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Government Quotes

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Government Quotes

“Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.”

“Moreover, in Russia there was an enormous amount of landed property to be divided, large estates, crown lands, government land, and the estates held by the monasteries.”

Government Land Amount Property Russia Enormous Divided Crowns Estates Monasteries

Author:Herman Gorter

“Because of our peculiar electoral law, the American government is divided between two parties. The American people are not.”

People Two Government Law Party Divided Peculiar American Government

Author:Michael Lind

“The millions of laws which exist for the regulation of humanity appear upon investigation to be divided into three principal categories: protection of property, protection of persons, protection of government. And by analyzing each of these three categories, we arrive at the same logical and necessary conclusion: the uselessness and hurtfulness of law.”

Persons Government Law Humanity Three Millions Property Protection Conclusion Logical Categories Divided Regulation Investigation Principal Analyzing Uselessness

Author:Peter Kropotkin

“A government, to afford the needful protection and exercise proper care for the welfare of a people, must have homogeneity in its constituents. It is this necessity which has divided the human race into separate nations, and finally has defeated the grandest efforts which conquerors have made to give unlimited extent to their domain.”

Source: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Complete)

“The Federal Government is rendered weak to do wrong, and powerful to do right: for, as soon as it begins to go wrong, it naturally begins to be divided against itself, and the three great wheels of its machinery exhaust their momentum, or wear each other out, in their friction against each other; while, as soon as it begins to go right, all the parts work harmoniously, and exhaust their full strength on the object of their action.”

Government Action Three Powerful Objects Weak Wheels Divided Federal Government Machinery Momentum Friction

Author:William Batchelder Greene

“Our country, if you read the 'Federalist Papers,' is about disagreement. It's about pitting faction against faction, divided government, checks and balances. The hero in American political tradition is the man who stands up to the mob - not the mob itself.”

Ifs Men Country Government Political Hero Balance Paper Tradition Checks Our Country Divided Papers Disagreement Factions Federalist Federalist Papers Divided Government

Author:Jonah Goldberg

“I believe that religious witness should not mobilize public authority to impose a view where a decision is inherently private in nature or where people are deeply divided about whether it is... Americans are plainly and persistently divided about abortion and the fiat of government cannot settle the issue as a matter of conscience or of conduct.”

People Should Believe Matter Government I Believe Religious Decision Views Issues Atheism Authority Conscience Positive Atheism Witness Settling Abortion Divided

Author:Edward Kennedy

“I am convinced that those societies (such as the Native American peoples) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, & restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate.”

Two Government Law Nations Enjoy Moral Opinion Class Greater Degrees Mass Convinced Former Native Latter Divided Sheep Native American Public Opinion Governing Pretence

Author:Thomas Jefferson

“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

“In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate governments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”

People Firsts Two Different Government America Rights Security Arise Controlled Republic Divided Portions Compounds

Book:The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

Source: The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

“Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson...? The people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free.”

People Men Should Humans Wells Has Beens Government Born United Race Watches Ought Lessons Slavery Ignorant Human Race Enlightened Over It Divided Awakened Cheated Yoke Born Free

Author:James Madison