Quotes about government
page 70

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

1880s, Letter to Mary Gladstone (1881)

Faith, Law

“I became an MLA because I could no longer stand idly by while I learned more and more about how the previous government was hurting the people I loved. They were hurting members of my family, my community, my neighbours, my colleagues, my friends — and hurt they have been.”

Bowinn Ma (1985) Canadian politician

Bowinn Ma's Response to the September 2017 Throne Speech

Love, People, Family, Communication

“It appears first, that liberty is a natural, and government an adventitious right, because all men were originally free.”

Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846) English abolitionist

An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species, particularly the African, translated from a Latin Dissertation, p. 54 (1788) https://books.google.com/books?id=pBOe7105MhMC&pg=PA54

Men, Nature, Appearance

“Africa is not a dirty continent, it is just filled with disorganized government figures.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Dictatorship is when the government can easily control and manipulate citizens' demands.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“History supplies us with examples of almost every possible modification of government.”

William Smith O'Brien (1803–1864) Irish nationalist politician (1803-1864)

p. 16 https://books.google.com/books?id=4VUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA16 Principles of Government: Or Meditations in Exile (1856), Chapter II. On Centralized and Local Administration

History

“The motivation for me as an activist is the belief that no one is subordinate to another. The government is merely an agent of the people. We lend authority to it, and when it performs badly, we reserve the right to take it back.”

Glacier Kwong (1996) Hong Kong human rights activist

Hong Kong’s angry young millennials: an interview with Joshua Wong https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/hong-kong-angry-young-millennials-interview-with-joshua-wong/ (1 November 2015)

People, Motivation

“We maintain that it is not only the prerogative but it is also the duty of the government to limit the amount of profits acquired by any industry.”

Charles Coughlin (1891–1979) Catholic priest, radio commentator

“Share the Profits with Labor” speech (Dec. 2, 1934) p. 52
A Series of Lectures on Social Justice, 1935

“Most governments take advantage of their scientists and listen to them. They don't undermine them and attack them.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

As quoted in "Bill Gates slams U.S. on Covid: Most governments listen to their scientists, not attack them" (14 October 2020) https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/14/bill-gates-slams-us-on-covid-most-governments-listen-to-scientists.html 2020s

“Sometimes the government has to answer questions with ambiguous language.”

Jason Kenney (1968) Canadian politician and 18th Premier of Alberta

In an interview with Macleans https://www.macleans.ca/politics/jason-kenney-on-life-after-ottawa-and-uniting-albertas-right/ (28 September 2016) 2010s

Question

“What would you cut out of government expenditures?”

Leonard E. Read (1898–1983) American academic

I cannot answer that question. Ask me what I would leave in. Leonard Read Journals, October 17, 1951 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1951/leonard-e-read-journal-october-1951/

“I have never met a single European who had a clean, clear-cut understanding of the principles of strictly limited government.”

Leonard E. Read (1898–1983) American academic

Source: Leonard Read Journals, July 1, 1949 https://history.fee.org/leonard-read-journal/1949/leonard-e-read-journal-july-1949/

Understanding

“Some people wanted to know what the policy of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba was. Very well, then, this is our policy.”

Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

ovation
At the United Nations (1960)

People

“There is no longer a single government that colonizes. There is only individual colonization.”

Jules Van Praet (1806–1887) Belgian diplomat

Source: All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 4. Viceroys without colonial aspirations? Jules Van Praet (1806-1887) http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#2.%20 The colonization of Santo Tomas in Guatemala marked a turning point in Belgium's young colonial history. The fiasco in Guatemala traumatized Belgian politics and also played a part in the increasing reticence of Van Praet, who passed on to the Duke of Brabant (Leopold II) the liberal criticisms of Minister Frère-Orban against the old-fashioned techniques of colonization with privileged societies or differential systems. JANSSENS, G. STENGERS, J. New light on Leopold I and II. The Goffinet Archive, 253.

“If I do not promise Belgium a splendid government like that which founded its independence, nor a great King like him whom we mourn, then at least i believe to be a Belgian King in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to the country.”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

Source: Bulletin Officiel de Congo Belge - Années 1908 et 1909, page 174. https://archive.org/details/bulletin-officiel-de-congo-belge-annees-1908-et-1909/page/n373/mode/2up King Leopold II in a speech on 17 december 1865.

Life, Soul, Heart, Country

“I am not an activist because there is any glory or cash to it and not because I'm trying to antagonize the government... I'm doing it because it's a job that's got to be done”

Beatrice Mtetwa (1957) Zimbabwean human rights lawyer

Source: Beatrice Mtetwa HRD Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/beatrice-mtetwa

“It is the vaccine or vaccines that will win the war against COVID-19, not the government or mythological beliefs.”

P. Chidambaram (1945) Indian politician

Source: Jan 2021 https://twitter.com/PChidambaram_IN/status/1350733987640086530

War

“People who live in totalitarian countries experience educational brainwashing and real fear of the government. They are not brave enough to stand out and express different opinions.”

Rebel Pepper (1973) Chinese political cartoonist

"Rebel with a cause: An interview with China’s most famous political cartoonist" in SAGE Journals https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306422016657031a (29 June 2016)

People, Education, Fear, Country

“English government has a special claim to be studied. It developed in comparative freedom from outside interference, producing a curious blend of decentralized and popular freedom with strong, efficient, and centralized administration.”

Geoffrey Elton (1921–1994) historian

Source: Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, Tudor Revolution in Government (1953)

Study, Freedom, Strong

“Rather will it be a public of inherently free individuals w'ho can keep an individual purpose, learnt in the fields of intense suffering and experience. Such a public are likely to accept and wield responsibility in respect of their own government and their own religion and education.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XXXV The Opportunity Today

Education, Religion, Suffering

“Nations will for a long time insist upon a large measure of self-government, but when they begin to see the benefits which accrue from each successive international co-operative development, they will finally grasp the new principle of synthesis, and the age of separation will be over for ever.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

Age, Time, Success

“It has seen the people themselves taking increasing individual and collective action in order to obtain a world organization or government, a universal religion, or a universal language.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

People, World, Religion, Universe

“[People].. would have become aware of the purpose and presence of God in every part of creation and in themselves, to such an extent that they would be incapable of separating ‘religion’ from science, education or government. The integration would have become complete.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter IV The Spiritual Cabinet

God, People, Education, Religion

“Surely the human race is at last reaching the stage of adulthood — that adulthood of character which does not depend upon physical age at all — so that it is deliberately embracing responsibility for its own development and government, and trying to face up to the causes of its failures?”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Age, Failure, Dependency, Adulthood

“There isn’t any difference between the totalitarian Russian Government and the Hitler government and the Franco government in Spain. They are all alike. They are police state governments.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

Source: News Conference at Key West, March 30, 1950

“We need to respect the independent choices of model of technology management and of public policies made by countries, and their right to participating in the global technological governance system as equals.”

Wang Qishan (1948) Chinese politician

Source: "China’s Vice President Decries Technological Hegemony" in The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-vice-president-urges-governments-to-address-their-domestic-problems-11548258999 (23 January 2019)

Country

“Social justice warriors who are fond of governing by hashtag like to say that silence is violence. And we know that because it rhymes.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Source: Sen. Chris Coons and Caitlin Flanagan, Natural Immunity, (2021)

Justice, Silence

“In terms of economic achievements we still need better results - still unemployment and poverty is a main concern for the government of Mongolia, so we have to focus now more on economic development issues.”

Nambaryn Enkhbayar (1958) Mongolian politician, Leader of Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party

Source: "Mongolia, US Sign Developmental Aid Agreement" in Voice of America https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-10-23-voa2/405655.html (1 November 2009)

“Everything that passes in the world, proves to us, in the clearest manner, that it is not governed by an intelligent being.”

Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789) French-German author, philosopher, encyclopedist

Good Sense, or Natural Ideas vs. Supernatural

World, Intelligence

“The proper function of government does not include government's intrusion into economic activities;..it should.”

