Profoundly inspirational government quotes will challenge the way you think, and make your life worth living.
Famous Government Quotes
State constitutions typically provide that the state first has to service its debt, then make it pension payments, and then pay for services. What we don’t know is whether that order will be enforced. And ultimately, the busted state is going to be looking to the federal government for a bailout. Think Greece, but on a much bigger scale. – Eugene Fama
The central con of the political coalition assembled by Ronald Reagan and maintained by his successors was that government was a common enemy. – Timothy Noah
A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion. – Hugo Black
In historical and constitutional terms, the recent political status vote in Puerto Rico was a necessary but obviously not decisive step on the road of self-determination leading to full self-government. – Dick Thornburgh
If government half a century ago had provided us with all our dinners and breakfasts, it would be the practice of our orators today to assume the impossibility of our providing for ourselves. – Auberon Herbert
You can’t do progressive government from the inside. You have to rally those outsiders and make them a force. – Jim Hightower
The biggest challenge is always the governments – they try to stop all good things. I try to stay away from them as much as I can, as I know if someone can destroy something good, it’s the government. – Manoj Bhargava
There is a group of entrepreneurs pushing the envelope, government officials that are making significant changes despite the odds, and visionary writers, academics, and colleagues whose work confirms, amplifies, and stretches my own thinking. – Robin Chase
The government of Puerto Rico has every right to hold a plebiscite, to consult the people of Puerto Rico regarding their wishes. But the truth is that for a change in the status of Puerto Rico to happen, you need both Congress and Puerto Rico agreeing to it. – Pedro Pierluisi
The debt ceiling at some point has to be raised. I don’t think there’s anybody that questions the fact that if we ended up getting in a situation where the U.S. government was sending out IOUs like the state of California did at one point, that ends up creating quite a brand problem for our country. – Bob Corker
I’m not a big fan of a lot of government dollars going into research and development for private enterprises… and you’re not going to see the House of Representatives, I’m certain, provide a lot of money for research and development for electric vehicles. – Ed Whitfield
Allowing our government to kill citizens compromises the deepest moral values upon which this country was conceived: the inviolable dignity of human persons. – Helen Prejean
The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. – Benjamin Franklin
We have to get government out of the job of picking winners and losers. That’s what they’ve been doing the last year and a half, getting in the way of businesses that are trying to reinvest to get our economy back on its feet. – Kristi Noem
If it is a crime to love the South, its cause and its President, then I am a criminal. I would rather lie down in this prison and die than leave it owing allegiance to a government such as yours. – Belle Boyd
Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds. – John Perry Barlow
Social-enterprise employees earn wages and pay taxes, reducing their recidivism rates and dependence on government assistance. They also receive crucial on-the-job training, job-readiness skills, literacy instruction and, if necessary, the counseling and mental-health services they need to move into the mainstream workforce. – George R. Roberts
Instead of raising taxes as some would insist, we need to reduce waste and inefficiency in government. – Tim Murphy
He convinced me that if we’re going to have honest government that you can’t leave it up to the crooks and that honest people have to get involved in government. So I did. I got involved as a criminal prosecutor with the U. S. Justice Department. – Bill Scott
Government ‘help’ to business is just as disastrous as government persecution… the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. – Ayn Rand
Government is inevitably going to play a very significant role in infrastructure, and in a country with a federal system where vibrancy and economic health depend on interstate commerce, it’s not going to be private enterprise or state governments that will give you things like an interstate highway system. – Norman Ornstein
If you persist in your purpose of secession, there will be war – a bloody and cruel war. Not only will the North fight, but she will also triumph. The experiment of secession will fail, and the South, in ruin and desolation, will bitterly repent the day when she attempted to overthrow a wise and beneficent government. – Ambrose Burnside
That’s not how national security works… I don’t care what the Supreme Court said 30 years ago or what some judge said 15 minutes ago. This is America, and our government is collecting way too damn much data on we the private citizens! – Mark Levin
Government can wreck a business by confiscating its money by taxation. – Owen Paterson
Prior to the PATRIOT Act, the ability of government agencies to share information with each other was limited, which kept investigators from fully understanding what terrorists might be planning and to prevent their attacks. – Chris Chocola
If human beings are fundamentally good, no government is necessary; if they are fundamentally bad, any government, being composed of human beings, would be bad also. – Fred Woodworth
I had to watch government fail for 25 years doing consumer reporting before I really saw it because intuitively, the reaction is problem, bring government and government will make it better. – John Stossel
For years now I have been talking about personal responsibility and accountability, both in our private lives and in the halls of government. Those are important principles here in Idaho, and they will form the basis of this administration. – Butch Otter
But separation of church and state was never meant to separate God and government. – Roy Moore
