywords: Pretend_quotes Democracy_quotes Perfect_quotes Wise_quotes Worst_quotes Form_quotes Government_quotes Try_quotes Time_quotes

Peter_Drucker

Big Government

“No matter how deeply wedded one may be to the free enterprise system (and I, for one, am wedded for life), one has to accept the need for positive government; one has to consider government action on a sizable scale as desirable rather than as a necessary evil.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World”, New York: Harper & Row, 1959. p. 178.
Keywords: Matter_quotes Deep_quotes Wed_quotes Free_quotes Enterprise_quotes System_quotes Life_quotes Acceptance_quotes Need_quotes Positive_quotes Government_quotes Consider_quotes Size_quotes Scale_quotes Desire_quotes Necessary_quotes Evil_quotes Action_quotes

Surviving Government

“Through systematic terror, through indoctrination, through systematic manipulation of stimulus, reward, and punishment, we can today break man and convert him into brute animal... The first step toward survival is therefore to make government legitimate again by attempting to deprive it of these powers... by international action to ban such powers.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World”, New York: Harper & Row, 1959. p. 258.
Keywords: Systematic_quotes Terror_quotes Indoctrinate_quotes Manipulate_quotes Stimulate_quotes Reward_quotes Punish_quotes Today_quotes Break_quotes Man_quotes Conversion_quotes Brute_quotes Animal_quotes First_quotes Step_quotes Survival_quotes Make_quotes Government_quotes Legitimate_quotes Attempt_quotes Deprive_quotes Power_quotes International_quotes Action_quotes Ban_quotes

Dwight_D_Eisenhower

Military-Industrial Complex

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
  • Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell address (17 January 1961).
Keywords: Government_quotes Guard_quotes Acquire_quotes Unwarranted_quotes Influence_quotes Military_quotes Defense_quotes Industrial_quotes Complex_quotes Potential_quotes Disaster_quotes Rise_quotes Misplace_quotes Power_quotes Existence_quotes Persistence_quotes Weight_quotes Combination_quotes Danger_quotes Freedom_quotes Liberty_quotes Democracy_quotes Process_quotes Grant_quotes Assumption_quotes Alert_quotes Knowledge_quotes Citizen_quotes Compel_quotes Machine_quotes Peace_quotes Methodology_quotes Goal_quotes Security_quotes Prosperity_quotes Together_quotes Cooperation_quotes Regulation_quotes

Future of Society

“As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”
  • Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell address (17 January 1961).
Keywords: Society_quotes Future_quotes Government_quotes Impulse_quotes Today_quotes Plunder_quotes Convenience_quotes Resource_quotes Tomorrow_quotes Mortgage_quotes Material_quotes Asset_quotes Family_quotes Risk_quotes Loss_quotes Spirituality_quotes Political_quotes Heritage_quotes Democracy_quotes Survival_quotes Generation_quotes Insolvent_quotes Phantom_quotes

Samuel_C_Florman

Government Controls

“Government controls... stem more from common sense than they do from conscience. They are essentially a consequence of enlightened self-interest.”
  • Source: From the book “The Existential Pleasures of Engineering” by {Samuel C. Florman}. Second edition published in 1994 by {St. Martin's Press}, New York, NY. First edition published in 1976. Kindle edition published in 2023. E-book ISBN 978-1466842366. Chapter 3, page 27.
Keywords: Government_quotes Control_quotes Stem_quotes Common_quotes Sense_quotes Conscience_quotes Consequence_quotes Enlighten_quotes Self-Interest_quotes