Leonard E. Read (1898–1983) American academic

“If you cannot afford to do justice speedily and well, you may as well shut up the Exchequer and confess that you have no right to raise taxes for the protection of the subject, for justice is the first and primary end of all government.”

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions

Source: Quoted in George W. E. Russell in Prime Ministers and Some Others, 1918, p. 23

Justice

“Are we in danger of becoming a nation of cry-babies? Are we becoming a people who panic at the least sign at adversity? Are we becoming a people with a faith not in God or in ourselves, but in a paternalistic government to shelter us from all of life's hardships and misfortunes?”

Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American columnist, journalist, and writer

Source: Memorandum to Robert T. Hartmann https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0204/1511691.pdf (1976)

Life, God, People, Faith

“It's absolutely correct that climate and environmental movements should focus on systemic change and not on bamboo toothbrushes. It's mainly governments who control energy infrastructure. And yes governments should support community-owned energy initiatives.”

Carola Rackete (1988) German merchant navy captain

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/CaroRackete/status/1274253317133271043 (20 June 2020)

Communication, Support, Change

“Government will always be conducted for the benefit of those who govern. If the few alone govern, the interests of the few only will be provided for; if the people themselves have a share in the government, the interests of the many will be consulted.”

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions

Source: Essays and Sketches of Life and Character (1820), p. 136

People

“We are supporting Saudi Arabia while they inflict unthinkable human rights violations on the Yemeni people. Congress must do its job and stop providing military support and arm sales to the Saudi government.”

Ro Khanna (1976) U.S. Representative from California

Source: Twitter post https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1080272966250708992 (2 January 2019)

People, Support

“Let us stop this system of putting people in positions just because of the contacts they have. That is a major reason why we remain a poorly governed and undeveloped country.”

Grace Alele-Williams (1932–2022) mathematician

Source: https://guardian.ng/features/how-to-have-more-female-vice-chancellors-in-nigerian-varsities/Prof Grace Alele on allowing qualified people in position regardless of the gender.

People, Country

“Judiciary ready to help the new government in corruption fight.”

Ebrahim Raisi (1960) Iranian president

Source: 5 August 2021, Speech after oath taking ceremony in Tehran https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/463741/Raisi-officially-takes-oath-of-office-as-Iran-s-president

Help, Fight

“I’m pretty pessimistic about the Chinese government because I think there is no balance within it or any institution, country or organization that can hold it accountable. So, I don’t know what the future will be.”

Nanfu Wang (1985) director and filmmaker

Source: "It Didn’t Take Long for Me to Feel Empathy: Nanfu Wang on In the Same Breath" in Roger Ebert https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/it-didnt-take-long-for-me-to-feel-empathy-nanfu-wang-on-in-the-same-breath (17 August 2021)

Thinking, Future, Country

“We consider ourselves an ally and friend (of the United States), although some officials in this government don't understand this in its true dimension.”

Alejandro Giammattei (1956) President of Guatemala

Source: Alejandro Giammattei (2021) cited in: " Guatemala backs Taipei: president https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/12/08/2003769213" in Taipei Times, 8 December 2021.

Understanding

“Anything said appears to be a confrontation between the government and the Church.”

Enrique Eguía Seguí (1962) Catholic bishop

Source: Buenos Aires bishop says ad limina visit is ‘pastoral and religious’ https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/15368/buenos-aires-bishop-says-ad-limina-visit-is-pastoral-and-religious (15 March 2009)

Appearance

“Don't try to fool me and act like you can do or say anything 'because we are a democracy...Do you misunderstand something? Today, I am the one makes the rules. Previous governments couldn't do that. But today, I made the rules [sic], and all of you have to follow them.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Source: Anti-Junta Protest in Khon Kaen, Despite Prayuth's Warnings http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1433764390 (8 June 2015)

Fools, Democracy

“We'll probably just execute them. You don't have to support the government, but you should report the truth.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Source: On how the government would deal with journalists who did not adhere to the government's laws https://web.archive.org/web/20210316002628/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-junta-media-idUSKBN0ML0RV20150325 (25 March 2015)

Truth, Support

“Agrarian reform is not the whim of a government or the program of a party. It is the product of the pressing need of all the peoples of the world...”

