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Government Quotes

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Government Quotes

“The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed governments, is inconsistent with the sense and spirit of a republic. If taxes are necessary, they are of course advantageous, but if they require an apology, the apology itself implies an impeachment. Why, then, is man imposed upon, or why does he impose upon himself?”

IfsMenMayDoeGovernmentSpiritCoursesTaxesBurdenRepublicApologyInconsistentImpeachment
Book:The Works of Thomas Paine: A Hero in the American Revolution. With an Account of His Life ...
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“One thing I hate about the New Deal is that it is killing what, to me, is the American pioneering spirit. I simply do not know what to tell my own boys, leaving school and confronting this new world whose ideal is Security and whose practice is dependence upon government instead of upon one's self. All the old character-values seem simply insane from a practical point of view; the self-reliant, the independent, the courageous man is penalized from every direction.”

KnowsMenWorldSelfCharacterSeemsGovernmentSchoolSpiritValuesHateMy OwnViewsDealsBoysPracticeOne ThingSecurityIdealsI HateIndependentKillingLeavingPoint Of ViewPracticalsInsaneCourageousNew WorldDependenceConfrontingNew DealPioneeringSelf ReliantThings I HateCourageous ManLeaving SchoolPioneering Spirit
Author:Rose Wilder Lane
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“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those ... who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.”

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Author:Franklin Pierce
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“There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true, and, in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.”

IfsLooksMayCountryCharacterGovernmentSpiritCertainPartyLibertyOpinionAliveLimitsCastsFavorsChecksAdministrationPolitical PartiesIndulgenceBe EncouragedFree CountryFarewell Address
Book:Journal of the convention of the state of Mississippi, and the act calling the same: with the Constitution of the United States, and Washington's Farewell Address
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“A democratic constitution, not supported by democratic institutions in detail, but confined to the central government, not only is not political freedom, but often creates a spirit precisely the reverse, carrying down to the lowest grade in society the desire and ambition of political domination.”

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Book:Principles of political economy with some of their applications to social philosophy
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“If we set out with... a scrupulous regard to the Constitution, the government will acquire a spirit and a tone productive of permanent blessings to the community. If on the contrary,... the Constitution is slighted, or explained away, upon every frivolous pretext, the future of government will be feeble, distracted and arbitrary. The rights of the subjects will be the sport of every party vicissitude. There will be no settled rule of conduct, but everything will fluctuate with the alternate prevalency of contending factions.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining, and unless you become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of government have been given or bartered away.”

Has BeensImportantEndsStatesGovernmentAbleSpiritGivenInterestPaperSpringPrivilegeChecksCorporationsCurrencyMultitudesThirstMonopolyExclusiveMischiefObtaining
Book:Life and Public Services of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the United States: Including the Most Important of His State Papers
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“Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars. We shall be all alike - brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying. I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.”

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Author:Chief Joseph
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“A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.”

MenWorldHumansDoeWarGovernmentMovingSpiritSilencePolicyDemandTasksDifficultyAssumingBetrayalApathySilence IsHuman SpiritBosomsOpposingConformistBreaking Silence
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The two Antonines (for it is of them that we are now speaking) governed the Roman world forty-two years, with the same invariable spirit of wisdom and virtue. ... Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.”

PeopleWorldYearsTwoGovernmentSpiritUnitedHistoryVirtueObjectsPeriodsFortyTwo YearsSoleReignGreat PeopleRoman Empire
Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
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