Politics and Government Quotes
Top 35 Politics and Government
Quotes
No 1 (Best quote!)
Government of the people by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American
president, pictured right.
No 2
Every country has the government it deserves.
- Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821), French writer and diplomat, pictured right.
No 3
Therefore, the good of man must be the end [i.e. objective] of the science of politics.
- Aristotle (384–322 BC),
Greek philosopher, pictured right.
Other views on the purpose of government are:
The happiness of society is the end of government.
- John Adams (1735–1826), pictured right, American
president
The ultimate aim of government is... to free every man from fear.
- Benedict (or Baruch)
Spinoza (1632-77) , pictured right, Dutch philosopher
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other
third,
- Voltaire (1694–1778), pictured
right, French writer and philosopher
It is the duty of government to make it difficult for people to do wrong, easy to do right,
- William Gladstone (1809-1898), pictured
right, British prime minister
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
- Edmund Burke (1729-97),
pictured right, Irish-born British philosopher and politician
The first duty of government is to see that people have food, fuel and clothes. The second, that they have means
of moral and intellectual education.
- John Ruskin (1819-1900), pictured
right, English writer and philosopher
No 4
The best government is that which governs least.
- John L. O'Sullivan (1813–95), pictured right, American journalist and diplomat, pictured
right.
Henry David
Thoreau (1817-62), pictured right, in his essay, Civil Disobedience (1849), put it like this:
I heartily accept the motto, ‘That government is best which governs least’…Carried out, it finally amounts to
this, which I also believe, - ‘That government is best which governs not at all’.
No 5
A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial
purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.
- John Stuart Mill, pictured
right, On Liberty (1859)
No 6
Tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right.
- John Locke (1632-1704), English
philosopher, pictured right.
No 7
No state can exist without the confidence of the people.
- Confucius (551–479 BC), Chinese
philosopher, pictured right.
Similarly Edmund Burke (1729–97),
pictured right, the Irish born British politician and philosopher, argues that you can’t successfully govern people
by force:
A nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered.
No 8
Taxation without representation is tyranny.
- James Otis (1725–83), American politician, pictured right.
No 9
Politics is the art of the possible.
- Otto von Bismarck (1815–98), pictured right, German leader.
No 10
Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy
necessary,
- Reinhold
Niebuhr (1892–1971)), pictured right, American theologian.
No 11
In politics the middle way is none at all.
- John Adams (1735–1826), American president,
pictured right.
No 12
Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking,
- Clement Attlee (1883–1967)), pictured right,
British prime minister.
No 13
Governments need both shepherds and butchers.
- Voltaire (1694–1778), French
writer and philosopher, pictured right.
R. A. (‘Rab’) Butler (1902–82)), pictured right, the British politician, agrees:
In politics you must always keep running with the pack. The moment that you falter and they sense that you are
injured, the rest will turn on you like wolves
No 14
Information is the currency of democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American
president, pictured right.
No 15
He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
(from the 1905 play Major Barbara)
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), pictured right, Irish writer.
No 16
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close
resemblance to the first.
- Ronald Reagan (1911–2004), American
president, pictured right.
No 17
All political revolutions, not affected by foreign conquest, originate in moral revolutions.
- John Stuart
Mill (1806-73), English philosopher (pictured right).
No 18
Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
- Mao Zedong (1893–1976), Chinese Communist
leader, pictured right.
Mao also says something similar:
Political power grows out of the barrel of a
gun
No 19
A week is a long time in politics.,
- Harold Wilson (1916–95), British prime minister, pictured right.
No 20
Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
- Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), French president, pictured right.
No 21
Let the people rule. (political campaign slogan)
- Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)), pictured right,
American president.
No 22
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is
liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), pictured
right, the American president.
No 23
The real safeguard of democracy... is education.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945),
pictured right, American president.
No 24
Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the
inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.
- Harry S. Truman (1864-1972), pictured right,
American president.
No 25
Nothing that can be morally wrong can be politically right.
- William Gladstone (1809-98), pictured
right, British prime minister.
No 26
Less government in business and more business in government.
- Henry Ford (1863-1947), pictured right, American
car maker.
No 27
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
pictured right, the American president.
No 28
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness,
- Thomas (Tom)
Paine (1737-1809), pictured right, English philosopher.
No 29
There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses,
- Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), pictured right,
American president.
No 30
I wish to be a Member of Parliament to have my share of doing good and resisting evil.
- Edmund Burke (1729-97),
pictured right, Irish-born British Member of Parliament (inscribed on his statue in Bristol, England).
No 31
Government is the strongest of which every man feels a part.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
pictured right, the American president.
No 32
Government even in its best state is but a necessary
evil.
Thomas
Paine (1737-1809), English philosopher, pictured
right.
No 33
Government is not the solution to a problem.
Government is the problem.
- Ronald Reagan (1911–2004),
pictured right, the American president, agrees:
No 34
If you want to succeed in politics, you must keep
your conscience well under control.
- David Lloyd George (1863-1945),
Welsh-born British prime minister, pictured right.
No 35
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding
it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.
- Groucho
Marx (1890-1977), pictured right, American comedian and film and
TV star.
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