João Goulart (1918–1976) 24th President of Brazil

Source: João Goulart. Discursos Selecionados do Presidente João Goulart, 2010, FUNAG, 978-85-7631-193-5, 85, pt-br http://funag.gov.br/loja/download/641-Discursos_joao_goulart.pdf,

People, World

“The British Empire was the nearest thing there has ever been to a world government. Yet its mode of operation was a triumph of minimalism.”

Niall Ferguson (1964) British historian

Source: Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World (2003)

World

“We won’t even know if they've done anything, and so, they'll be dropped wherever the federal government wants to drop them, and they'll disappear into our society. We'll never know, until something bad happens, if we have a terrorist.”

Ken Paxton (1962) American politician

Source: Exclusive — TX AG Ken Paxton on Afghan Refugees: ‘We Don’t Know Whether They’re Vetted’ or ‘Terrorists’ https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/09/exclusive-tx-ag-ken-paxton-afghan-refugees-we-dont-know-whether-theyre-vetted-terrorists/ (9 September 2021)

“I am not implying that our entire Government is corrupt. I am saying that it is corrupt to the point that no-one is untouched by it.”

John McAfee (1945) American computer programmer and businessman

Source: on Twitter, 10 Jun 2019

“The government strongly and firmly encourages everyone to get vaccinated (against COVID-19 virus). We have enough doses for everyone.”

Manaouda Malachie politician in Cameroon

Source: Manaouda Malachie (2021) cited in " Fears, suspicion cloud vaccine takeup in Cameroon https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2021/12/750479/fears-suspicion-cloud-vaccine-takeup-cameroon" on The Straits Times, 1 December 2021.

“Don't make a mistake to vote for opposition candidates who sole aim is opposing government programs. This will mean that you won't receive the services you deserve.”

Robinah Nabbanja (1969) Ugandan politician and teacher

Source: Robinah Nabbanja (2021) cited in " Uganda: PM Nabbanja Stings "Unreliable" Nup's Nakweede in Kayunga Campaigns https://allafrica.com/stories/202112130435.html" on All Africa, 12 December 2021.

“Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first—the most basic—expression of Americanism. Thus the Founding Fathers saw it, and thus, with God's help, it will continue to be.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Source: From remarks recorded for the "Back to God" Program http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=10414 of the American Legion, which was broadcast over radio and television from 8:00 – 8:30 PM on 20 February 1955

Life, God, Way, Help

“People need to feel they belong to their country. Their need for community is most pronounced in a time of adversity. The people who are hit hardest by a depression, who feel that their children will suffer, look for loyalty from the rest of the community and the government. The present immigration programme, in its indifference to the feelings of the old Australians, erodes those loyalties. The multicultural policy, and its emphasis on what is different and on the rights of the new minority rather than the old majority, gnaws at that sense of solidarity that many people crave for.”

Geoffrey Blainey book All for Australia

All for Australia (1984)

Children, People, Feeling, Communication

“Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party — though they are quite numerous — is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters. The essence of political freedom depends not on the fanatics of 'justice', but rather on all the invigorating, beneficial, and detergent effects of dissenters. If 'freedom' becomes 'privilege', the workings of political freedom are broken.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

Die russische Revolution. Eine kritische Würdigung (1920) p. 109
This contains probably her most famous statement: Freiheit ist immer die Freiheit der Andersdenkenden, translated as "Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters."
Literally: Freedom is always the freedom of those who think differently.

Justice, Freedom, Dependency

“The models... (I) separated and divided powers; (II) implied limitations of government; (III) settled expectations; (IV) governmental regularity (V) preferred rights; (VI) equal protection; and (VII) structural justice.”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

American Constitutional Law (1978), Approaches to Constituitonal Analysis

Justice

“My government has no intention to acquire large loans from any country in the near future.”

Taneti Maamau (1960) Kiribati politician

Source: Taneti Maamau (2021) cited in " Kiribati's president's plans to raise islands in fight against sea-level rise https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/10/kiribatis-presidents-plans-to-raise-islands-in-fight-against-sea-level-rise" on The Guardian, 10 August 2021.

