A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has read more

A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.

Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens - and then everybody disagrees.

Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens - and then everybody disagrees.

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which was ever
debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor read more

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which was ever
debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be,
decided among men. A resolution was passed without one
dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent States.

Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; read more

Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our read more

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men." -Samuel Adams

If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor read more

If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National.

The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare.

The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare.

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and read more

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?

A camel is a horse designed by committee.

A camel is a horse designed by committee.