Franklin Roosevelt stands like a sharply formed rock in a shapeless sea.
spoken on Book TV by a Jackson biographer.

Franklin Roosevelt stands like a sharply formed rock in a shapeless sea.
spoken on Book TV by a Jackson biographer.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to ensure the unhindered development of the individual.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to ensure the unhindered development of the individual.

Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.

Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.

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.

Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.

Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought read more

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

Well, will anybody deny now that the Government at Washington, as
regards its own people, is the strongest government read more

Well, will anybody deny now that the Government at Washington, as
regards its own people, is the strongest government in the world
at this hour? And for this simple reason, that it is based on
the will, and the good will, of an instructed people.

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.

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far read more

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.