Future, Country

“I'm a Reagan Republican, a proponent of lower taxes, less government, free markets, free trade, defense readiness, and democratic internationalism.”

John McCain book The Restless Wave

2010s, 2018, The Restless Wave (2018)

“In a government which is emphatically stiled a government of laws, the least possible range ought to be left for the discretion of the judge.”

William Cranch (1769–1855) United States federal judge (1769-1855)

Source: Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States (1804) https://books.google.com/books?id=Wxm9qWvls8YC&pg=PR3

Law

“Nothing is more dangerous to good government than great power in improper hands.”

Calvin Coolidge book The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

Source: The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge (1929)

“I really look forward to being between the legislative branch of government and the executive branch of government — being a person that can facilitate a real strong, solid line of communication between the two bodies.”

Janice McGeachin (1963) American congresswoman in Idaho

Source: McGeachin talks plans going forward as Idaho’s new Lt. Governor https://www.eastidahonews.com/2018/11/mcgeachin-talks-plans-going-forward-as-idahos-new-lt-governor/ (November 12, 2018)

Communication, Strong, Personality

“Autocratic governments are masters of self-contradiction. They say one thing, do another.”

Alastair Reynolds book On the Steel Breeze

Source: On the Steel Breeze (2013), Chapter 22 (p. 253)

“The way you accomplish things is you focus on stuff where people are in agreement. What you do is seek common ground with people who are on the other side of the aisle and go get it done. What I found in Salem is about 80% was just the hard work of governing.”

Cliff Bentz (1952) American politician

Source: Bentz discusses wildfires, housing and uniting the country with Chieftain https://www.wallowa.com/news/local/bentz-discusses-wildfires-housing-and-uniting-the-country-with-chieftain/article_16f55588-1889-11eb-9dc1-dfde60328f0c.html (27 October 2020)

People, Way

“I knew from an early age that we had been vilely evicted from the Crimea, and that the Soviet government was bad.”

Mustafa Dzhemilev (1943) Leader of the Crimean Tatar National Movement

Source: "Правила жизни Мустафы Джемилева" https://esquire.ru/rules/5160-mustafa-dzhemilev/

Age

“Over the years of wrestling with the obstacles that stand between child and education, I have come to believe that government monopoly schools are structurally unreformable.”

John Taylor Gatto book Dumbing Us Down

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992), p. xxxvi

Education, School

“A large fraction of our total economy has grown up around providing service and counseling to inadequate people—and inadequate people are the main product of government compulsion schools.”

John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) American teacher, book author

The Exhausted School: Bending The Bars of Traditional Education, Berkeley Hills Books; 2 edition (2002) p. 53

People, School

“Governments want efficient technicians, not human beings, because human beings become dangerous to governments – and to organized religions as well. That is why governments and religious organizations seek to control education.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

Education, Religion

“Imperialism is an institution under which one nation asserts the right to seize the land or at least to control the government or resources of another people. It is an assertion of stark, bold aggression.”

John Thomas Flynn (1882–1964) American journalist

Source: As We Go Marching (1944), p. 213

People

“Military men, when confronted with the mutterings of disaffected taxpayers, always pointed out how good these government military expenditures were for business.”

John Thomas Flynn (1882–1964) American journalist

Source: As We Go Marching (1944), p. 104

Men, Business

“There's a right of self-defense here that's involved: We know the government has to respond, so we will not be subjected to these types of attacks in the future. But the response should be measured, restrained as much as possible, to protect innocent civilians. It should not just be military. We should pursue diplomatic ways, legal ways, any other ways we can address that.”

Joseph Fiorenza (1931–2022) US Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Bishops Write Bush to Back U.S. Efforts https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/us/a-nation-challenged-support-from-churches-bishops-write-bush-to-back-us-efforts.html (21 September 2001)

Way, Future

“Spontaneous rallies were used as a pretext for provoking civil unrest. Religious radicals, criminals, outright thugs, looters and petty hooligans filled the streets as if on cue. Socio-economic and socio-political demands were put on the back burner, they were forgotten. Next followed the hot phase, and armed fighters, who were biding their time, took over. The main goal of these events became clear – to undermine the constitutional system, destroy governance institutions and seize power. It is obvious now that these armed activities were coordinated from a single centre, and the carefully planned operation entered its decisive phase.”

