Quotes About Authority

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.

Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.

Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government...

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.

When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.

In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.

Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

If it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience.

Courts love the people always, as wolves do the sheep

Any Government strong enough to give you what you want, is a Government strong enough to take everything you have!

In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.

The pretense that the workings of the mind, like the actions of the body, are subject to the control of laws, does not seem sufficiently demolished. ... The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

That government which governs best, governs least.

the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God

The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction.

A government which can be felt; a government of energy. God send that our country may never have a government, which it can feel.