Our ability to make a decision about the declaration is hampered by the British government being reluctant to give us the clarification which we require. – Martin McGuinness
The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied. – Jeremiah Wright
No law can give power to private persons; every law transfers power from private persons to government. – Isabel Paterson
We are laying the foundations of a government, which we hope may outlast the Pyramids. – Caleb Cushing
I believe that people who do not vote in this country have no right to complain about the government that we are now living under. By the same token, if you don’t really vote in television, you’re never going to have your way. Write a letter to the president of the network. – Bill Bixby
While starving refugees in Homs were providing target practice for government snipers, Bashar al-Assad’s strongest international backer was in Sochi, at the Iceberg Skating Palace, visibly moved, smiling with deep satisfaction, as the Russians beautifully glided and leaped their way to the gold medal in the team event. – George Packer
I stand today on this floor to appeal for protection from the strong arm of the government for her loyal children, irrespective of color and race, who are citizens of the southern states, and particularly of the State of Georgia. – Hiram Rhodes Revels
Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men. – Gerald R. Ford
A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay. – Amos Bronson Alcott
It’s a wonderful feeling to work in a country where the government’s first concern is for its people, for all its people. – Ben Linder
The character and fight against fascism moved centre stage when, in 1936, Franco attempted to overthrow by force the Popular Front Government of Republican Spain. – Bill Alexander
The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought. – Martin Van Buren
When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties. – Marquis de Lafayette
Far too many businesses have been all too eager to lobby for maintaining and increasing subsidies and mandates paid by taxpayers and consumers. This growing partnership between business and government is a destructive force, undermining not just our economy and our political system, but the very foundations of culture. – Charles Koch
We have an opportunity, but we have an obligation to senior citizens and to the younger people who are entering the workforce today to help ensure that they are going to be able to trust the government to have a workable program that benefits them as well – Thad Cochran
No government, no organisation, no citizen can afford to be less than vigilant in combating bigotry, intolerance and hatred. And frankly, our way of life depends on that vigilance. – Barry O’Farrell
Of all tasks of government the most basic is to protect its citizens against violence. – John Dulles
You should always be questioning your government, but do not become cynical. – Pete Visclosky
The people of America need personal responsibility and freedom, not dependency on the government. – George Allen
Good government only happens when the people working in it do their jobs, and do them well. – Matthew Lesko
We need a government that does not give in to a globalist agenda, an agenda I am now convinced seeks to bring American as a sovereign nation and the middle class to their knees. – George Noory
But only ‘rich’ people by definition have the ‘extra’ money to buy things and invest to create economic growth. Do we really want to tax that ‘extra’ money away – and give it to the government to spend? Does that make any economic sense outside of politics and our emotional desire to make everyone suffer equally through these tough times? – Terry Savage
Our funding is based on our support of ideas like limited government, individual rights and a strong defense. – Richard Scaife
Again and again, universities have put a low priority on the very programs and initiatives that are needed most to increase productivity and competitiveness, improve the quality of government, and overcome the problems of illiteracy, miseducation, and unemployment. – Derek Bok
For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms. – Gerry Adams
Where there is a will there is a way. And this must be the way not of compulsion but of cooperation… No government and no plan can succeed without it. – Lionel Murphy
Let me say this: I believe closing Guantanamo is in our Nation’s national security interest. Guantanamo is used not only by al-Qaida, but also by other nations, governments, and individuals – people good and bad – as a symbol of America’s abuse of Muslims, and it is fanning the flames of anti-Americanism around the world. – Dianne Feinstein
Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless. – Milton Friedman
There is no better example of the overreach of government than in environmental law. – Chris Stewart
The most important point is, in a time of crisis, there is no way out but for the government to be bold and aggressive. – Mark Zandi
The greatest threat to the security of the people of North Korea comes from the government of North Korea. – Ari Fleischer
Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking. – Clement Attlee
We’re not going to meddle in the internal life of other peoples and other governments, because we don’t want them meddling in ours. – Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
After spending three years of my life looking into this, I am more convinced than ever that the U.S. government’s responsibility for the drug problems in South Central Los Angeles and other inner cities is greater than I ever wrote in the newspaper. – Gary Webb
From the Medicare prescription drug plan to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of No Child Left Behind, President Bush presided over a major expansion of the reach of government. – Chuck Todd
I think Churchill would be appalled at the Thatcher government. – Edward Heath
In a free society, government reflects the soul of its people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence. They are a reflection of it. – Cal Thomas
The whole of government needs to contribute to the shared goal of restructuring the British economy. But that means taking on the myth that the Treasury either knows best or can run it all. It just doesn’t. – David Miliband
