Good government is no substitute for self-government.

Good government is no substitute for self-government.

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.

The true art of government consists in not governing too much.

The true art of government consists in not governing too much.

You can't run a government solely on a business basis ... Government should be human. It should have a heart.

You can't run a government solely on a business basis ... Government should be human. It should have a heart.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for read more

The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally read more

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.

Despotism tempered by assassination, that is our Magna Carta.
[Fr., Le despotisme tempere par l'assassinat, c'est notre magna
read more

Despotism tempered by assassination, that is our Magna Carta.
[Fr., Le despotisme tempere par l'assassinat, c'est notre magna
charta.]

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should read more

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom.