I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious
Sir Francis Bacon
The saddest life is that of a political aspirant under democracy. His failure is ignominious and his success is disgraceful
Mary Catherine Bateson
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it
Nadia Boulanger
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have right that these wants should be provided for, [including] the want of a sufficient restraint upon their passions
Edmund Burke
Of all the inventions that have helped to unify China perhaps the airplane is the most outstanding. Its ability to annihilate distance has been in direct proportion to its achievements in assisting to annihilate suspicion and misunderstanding among provincial officials far removed from one another or from the officials at the seat of government
Madame Chiang
In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present
Tao Le Ching
Personally, I'm in favor of democracy, which means that the central institutions of society have to be under popular control. Now, under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist; that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be establishedat every level--there's little bargaining, a little give and take,but the line of authority is perfectly straightforward. Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I'm opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.
Noam Chomsky
We are no guiltier in following the primative impulses that govern us than is the Nile for her floods or the sea for her waves
Marquis de Sade
There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies against despots -- suspicion
Demosthenes
As long as Nazi violence was unleashed only, or mainly, against the Jews, the rest of the world looked on passively and even treaties and agreements were made with the patently criminal government of the Third Reich.... The doors of Palestine were closed to Jewish immigrants, and no country could be found that would admit those forsaken people. They were left to perish like their brothers and sisters in the occupied countries. We shall never forget the heroic efforts of the small countries, of the Scandinavian, the Dutch, the Swiss nations, and of individuals in the occupied part of Europe who did all in their power to protect Jewish lives
Albert Einstein
I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it
Dwight David Eisenhower
The less government we have the better
Ralph Waldo Emerson