Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1141-1160] of 1384 Government quotesGovernment QuotesGovernment Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes In the twentieth century the number of people killed by their own governments under authoritarian regimes is four times the number killed in all this century’s wars combined.~ John Shattuck A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.~ George Bernard Shaw The American Constitution, one of the few modern political documents drawn up by men who were forced by the sternest circumstances to think out what they really had to face, instead of chopping logic in a university classroom.~ George Bernard Shaw Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.~ George Bernard Shaw Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.~ George Bernard Shaw There is as much chance of repealing the 18th Amendment as there is for a humming-bird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail.~ Morris Sheppard Give them a corrupt House of Lords, give them a venal House of Commons, give they a tyrannical Prince, give them a truckling court, and let me have but an unfettered press. I will defy them to encroach a hair’s breadth upon the liberties of England.~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan A committee is a group of individuals who all put in a perfectly good color, and it comes out gray.~ Alan Sherman The few who could understand the system will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of the people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.~ John Sherman The Government made by a number of Sovereign States.~ Roger Sherman The only ends for which governments are constituted, and obedience rendered to them, are the obtaining of justice and protection; and they who cannot provide for both give the people a right of taking such ways as best please themselves, in order to their own safety.~ Algernon Sidney There is no 'slippery slope' toward loss of liberty, only a long staircase where each step down must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders.~ Alan K. Simpson In a free society, standards of public morality can be measured only by whether physical coercion -- violence against persons or property -- occurs. There is no right not to be offended by words, actions or symbols.~ Richard E. Sincere, Jr. Here in America, government began as a tool to assure freedom. It gradually turned into a hideously expensive political toy designed to redistribute your wealth and control most aspects of your business and private life.~ Mark Skousen Today’s political leaders demonstrate their low opinion of the public with every social law they pass. They believe that, if given the right to chose, the citizenry will probably make the wrong choice. Legislators do not think any more in terms of persuading people; they feel the need to force their agenda on the public at the point of a bayonet and the barrel of a gun, in the name of the IRS, the SEC, the FDA, the DEA, the EPA, or a multitude of other ABCs of government authority.~ Mark Skousen It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. ... They are themselves always, and without exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs.~ Adam Smith Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.~ Adam Smith The man of system…is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it… He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board. He does not consider that in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it.~ Adam Smith The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would ... assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.~ Adam Smith A true party-man hates and despises candour.~ Adam Smith Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print