A wise government knows how to enforce with temper, or to conciliate with dignity, but a weak one is odious read more

A wise government knows how to enforce with temper, or to conciliate with dignity, but a weak one is odious in the former, and contemptible in the latter.

Good government is no substitute for self-government

Good government is no substitute for self-government

Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; read more

Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

When government accepts responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves.

When government accepts responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves.

When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will
fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in read more

When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will
fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible
struggle.

Well, will anybody deny now that the Government at Washington, as
regards its own people, is the strongest government read more

Well, will anybody deny now that the Government at Washington, as
regards its own people, is the strongest government in the world
at this hour? And for this simple reason, that it is based on
the will, and the good will, of an instructed people.

My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on.

My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to ensure the unhindered development of the individual.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to ensure the unhindered development of the individual.

The punishment which the wise suffer, who refuse to take part in government, is to live under the government of read more

The punishment which the wise suffer, who refuse to take part in government, is to live under the government of worse men.