I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our read more

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, read more

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should read more

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom.

Despotism tempered by assassination, that is our Magna Carta.
[Fr., Le despotisme tempere par l'assassinat, c'est notre magna
read more

Despotism tempered by assassination, that is our Magna Carta.
[Fr., Le despotisme tempere par l'assassinat, c'est notre magna
charta.]

Far more important to me is, that I should be loyal to what I regard as the law of my read more

Far more important to me is, that I should be loyal to what I regard as the law of my political life, which is this: a belief that that country is best governed, which is least governed ...

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them read more

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.

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.

So then because some towns in England are not represented,
America is to have no representative at all. They read more

So then because some towns in England are not represented,
America is to have no representative at all. They are "our
children"; but when children ask for bread we are not to give a
stone.