Yuval_Noah_Harari

Majority Dictatorship

“Supporters of strongmen often don’t see this process as antidemocratic. They are genuinely baffled when told that electoral victory doesn’t grant them unlimited power. Instead, they see any check on the power of an elected government as undemocratic. However, democracy doesn’t mean majority rule; rather, it means freedom and equality for all. Democracy is a system that guarantees everyone certain liberties, which even the majority cannot take away.”
  • Source: Yuval Noah Harari writing in his book ‘Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI’. Published in 2024 by Random House. Kindle edition. Chapter 5 page 123. ISBN 978-0593734247.
Keywords: Supporter_quotes Strongman_quotes See_quotes Process_quotes Antidemocratic_quotes Baffle_quotes Electoral_quotes Victory_quotes Grant_quotes Unlimited_quotes Power_quotes Check_quotes Government_quotes Undemocratic_quotes Democracy_quotes Dictatorship_quotes Majority_quotes Rule_quotes Freedom_quotes Equality_quotes All_quotes System_quotes Guarantee_quotes Everyone_quotes Liberty_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Never Take First No

“Never, never, never take the first no. There are a certain number of people in business, industry, and government who always say no the first time you suggest something new, because they're lazy. And if they say yes, they're going to have to do something about it. But there's another group, they are even more dangerous in a way, who always say no the first time you say something new or different because they want to see if you believe in it enough to come back and ask again. So never take the first no. Always go back and ask again. As a matter of fact, I take about four no's and then I figure out how to get around the guy, but that technique comes with age. I ran into one of these guys... I noticed he always said no to things the first time. So the next time I went in to suggest something I said ‘let's pretend this is the second time I'm presenting this’. I said, ‘you always say no the first time’. And he looked at me with the funniest expression. I had him over the barrel from then on because I'd just go and say, ‘this is the fourth time I'm requesting this, let's just say yes now’. So never, never, never take the first no on a new concept. It's terribly important that we listen to our youngsters.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper in a lecture delivered 1982-08-19 at the NSA (National Security Agency). Video available at YouTube as “NSA Releases Internal 1982 Lecture by Computing Pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper”, channel The Black Vault Originals, online at <https://youtu.be/_bP14OzIJWI?si=wcUTl04b4p4scY6k>, posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. Quote in video at 26:28.
Keywords: Never_quotes First_quotes Yes_quotes No_quotes Certain_quotes People_quotes Business_quotes Industry_quotes Government_quotes Always_quotes Say_quotes Time_quotes Suggest_quotes New_quotes Lazy_quotes Do_quotes Another_quotes Group_quotes Dangerous_quotes Different_quotes See_quotes Believe_quotes Enough_quotes Come_quotes Back_quotes Ask_quotes Figure_quotes Around_quotes Guy_quotes Technique_quotes Age_quotes Pretend_quotes Second_quotes Present_quotes Look_quotes Funny_quotes Expression_quotes Over_quotes Barrel_quotes Fourth_quotes Request_quotes Now_quotes Concept_quotes Terrible_quotes Important_quotes Listen_quotes Youngster_quotes

Aldous_Huxley

Bayonets and Consent

“You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them. Even a despot cannot govern for any length of time without the consent of his subjects.”
  • Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Writers and Readers within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.
Keywords: Bayonet_quotes Sitting_quotes Despot_quotes Autocracy_quotes Government_quotes Time_quotes Consent_quotes Subject_quotes

Karl_Marx

Pinpricks and Clubs

“It is a bad thing to perform menial duties even for the sake of freedom; to fight with pinpricks, instead of with clubs. I have become tired of hypocrisy, stupidity, gross arbitrariness, and of our bowing and scraping, dodging, and hair-splitting over words. Consequently, the government has given me back my freedom.”
  • Source: Letter from Marx to Arnold Ruge (25 January 1843), after the Prussian government dissolved the newspaper Neue Rheinische Zeitung, of which Marx was the editor.
Keywords: Menial_quotes Freedom_quotes Fighting_quotes Violence_quotes Hypocrisy_quotes Stupidity_quotes Arbitrariness_quotes Government_quotes Language_quotes Words_quotes Subjugation_quotes Bad_quotes Duty_quotes Pinprick_quotes Club_quotes Tired_quotes Bowing_quotes Scrape_quotes Dodge_quotes Hair_quotes Split_quotes Give_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Science Thinking