If the small government concept grows, we have fewer dollars leaving our pockets, we have more folks motivated to make a profit. – Tim Scott
Businesses should be focused on business, and social responsibility should be government responsibility. – Terry Gou
Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. – George Haven Putnam
I often quote Ronald Reagan, who is pretty close to my favorite President ever, I will have to say that, but one of my favorite remarks he ever made was that when you look at Federal programs, there is nothing so close to eternal life on Earth as a Federal Government program. – Marsha Blackburn
We need to continue our full support of the nascent Iraqi government by helping to rebuild their economic infrastructure and maintain security while training the Iraqi security forces. – Pat Roberts
We wonder why we have got the Freemen or the militants. We wonder why we have got unrest in this country. It is because our government, in fact, has got out of hand and out of line, with the Endangered Species Act. – Don Young
The difference in golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie. – George Deukmejian
People talk about smart sanctions and crippling sanctions. I’ve never seen smart sanctions, and crippling sanctions cripple everyone, including innocent civilians, and make the government more popular. – Mohamed ElBaradei
The very purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop the government from disallowing people the means to defend themselves against tyranny. Any proposal to abuse executive power and infringe upon gun rights must be repelled with the stiffest legislative force possible. – Steve Stockman
A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need, either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a combination of both. – Fawn M. Brodie
The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. – Ludwig von Mises
The private sector is motivated by profit and efficiency and the US government often is not. – Eric C. Anderson
A Republic without parties is a complete anomaly. The histories of all popular governments show absurd is the idea of their attempting to exist without parties. – Franklin Pierce
Like many of his fellow skyjackers, 49-year-old Arthur Gates Barkley was motivated by a complicated grievance against the federal government. In 1963, the World War II veteran had been fired as a truck driver for a bakery, after one of his supervisors accused him of harassment. – Brendan I. Koerner
It’s so interesting that when I finished ‘The X-Files’ in 2002, the – call it the political and cultural climate in America – was one of fear, and trust of government. Because we put ourselves in the hands of the authority who was going to protect us. And, you know, we gave up a lot of our liberties to Homeland Security, etc. – Chris Carter
There is no reason why one should believe you should leave out politicians in cricket or any sport for that matter. There are ways and means in which government can assist in the management and development of players. – Roosevelt Skerrit
‘Reform’ is pillage and plunder if you’re against it, and it’s good government if you’re for it. – Pete Laney
The tenth amendment said the federal government is supposed to only have powers that were explicitly given in the Constitution. I think the federal government’s gone way beyond that. The Constitution never said that you could have a Federal Reserve that would have $2.8 trillion in assets. We’ve gotten out of control. – David Malpass
In the name of the United States and President Bush, I want to thank the Mexican people, President Fox and his government for their friendship. – Tony Garza
In the real estate business you learn more about people, and you learn more about community issues, you learn more about life, you learn more about the impact of government, probably than any other profession that I know of. – Johnny Isakson
It’s often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census. – Patrick McHenry
Indiscriminate firing by police on people is absolute barbarism. Instead of solving their problems, the government is trying to suppress the people by force. – Sheikh Hasina
No government fights fascism to destroy it. When the bourgeoisie sees that power is slipping out of its hands, it brings up fascism to hold onto their privileges. – Buenaventura Durruti
A monarchy conducted with infinite wisdom and infinite benevolence is the most perfect of all possible governments. – Ezra Stiles
They have seized upon the government by bribery and corruption. They have made speculation and public robbery a science. They have loaded the nation, the state, the county, and the city with debt. – Denis Kearney
One of the really positive things about minority government is that there is the necessity to broker policy positions. What happens is you get a hybrid of what a single party might do. And I don’t think that is a bad thing. – Kathleen Wynne
The Beijing government avidly asserts its control over matters of reincarnation as a way of securing the loyalty and political complexion of influential Tibetan figures. – Evan Osnos
I don’t know if I can live on my income or not – the government won’t let me try it. – Bob Thaves
To govern is to choose. To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern. – Nigel Lawson
I’ve been subject to how many security clearance procedures and I must say as irritating as some people may find them I think they are absolutely essential to making sure that people who work in sensitive positions in the national security field in our government are entirely loyal to the United States. – John Bolton
One of these days the people of Louisiana are going to get good government – and they aren’t going to like it. – Huey Long
The ’50s in general are written off as a boring decade following the turmoil of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath – the postwar Labour government, the cold war, the arrival of the New Look in fashion, etc. But I remember it as a very exciting time – a pioneering, rule-breaking time, especially for the young. – Lynne Reid Banks
We all have a right to know, and if the government has been suppressing information about other life forms, that’s the cruelest hoax of all. – Dwight Schultz
