Best citizens & government Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 2

“Only a government that does not trust its citizens would refuse them the right to bear arms.”

Doe Government Arms Bears Citizens Refuse Right To Bear Arms

“The source of the government's authority is “the consent of the governed.” This means that the government is not the ruler, but the servant or agent of the citizens; it means that the government as such has no rights except the rights delegated to it by the citizens for a specific purpose.”

Mean Government Purpose Rights Source Citizens Authority Agents Servant Rulers Consent Delegation Consent Of The Governed

Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

Source: The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

“In a composite Nation like ours, made up of almost every variety of the human family, there should be, as before the Law, no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no black, no white, but one country, one citizenship equal rights and a common destiny for all. A government that cannot or does not protect the humblest citizen in his right to life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, should be reformed or overthrown, without delay.”

“The labor unions shall have a square deal, and the corporations shall have a square deal, and in addition, all private citizens shall have a square deal.”

Government Deals Citizens Labor Unions Corporations Squares Labor Union

Book:Letters: The Square Deal, 1901-1905

Source: Letters: The Square Deal, 1901-1905

“To the Baptist Churches on Neal's Greek on Black Creek, North Carolina I have received, fellow-citizens, your address, approving my objection to the Bill containing a grant of public land to the Baptist Church at Salem Meeting House, Mississippi Territory. Having always regarded the practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government as essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, I could not have otherwise discharged my duty on the occasion which presented itself”

“Look at it this way: this administration is taking unprecedented steps to make sure that the government's secrets remain private while simultaneously invading the privacy of its citizens... Many innocents must be violated so that a few guilty people can be stopped. It's a digital stop-and-frisk.”

People Way Looks Government Secret Steps Citizens Guilty Administration Privacy Digital Unprecedented Nsa Invading Stop And Frisk

Author:Charles M. Blow

“Our intelligence agencies will continue to gather information about the intentions of governments - as opposed to ordinary citizens - around the world, in the same way that the intelligence services of every other nation does. We will not apologize simply because our services may be more effective.”

World Way May Doe Government Nations Information Citizens Ordinary Intention Around The World Agency Apologizing Nsa Intelligence Agencies Ordinary Citizens Intelligence Services

Author:Barack Obama

“What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.”

Doe Important Character Government Asks Nations Easy Community Common Subjects Building Needed Citizens Comfort Responsible Neighbor Reform Spectators Common Good Building Community

Author:George W. Bush

“Public opinion, though slow as lava, in the end forces governments towards more sanity, more justice. My heroes and heroines are all private citizens.”

Ends Government Force Justice Opinion Hero Citizens Sanity Public Opinion My Hero Heroines Lava Heroes And Heroines

Book:The View From The Ground

Source: The View From The Ground

“The real transgression occurs when religion wants government to tell citizens how to live uniquely personal parts of their lives. The failure of Prohibition proves the futility of such an attempt when a majority or even a substantial minority happens to disagree. Some questions may be inherently individual ones, or people may be sharply divided about whether they are. In such cases, like Prohibition and abortion, the proper role of religion is to appeal to the conscience of the individual, not the coercive power of the state.”

People Want May Real States Government Happens Individual Roles Cases Citizens Prove Conscience Majority Appeals Abortion Minorities Divided Disagree Prohibition Futility Transgression

Author:Edward Kennedy

“Private citizens and companies are always seen as evil and greedy, because they want to profit. But the government picks your pocket any chance it can get, but they're never called greedy.”

Want Government Evil Chance Company Citizens Picks Profit Pockets Greedy

Author:Greg Gutfeld

“Since there is no system of public education, the great majority of my fellow citizens is frighteningly ignorant. They have no idea where Iraq is. They accept as the gospel whatever the government tells them. Good grief, any other normal country would have been against the Iraq war! But we live in an abnormal country, governed by experts in deceptive advertising.”

Has Beens Ideas War Country Government Grief Accepting Citizens Normal Fellows Majority Iraq Ignorant Advertising No Idea Experts Iraq War Abnormal Deceptive Public Education

Author:Gore Vidal

“The excellence of metallic money in free circulation consists in the fact that it renders impossible the abuse of the power of the government to dispose of the possessions of its citizens by means of its monetary policy and thus serves as the solid foundation of economic liberty within each country and of free trade between one country and another.”

“Anybody has a right to evade taxes if he can get away with it. No citizen has a moral obligation to assist in maintaining his government”

Ifs Government Moral Citizens Taxes Obligation Get Away Maintaining Moral Obligation

Author:J. P. Morgan

“The security of the citizens of Israel, the future of the state of Israel, this is the Israeli governments responsibility.”

States Government Responsibility Security Citizens Israel Israeli

Author:Avigdor Lieberman

“Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.”