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (1953) Kazakh politician

Source: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (2022) cited in: " Don’t Ignore All Sides of Russian Messaging https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/dont-ignore-all-sides-of-russian-messaging" in The Cipher Brief, 18 January 2022.

Decision, Time

“Because we cannot by ourselves give sufficient thanks to God, our creator, for the grace, honour, health and success that He has granted us thus far, nor amass sufficient merit to secure the continuation of His grace in the future… to beseech God to continue to raise us in virtue and good customs, to govern our dominions and subjects in peace, union and concord, and to guide our affairs to His honour, our wellbeing, and the prosperity, utility and tranquility of our said dominions and subjects.”

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) Holy Roman Emperor

God, Health, Peace, Success

“Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents... The whole blueprint of school procedure is Egyptian, not Greek or Roman. It grows from the theological idea that human value is a scarce thing, represented symbolically by the narrow peak of a pyramid.”

John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) American teacher, book author

Source: "I Quit, I Think" (1991)

School, Family, Home, History

“I fundamentally believe that disinformation becomes so easy to generate, because complexity overwhelms knowledge, that it's in people's interests, if you will, over the next decade, to build disinformation-generating systems. This is true for corporations, for marketing, for governments, and so forth."”

Eric Schmidt (1955) software engineer, businessman

Source: Eric Schmidt in dialogue with Julian Assange, June 2011 c.f When Google Met Wikileaks, p. 174

People, Knowledge

“An absolute majority doesn't mean absolute power. It doesn't mean governing alone. It's an increased responsibility.”

António Costa (1961) Prime Minister of Portugal

Source: António Costa (2022) cited in: " Portugal election: Socialists win unexpected majority https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60194375" in BBC News, 31 January 2022.

“Faith is service to our fellows. You receive faith, you share faith. Aside from water and food that the government provides, what the Church can also give is strengthening of faith.”

Gilbert Garcera (1959) Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Philippine prelate warns against volcano eruption 'fake news' https://www.ucanews.com/news/philippine-prelate-warns-against-volcano-eruption-fake-news/86998 (16 January 2020)

Faith, Food, Water

“Forgiveness is one thing, and no one is opposed to forgiving him, but he must also realize that actions have consequences, and one of those consequences is that the people have lost trust in him. This is what the people are asking. How are they going to be governed by someone whom they can't trust?”

Rubén González Medina (1949) Roman Catholic bishop

Source: Puerto Rican governor resigns amid massive protests https://www.catholicnews.com/update-puerto-rican-governor-resigns-amid-massive-protests/ (July 25, 2019)

People, Forgiveness

“Earth governments in moments of stress are not famous for being reasonable.”

Isaac Asimov book History

Source: Short fiction, The Early Asimov Book One (1972), History (p. 297)

“There is no doubt in my mind that, from the third-person point of view, monarchy is the most reasonable form of government. By embodying the state in a fragile human person, it captures the arbitrariness and the givenness of political allegiance, and so transforms allegiance into affection.”

Roger Scruton (1944–2020) English philosopher

The Meaning of Conservatism (2001), p. 193

Personality

“Let your desires be governed by reason.”
Appetitus rationi pareat.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

“They are not my forces. They are military forces that belong to the government.… I don't own them. I am [the] president. I don't own the country so they are not my forces.”

Bashar al-Assad (1965) President of Syria

Interview with Barbara Walters (7 Dec. 2011) on the military escalation of the Syrian conflict

Country

“In bringing forward this plan, the United States Government apparently counted on the cooperation of the Governments of the United Kingdom and France to confront the European countries in need of relief with the necessity of renouncing their inalienable right to dispose of their economic resources and to plan their national economy in their own way.”

