Quotes About Government

What's the use of an admirable form of government if political parties and moneyed interests control it? What's the use of our judicial system, if judges only quote precedents and ignore first principles? What's the use of a Supreme Court if it's swayed by the political winds of the hour?

In a virtuous community, men of sense and of principle will always be placed at the head of affairs. In a declining state of public morals, men will be so blinded to their true interests as to put the incapable and unworthy at the helm. It is therefore vain to complain of the follies or crimes of a government. We must lay our hands on our own hearts and say 'Here is the sin that makes the public sin'.

The antidote to this abuse of formal government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual.

India is no longer a constitutional democracy but a populist one.

But you know, General, Jesus never came to establish a government upon the people by force. He did not even talk about political systems. He came to rule in the hearts of people, and not by the establishment of political power. He asks to live in you, not to control your state.

What holds the laws of a nation? It is the moral soil that must hold the roots.

It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.

If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides of a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget that there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it.

There you have it, Montag. It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick (p. 58).

Non è stato il Governo a decidere; non ci sono stati in origine editti, manifesti, censure, no! ma la tecnologia, lo sfruttamento delle masse e la pressione delle minoranze hanno raggiunto lo scopo, grazie a Dio!

How like a beautiful statue of ice it was, melting in the sun. I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths. No one wanted them back. No one missed them. And then the Government, seeing how advantageous it was to have people reading only about passionate lips and the fist in the stomach, circled the situation with your fire-eaters. So

But why, Mr. Stendahl, why all this? What obsessed you?" "Bureaucracy, Mr. Garrett. But I haven't time to explain. The government will discover soon enough." He nodded to the ape. "All right. Now." The ape killed Mr. Garrett.

So long as the vast population doesn't wander about quoting the Magna Charta and the Constitution, it's all right.

There you have it, Montag. It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old confessions, or trade journals.

He and thousands of others like him, if they had any sense, would go to Mars. See if they wouldn't! To get away from wars and censorship and statism and conscription and government control of this and that, of art and science!

One thing people sometimes forget about Fahrenheit 451 is that the government doesn't begin by burning books—it's ordinary people who turn away from reading and the habits of thought and reflection it encourages. When the government starts actively censoring information, most people don't even bat an eye. How important is reading to the health of a democracy like ours?

What are you looking at so hard, Dad?" "I was looking for Earthian logic, common sense, good government, peace, and responsibility." "All that up there?" "No. I didn't find it. It's not there any more. Maybe it'll never be there again.

Él y otros miles como él, todos los que tuvieran un poco de sentido común se irían a Marte. Ya lo iban a ver. Escaparían de las guerras, la censura, el estatismo, el servicio militar, el control gubernamental de esto o aquello, del arte y de la ciencia.

Evo ti, Montag! Nije do ovoga došlo odozgor, od vlade! Nije bilo nikakve naredbe, nikakve obznane, nikakve cenzure isprva, ne! Tehnologija, masovna eksploatacija i pritisak manjina polu?ili su cilj, Bogu hvala. Danas, zahvaljuju?i njima, sve vrijeme možeš biti sretan, dopušteno ti je ?itati stripove, dobre stare vjerske knjige ili stru?ne ?asopise. str. 63.

Any man is insane who thinks he can fool the government.

Si no quieres que un hombre sea políticamente desgraciado, no lo preocupes mostrándole dos aspectos de una misma cuestión. Muéstrale uno. Que olvide que existe la guerra. Es preferible que un gobierno sea ineficiente, autoritario y aficionado a los impuestos, a que la gente se preocupe por esas cosas.

I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths. No one wanted them back. No one missed them. And the Government, seeing how advantageous it was to have people reading only about passionate lips and the fist in the stomach, circled the situation with your fire-eaters.

Government in general, any government anywhere, is a thing of exquisite comicality to a discerning mind.

It was unreal as everything else--as the philanthropic pretense of the whole concern, as their government, as their show of work.