“The government is not God. It does not have the right to take away that which it can’t return even if it wants to.”

—  Anton Chekhov, book The Bet

The Bet (1889)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The government is not God. It does not have the right to take away that which it can’t return even if it wants to." by Anton Chekhov?
Anton Chekhov photo
Anton Chekhov222
Russian dramatist, author and physician 1860–1904

Related quotes

Brandon Sanderson photo

“We want what we can’t have, even when we have no right to demand it.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Firefight

C.G. Jung photo

“You can take away a man's gods, but only to give him others in return.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

p 63
The Undiscovered Self (1958)

Jiang Yi-huah photo

“If the government does not adjust the electricity rate, then even God could not operate Taipower.”

Jiang Yi-huah (1960) Taiwanese politician

Jiang Yi-huah (2013) cited in " Ma and I try not to let each other down: Jiang http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2013/08/15/386428/Ma-and.htm" on The China Post, 15 August 2013

Muhammad Iqbál photo

“"Muhammad of Arabia ascended the highest Heaven and returned. I swear by God that if I had reached that point, I should never have returned." These are the words of a great Muslim saint, 'AbdulQuddës of Gangoh. In the whole range of Sufi literature it will be probably difficult to find words which, in a single sentence, disclose such an acute perception of the psychological difference between the prophetic and the mystic types of consciousness. The mystic does not wish to return from the repose of "unitary experience"; and even when he does return, as he must, his return does not mean much for mankind at large.”

Muhammad Iqbál (1877–1938) Urdu poet and leader of the Pakistan Movement

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/prose/english/reconstruction/index.htm

Pietro Metastasio photo

“To take away life is a power which the vilest of the earth have in common; to give it belongs to gods and kings alone.”

Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782) Italian poet and librettist (born 3 January 1698, died 12 April 1782)

Il torre altrui la vita
È facoltà commune
Al più vil della terra; il darla è solo
De' Numi, e de' Regnanti.
La Clemenza di Tito (1734), Act III, scene 7.

Alan García photo

“And thirdly, [we have] to defeat the absurd pantheist ideologies that believe that the walls are gods and the air is a god. In the end, to return to such primitive forms of religiosity where one is told, “don’t touch this hill because it is an Apu and is filled with millennia-old spirit,” and who knows what else. Well, if we reach that point, we wouldn’t do anything, much less mining. Don’t touch those fish because they are creatures of god and expressions of the god Poseidon. We would return to this, let’s say, primitive animism. Right? I think that we need more education [of these people], but that is long-term work that just can’t be fixed right away.”

Alan García (1949–2019) Peruvian politician

Alan García in an interview with Cecilia Valenzuela (channel Willax) in January 2011, translation by Carwil without Borders, 27 June 2011 https://woborders.wordpress.com/tag/peru/

Harold Wilson photo

“We have taken steps which have not been taken by any other democratic government in the world. We are taking steps with regard to prices and wages which no other government, even in wartime, has taken.”

Harold Wilson (1916–1995) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in the White House (29 July 1966), quoted in The Times (30 July 1966), p. 1.
Prime Minister

Frederick William Robertson photo

“There is a power in the soul, quite separate from the intellect, which sweeps away or recognizes the marvelous, by which God is felt. Faith stands serenely far above the reach of the atheism of science. It does not rest on the wonderful, but on the eternal wisdom and goodness of God. The revelation of the Son was to proclaim a Father, not a mystery. No science can sweep away the everlasting love which the heart feds, and which the intellect does not even pretend to judge or recognize.”

Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) British writer and theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 220.

Michael Foot photo

“I am bitterly opposed to any form of legislation, particularly legislation introduced by a Labour Government, which involves an element of colour bar. It is an appalling thing to have happened. I want to see us returning as swiftly as possible to a situation where we wipe away this stain on the reputation of the Labour movement.”

Michael Foot (1913–2010) British politician

Source: Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1965/nov/23/schedule-acts-continued-till-end-of#column_370 in the House of Commons (23 November 1965)

“True ideology has vanished, replaced by fear and fantasy. The right wing wants corporate control and a return to a past that never existed. The left wing wants government control and a future that will never exist.”

John Twelve Hawks book Spark

Spark (2014)
Context: True ideology has vanished, replaced by fear and fantasy. The right wing wants corporate control and a return to a past that never existed. The left wing wants government control and a future that will never exist. Both groups lose sight of the essential questions: how can the individual speak and think and create freely? New ideas are the only evolutionary force that will save us from destruction.

Related topics