Andrei Vyshinsky (1883–1954) Soviet politician

I covered it here but the above source is the official home of the speech. https://quotesexplained.com/necessity-of-renouncing-their-inalienable-right-andrei-vyshinsky/
Source: https://sites.temple.edu/immerman/vyshinsky-speech-to-u-n-general-assembly-2/

Way, Country

“In many Western countries, everyday Russophobia has become of an unprecedented nature, and, to our great regret, is encouraged by government circles in a number of countries.”

Sergey Lavrov (1950) Russian politician and Foreign Minister

"West has declared ‘total war’ on Russia: Lavrov" https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ukraines-zelensky-accuses-russia-of-genocide-in-donbas-onslaught-174101, Hurriyet Daily news, 27 May 2022 About the Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022

Nature, Country

“It may possibly be urged the shape of a culture—its mores, evaluations, family organizations, eating habits, living patterns, pedagogical methods, institutions, forms of government, and so forth—arise from the economic necessities of its technology.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Waldo

Waldo (p. 134)
Short fiction, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Family

“The one-party state is a marvelous instrument for a war of liberation but as a government system, in every country at every latitude, it has revealed the same defects; it represents only one point of view.”

Ahmed Ben Bella (1916–2012) First President of Algeria

"Ahmed Ben Bella: Revolutionary Internationalist " in CounterCurrents https://countercurrents.org/2020/11/ahmed-ben-bella-revolutionary-internationalist/ (11 March 2020)

War, Country

“Aggressive marketing of war affects people and they start thinking that war is acceptable. Governments and their propaganda supporters are fully responsible for the militaristic rhetoric on state-owned television channels.”

Dmitry Muratov (1961) Russian journalist and television presenter

War, People, Support, Thinking

“Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

1800s, First Inaugural Address (1801)

Angels, History, Question

“I am a German, but I am also, and always have been, a European and have always felt like a European. I have therefore long advocated an understanding with France; I did so, moreover, in the 1920s, during the severest crises, and also in the face of the Reich Government.”

Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German statesman, Federal Chancellor of Germany, politician (CDU)

Konrad Adenauer: Memoirs 1945-1953 (1966)

Understanding

“Things like freedom and liberty and constitutional protection and unalienable rights that are beyond the scope of government. Those type of things are the only things that will help us deal with some of the division in our country.”

Jody Hice (1960) Georgia Republican Congressman

Congressman Jody Hice: Religious Liberty and Good Business are Benefits of Republican Majority https://merionwest.com/2018/03/29/congressman-jody-hice-religious-liberty-and-good-business-are-benefits-of-republican-majority/ (29 March 2018)

Freedom, Help, Country

“I'd rather go to prison for the third time rather than let the current government [of Yulia Tymoshenko] assume power. It would cost the country less for one person to suffer than for the whole country to suffer.”

Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine

2009
Source: [2020-10-27, Янукович пожалел, что в третий раз не сел в тюрьму - Украина - TCH.ua, https://tsn.ua/ru/ukrayina/yanukovich-pozhalel-chto-v-tretii-raz-ne-sel-v-tyurmu.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20201027065326/https://tsn.ua/ru/ukrayina/yanukovich-pozhalel-chto-v-tretii-raz-ne-sel-v-tyurmu.html, 2020-10-27, 2022-06-12, web.archive.org]

Suffering, Time, Personality, Country

“One can make concessions to the enemy in relation, for instance, to the number of people in the government, as well as to the specific posts, qualifications and certain organisational forms accepted both by the enemy and ourselves.”

Kaysone Phomvihane (1920–1992) first General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (1955-1992)

Revolution in Laos: Practice and Prospects (1981) (excerpts)

People

“Democracy to me means government of the people, by the people and not government of the people, by men. Democracy by nature should be inclusive, with proportionate representation of most, if not all sections of the population of a country.”