Ifs Firsts Government Lost History Citizens Exercise Committed Multitudes Sovereignty Roman Empire

Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the most eminent and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel order would have been executed without hesitation by the ministers of open violence or of specious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop, discovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already revived a sense of order and freedom in the Roman government.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)

“When the citizens at large administer the state for the common interest, the government is called by the generic name - a constitution.”

States Government Names Interest Common Citizens Constitution Generic Common Interests Generic Name

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“The citizens begin by giving up some part of the constitution, and so with greater ease the government change something else which is a little more important, until they have undermined the whole fabric of the state.”

Giving Littles Important States Whole Government Greater Citizens Giving Up Constitution Ease Fabric

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“That which most contributes to the permanence of constitutions is the adaptation of education to the form of government, and yet in our own day this principle is universally neglected. The best laws, though sanctioned by every citizen of the state, will be of no avail unless the young are trained by habit and education in the spirit of the constitution.”

States Government Form Law Young Spirit Principles Habit Citizens Constitution Adaptation Neglected Forms Of Government Permanence

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“In most constitutional states the citizens rule and are ruled by turns, for the idea of a constitutional state implies that the natures of the citizens are equal, and do not differ at all.”

Ideas States Government Turns Citizens Equal

Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

Source: Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

“If the state cannot be entirely composed of good men, and yet each citizen is expected to do his own business well, and must therefore have virtue, still inasmuch as all the citizens cannot be alike, the virtue of the citizen and of the good man cannot coincide. All must have the virtue of the good citizen - thus, and thus only, can the state be perfect; but they will not have the virtue of a good man, unless we assume that in the good state all the citizens must be good.”

Ifs Men Wells Stills States Government Perfect Virtue Citizens Assuming Be Good Expected Good Man Own Business Good Citizen

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“It has been well said that 'he who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.' The two are not the same, but the good citizen ought to be capable of both; he should know how to govern like a freeman, and how to obey like a freeman - these are the virtues of a citizen.”

Knows Should Wells Has Beens Said Two Government Know How Virtue Ought Citizens Capable Commanders Good Citizen Freeman Well Said

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“The true forms of government, therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the common interest; but governments which rule with a view to the private interest, whether of the one or of the few, or of the many, are perversions. For the members of a state, if they are truly citizens, ought to participate in its advantages.”

Ifs States Government Form Interest Views Common Ought Citizens Members Advantage Forms Of Government Perversion Common Interests

Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

Source: Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

“In the perfect state the good man is absolutely the same as the good citizen; whereas in other states the good citizen is only good relatively to his own form of government.”

Men States Government Form Perfect Citizens Good Man Forms Of Government Good Citizen

Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

Source: Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

“Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)

“The government of freemen is nobler and implies more virtue than despotic government. Neither is a city to be deemed happy or a legislator to be praised because he trains his citizens to conquer and obtain dominion over their neighbors, for there is great evil in this.”

Government Evil Cities Virtue Citizens Train Neighbor Conquer Dominion Legislators Freeman

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“Now what is just and right is to be interpreted in the sense of 'what is equal'; and that which is right in the sense of being equal is to be considered with reference to the advantage of the state, and the common good of the citizens. And a citizen is one who shares in governing and being governed. He differs under different forms of government, but in the best state he is one who is able and willing to be governed and to govern with a view to the life of virtue.”

Different States Government Able Form Law Justice Views Common Virtue Share Willing Citizens Equal Advantage Governing Forms Of Government Common Good Being Equal

Book:Politics

Source: Politics

“I would have government defend the life and property of all citizens equally; protect all willing exchange; suppress and penalize all fraud, all misrepresentation, all violence, all predatory practices; invoke a common justice under law; and keep the records incidental to these functions. Even this is a bigger assignment than governments, generally, have proven capable of. Let governments do these things and do them well. Leave all else to men in free and creative effort.”

“Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.”

“By deriving it's just powers from the governed, government becomes primarily a mechanism for defense against bodily harm, theft, and involuntary servitude. It cannot claim the power to redistribute money or property nor to force reluctant citizens to perform acts of charity against their will. Government is created by the people. No individual possesses the power to take another's wealth or to force others to do good, so no government has the the right to do such things either. The creature cannot exceed the creator.”

Source: The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner

“It is the collective responsibility of the citizens in a modern state to ensure by all means necessary that its government adheres to the rule of law, not just domestically, but internationally. There are no bystanders. No one is entitled to an 'apolitical' exemption from such obligation. Where default occurs, either by citizens endorsement of official criminality or by the failure of citizens to effectively oppose it, liability is incurred by all”

“A free society depends upon a high degree of mutual trust. The public will not give that trust to officials who are not seen to be impartially dedicated to the general public interest, nor will they give trust to those high in government who violate the rule of law they ask citizens to obey at the expense of self-interest, or to those who present government as the place where one feathers his own nest, [or] exchanges favors with friends and former associates.”

“The only way that a government can provide for jobs for all citizens is by deciding what every man should do.”

