George Mason (1725–1792) American delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention
Article 14
Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
“Secrecy is an instrument of conspiracy; it ought not, therefore, to be the system of a regular government.”
On Publicity http://books.google.com/books?id=AusJAAAAIAAJ&q="Secresy+is+an+instrument+of+conspiracy+it+ought+not+therefore+to+be+the+system+of+a+regular+government"&pg=PA315#v=onepage from The Works of Jeremy Bentham volume 2, part 2 (1839)
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Jeremy Bentham30
British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer 1748–1832Related quotes
Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States
Source: Nemesis Games (2015), Chapter 13 (p. 140)
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
"The Quantum State of the Universe", Nuclear Physics (1984) <!-- B239, p. 258 -->
Context: Many people would claim that the boundary conditions are not part of physics but belong to metaphysics or religion. They would claim that nature had complete freedom to start the universe off any way it wanted. That may be so, but it could also have made it evolve in a completely arbitrary and random manner. Yet all the evidence is that it evolves in a regular way according to certain laws. It would therefore seem reasonable to suppose that there are also laws governing the boundary conditions.
“By making everything secure [governments] have degraded the quality of secrecy.”
Heather Brooke (1970) American journalist
Attributed, In the Media <br class="br">Source: Financial Times http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9098a06a-9c1c-11df-a7a4-00144feab49a.html#axzz45lPGQfQg - "Online leaks: A digital deluge" by Richard Waters, 30 July 2010.
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer
Source: Constitutional Code; For the Use All Nations and All Governments Professing Liberal Opinions Volume 1
George Mason (1725–1792) American delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention
Remarks on Annual Elections (1775)
“It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.”
Donald Rumsfeld (1932) U.S. Secretary of Defense
As quoted in The Chicago Tribune (13 April 1966)
1960s
Patrick Henry (1736–1799) attorney, planter, politician and Founding Father of the United States
As quoted in The Best Liberal Quotes Ever : Why the Left is Right (2004) by William P. Martin. Though widely attributed to Henry, this statement has not been sourced to any document before the 1990s and appears to be at odds with his beliefs as a strong opponent of the adoption of the US Constitution.
Misattributed
Richard Dawkins book The Selfish Gene
Source: The Selfish Gene (1976, 1989), Ch. 5. Aggression: stability and the selfish machine
“Governments, by their nature, are instruments of privilege.”
Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) American libertarian businessman
Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, “Unlimited Government” (Dec. 29, 1961).