Margaret Nasha (1947) Motswana politician

"One woman’s struggles" https://www.sundaystandard.info/ococaone-womanocos-strugglesoco/ (24 March 2014)

Men, People, Democracy, Nature

“How does it come about that we are said to be sold to the middle class, capitalism and the Government? But already our enemies dare no longer continue this accusation, so false and ridiculous it is.”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

“Fascismo’s Interests for the Working Classes” speech delivered at Prato della Marfisia in Ferrara (4 April 1921) p. 76
1920s, Mussolini as Revealed in his Political Speeches (November 1914—August 1923) (1923)

Falseness

“It’s a sorry excuse for a government anyway. It always gets back to the same old thing, power suckers sucking power.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Blue Mars (1996), Chapter 14, “Phoenix Lake” (p. 750)

“People in the streets, that’s the only thing governments are afraid of. Well, or term limits. Or free elections! Or assassination. Or being laughed at, ah, ha-ha-ha!”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Blue Mars (1996), Chapter 14, “Phoenix Lake” (pp. 746-747)

People

“A change in the form of government, why should that make a difference in the way he lived?”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Blue Mars (1996), Chapter 8, “The Green and the White” (p. 381)

Way, Change

“Money equals power; power makes the law; and law makes government.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Red Mars (1992), Chapter 6, “Guns Under the Table” (p. 394)

Money, Law

“The logic of the sanctions is arguably to starve the people and reduce the political consensus for the authorities and thereby overthrow the government. But as a Pastor, I see that people suffer from poverty and it doesn't seem to me that discussions about democracy are a priority for them.”

Joseph Tobji (1971) archeparch of Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo

Archbishop Tobji of Aleppo after the presidential election: "Sanctions cause hunger and do not lead to more democracy" http://www.fides.org/en/news/70210-ASIA_SYRIA_Archbishop_Tobji_of_Aleppo_after_the_presidential_election_Sanctions_cause_hunger_and_do_not_lead_to_more_democracy (28 May 2021)

People, Democracy, Suffering

“Self-government is better than good government.”

Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836–1908) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Widely attributed to Campbell-Bannerman since at least 1910 https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1910/jul/12/parliamentary-franchise-women-bill-1. However it appears unattributed earlier https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rIFPAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22self-government+is+better%22, and the concept pre-dates https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lFI3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA403&lpg=PA403&dq=%22your+public-spirited+advocates+of+good+government,+I+do+find+sneering+upon+the+self-government+of+the+Christian%22 Campbell-Bannerman. Compare Gandhi: "Good government is no substitute for self-government." Young India (2 September 1920), p. 1 Attributed

“Media freedom plays an indispensable role in informing the public, holding governments accountable, and telling stories that otherwise would not be told. The U.S. will continue to stand up for the brave and necessary work of journalists around the world.”

Antony Blinken (1962) American government official and 71th U.S. Secretary of State

Quoted in British Court Trusts US to Protect Assange Even Though CIA Plotted to Kill Him https://truthout.org/articles/british-court-trusts-us-to-protect-assange-even-though-cia-plotted-to-kill-him/, Marjorie Cohn, Truthout (15 December 2021)

World, Freedom

“The regime’s brutality and repression of the Syrian people, who have called for freedom and a representative government, not only endangers the Syrian people themselves, but also generates instability throughout the region.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Actions of the Government of Syria https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/09/letter-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-of-representatives-and-the-president-of-the-senate-on-the-continuation-of-the-national-emergency-with-respect-to-the-actions-of-the-government-of-syria-2/ 2022, May 2022

People, Freedom

“The soul of any civilization on earth has ever been and still is Art and Religion, but neither has ever been found in commerce, in government of the police.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

A Testament (1957)

Religion, Art, Soul

“No government has yet been able to repeal natural laws, though they keep trying.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Farnham's Freehold

Source: Farnham's Freehold (1964), Chapter 2 (p. 35)

Law, Nature

“We do not believe in government through the voting booth. The Spanish national will was never freely expressed through the ballot box. Spain has no foolish dreams.”

Francisco Franco (1892–1975) Spanish general and dictator

Statement during the civil war, cited in 1938 by Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915079,00.html, also cited in John A. Crittenden, Parties and elections in the United States, Prentice-Hall, 1982, (p.6). 1930s, 1938

Dreams, Box

Quotes about government page 70

Quotes about government
page 70