Men Way Should Government Jobs Citizens Every Man

Author:H. L. Mencken

“I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means that, unlike native-born citizens, I had to prove to the U.S. government that I merited citizenship.”

Mean Government Born Citizens Prove Native Citizenship

Author:Bharati Mukherjee

“Like all good citizens, the elderly and people with disabilities want to eradicate waste and fraud from government, but helping people with special needs meet their basic needs doesn’t fit this description.”

People Want Needs Helping Government Special Citizens Fit Waste Description Disability Fraud Helping People Elderly Good Citizen Basic Needs Special Needs People With Disabilities

Author:Joni Eareckson Tada

“What can government do? They can listen to their own people. But I'll tell you what citizens can do, when we elect one of these people - whether we think it's a good guy or a bozo - you got to stay on the case. You don't vote and go home and give them the keys to the car, he'll drive you right off a cliff. You have to help people to stay honest.”

People Thinking Giving Helping Home Government Guy Can Do Cases Honest Car Keys Citizens Vote Cliffs Good Guy

Author:Buffy Sainte-Marie

“[M]y conception of liberty does not permit an individual citizen or a group of citizens to commit acts of depredation against nature in such a way as to harm their neighbors and especially to harm the future generations of Americans. If many years ago we had had the necessary knowledge, and especially the necessary willingness on the part of the Federal Government, we would have saved a sum, a sum of money which has cost the taxpayers of America two billion dollars.”

“In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens, a substantial part of its whole population, who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life. I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Littles Enough Whole Moments Government Today Nations Millions Greater Progress Citizens Standards Tests Thirds Add Ill Population Reform Abundance Denied Lowest

Author:Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The duty of the State toward the citizen is the duty of the servant to its master.... One of the duties of the State is that of caring for those of its citizens who find themselves the victims of such adverse circumstances as makes them unable to obtain even the necessities for mere existence without the aid of others.... To these unfortunate citizens aid must be extended by government--not as a matter of charity but as a matter of social duty.”

Matter States Government Social Existence Masters Duty Citizens Circumstances Victim Mere Charity Caring Aids Servant Unfortunate Adverse

Author:Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The persons and property of our citizens are entitled to the protection of our government in all places where they may lawfully go.”

May Persons Government Citizens Property Protection Entitled

Book:The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence. Reports and opinions while secretary of state

Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence. Reports and opinions while secretary of state

“In your ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled under foot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights are all alike ignored. Robbed of the fundamental privilege of citizenship, I am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; and not only myself individually, but all of my sex, are, by your honor's verdict, doomed to political subjection under this, so-called, form of government.”

“It used to be said in antislavery days that a people who would tacitly consent to the enslavement of 4,000,000 human beings were incapable of being just to each other, and I believe this same rule holds with regard to the injustice practiced by men towards women. So long as all men conspire to rob women of the citizen's right to perfect equality in all the privileges and immunities of our so-called "free" government, we can not expect these same men to be capable of perfect justice to each other.”

“The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter,to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens and greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended.”

Firsts May Two Country Government Differences Numbers Democracy Greater Citizens Latter Republic Spheres Small Numbers Delegation

Book:The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government

Source: The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government

“A nation's domestic and foreign policies and actions should be derived from the same standards of ethics, honesty and morality which are characteristic of the individual citizens of the nation.”

Should Government Action Individual Nations Honesty Policy Citizens Morality Standards Ethics Characteristics Foreign Policy

Author:Jimmy Carter

“More than a decade after our fellow citizens began bedding down on the sidewalks, their problems continue to seem so intractable that we have begun to do psychologically what government has been incapable of doing programmatically. We bring the numbers down--not by solving the problem, but by deciding it's their own damn fault.”

Has Beens Problem Seems Government Numbers Citizens Fellows Faults Decades Damn Incapable Meanness Sidewalk Bedding

Author:Anna Quindlen

“To speak impartially, both sayings are very true: that man to man is a kind of God; and that man to man is an arrant wolf. The first is true, if we compare citizens amongst themselves; and the second, if we compare cities.”

Ifs Men Firsts Kind Government Speak Cities Citizens Compare Very True

Book:Man and Citizen: De Homine and De Cive

Source: Man and Citizen: De Homine and De Cive

“No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love”

Government Citizens Gay Lgbt Homosexuality Homosexual Orientation Gay Rights Gay Pride Lgbt Pride Born Gay

Author:Rita Mae Brown

“One of the things that I realized when I left office was that in the 1990's citizens across the world applied more power than they had ever had, as compared with the government, because of more people living under democracies than dictatorships for the first time, the power of the internet, which the young Chinese used to basically change China's policy on the SARS epidemic, and shut it down, and because of the rise in non-governmental organizations like my foundation.”

“ONLY a government that is AFRAID of its citizens tries to control them.”

Trying Government Citizens Libertarian

Author:Thomas Jefferson

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Citizens Quotes