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Government is nothing more than the combined force of society, or the united power of the multitude, for the peace, order, safety, good and happiness of the people. – John Adams
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Ambition is one of the ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable. – John Adams
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Public business must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise man decline, others will not; if honest man refuse it, others will not. – John Adams
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If worthless men are sometimes at the head of affairs, it is, I believe, because worthless mean are at the tail and middle. – John Adams
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There is but one element of government, and that is THE PEOPLE. From this element spring all governments. For a nation to be free, it is only necessary that she wills it. For a nation to be slave, it is only necessary that she wills it. – John Adams
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Governments should fear weariness above all. Once it sets in, it is hard to dispel and almost invariably presages decline and eventual defeat. – The Economist
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The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. – Milton Friedman
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If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate. – Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Any participation, even in the smallest public function, is useful. – John Stuart Mill
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A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves. – Bertrand de Jouvenal
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Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. – Harry S. Truman
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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. – Thomas Paine
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In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual liberty is permanent, unresolvable, and necessary. – Kathleen Norris
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Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. – Thomas Jefferson
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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. – Plato
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Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. – Adam Smith
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A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader. – Harry S. Truman
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There are always great dangers in letting the best be the enemy of the good. – Roy Jenkins
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Governments need armies to protect them from their enslaved and oppressed subjects. – Leo Tolstoy
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A leader is a dealer in hope. – Napoleon Bonaparte