“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of the human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we are up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along. It is a thing that Jefferson laid great stress on. It wasn't enough he said to enshrine some rights in a constitution or bill of rights. The people had to be educated and they have to practice their skepticism and education. Otherwise we don't run the government. The government runs us.”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:01:25 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Science_quotes Body_quotes Knowledge_quotes Thinking_quotes Truth_quotes Skeptical_quotes Interrogate_quotes Understanding_quotes Human_quotes Fallibility_quotes Question_quotes Tell_quotes Authority_quotes Grab_quotes Charlatan_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes Amble_quotes Jefferson_quotes Lay_quotes Stress_quotes Great_quotes Enshrine_quotes Rights_quotes Constitution_quotes Bill_quotes People_quotes Education_quotes Practice_quotes Run_quotes Government_quotes Way_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Markets and Coordination

“Markets aim to coordinate the decisions and behavior of multitudes of economic actors to guarantee that the quantity of brussels sprouts shipped to market bears some reasonable relation to the quantity that consumers will buy and eat, and that the price at which brussels sprouts can be sold bears a reasonable relation to the cost of producing them. Any society that is not a subsistence economy, but has substantial specialization and division of labor, needs mechanisms to perform this coordinative function. Markets are only one, however, among the spectrum of mechanisms of coordination on which any society relies. [central planning, bargaining and negotiation, business, government, education, balloting procedures]”
Keywords: Market_quotes Aim_quotes Coordination_quotes Decision_quotes Behavior_quotes Multitude_quotes Economics_quotes Actor_quotes Guarantee_quotes Quantity_quotes Brussels_Sprount_quotes Market_quotes Reason_quotes Relational_quotes Consumer_quotes Buy_quotes Eat_quotes Price_quotes Sell_quotes Cost_quotes Production_quotes Society_quotes Subsistence_quotes Economy_quotes Substance_quotes Specialization_quotes Division_quotes Labor_quotes Mechanism_quotes Performance_quotes Function_quotes Spectrum_quotes Reliance_quotes Centralization_quotes Plan_quotes Bargin_quotes Negotiation_quotes Business_quotes Government_quotes Education_quotes Ballot_quotes Procedure_quotes

Adam_Smith

Corporations not Necessary

“The pretence that corporations are necessary for the better government of the trade is without any foundation.”
  • Source: Adam Smith (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London, England: ‎W. Strahan and T. Cadell. Book I chapter X.
Keywords: Pretense_quotes Corporation_quotes Need_quotes Government_quotes Trade_quotes Foundation_quotes Better_quotes

Regulations

“Regulations may, no doubt, be considered as in some respects a violation of natural liberty. But those exertions of the natural liberty of a few individuals, which might endanger the security of the whole society, are, and ought to be, restrained by the laws of all governments, of the most free as well as of the most despotical.”
  • Source: Adam Smith (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London, England: ‎W. Strahan and T. Cadell. Book II chapter II.
Keywords: Regulation_quotes Consideration_quotes Violation_quotes Natural_quotes Liberty_quotes Exertion_quotes Individual_quotes Endanger_quotes Security_quotes Restraint_quotes Law_quotes Government_quotes Free_quotes Despotical_quotes Society_quotes

Israel_Zangwill

Democracy

“I recognize that Democracy is the least bad form of government. It is, of course, peculiarly liable to be exploited by demagogues, who, instead of uplifting the masses, use them as a means for lifting themselves up. But whereas there is no way of correcting a maleficent autocracy save by smashing it, a maleficent Democracy contains the cure for its own evils. For the people has a sound instinct in the long run.”
  • Source: Israel Zangwill. A speech. Address delivered before The American Jewish Congress, Carnegie Hall, New York City, October 14, 1923-10-14. Transcript published by The American Jewish Congress, New York. Entitled “Watchman, What of the Night?”.
Keywords: Democracy_quotes Least_quotes Bad_quotes Form_quotes Government_quotes Peculiar_quotes Liable_quotes Exploit_quotes Demagogue_quotes Uplift_quotes Mass_quotes Lift_quotes Way_quotes Correct_quotes Maleficent_quotes Autocracy_quotes Smash_quotes Contain_quotes Cure_quotes Evil_quotes People_quotes Sound_quotes Instinct_quotes Long_quotes Run_quotes
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