Quotes About Government

Bouvard and Pécuchet put forward their abominable paradoxes on other occasions. They cast doubt on the honesty of men, the chastity of women, the intelligence of the government, the good sense of the people, in a word undermined the basic principles.

You have the army of mediocrities followed by the multitude of fools. As the mediocrities and the fools always form the immense majority, it is impossible for them to elect an intelligent government.

Any government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck. [ On Water ]

Since governments take the right of death over their people, it is not astonishing if the people should sometimes take the right of death over governments. [ On Water ]

Well, and what then? It makes no difference to me. Whether it's for the Republic or something else, I don't care! What I want, monsieur, is to know my government. I saw Charles X. and adhered to him, monsieur; I saw Louis-Philippe and adhered to him, monsieur; I saw Napoleon and adhered to him; but I have never seen the Republic.

C'est pourtant fort bête d'être joyeux, à date fixe, par décret du gouvernement. Le peuple est un troupeau imbécile, tantôt stupidement patient et tantôt férocement révolté. (En parlant de la fête nationale et de ses festivités)

C'est pourtant fort bête d'être joyeux, à date fixe, par décret du gouvernement.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron'.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.

Congress consists of one-third, more or less, scoundrels; two-thirds, more or less, idiots; and three-thirds, more or less, poltroons.

When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that an old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had only one before.

A democracia é a arte e ciência de administrar o circo a partir da jaula dos macacos

O pior governo é o mais moral. Um governo composto de cínicos é frequentemente mais tolerante e humano. Mas, quando os fanáticos tomam o poder, não há limite para a opressão

The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey-cage.

Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses.

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, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are.

Government today is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters they are bound to die for their masters at call. Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.

The intelligent man, when he pays taxes, certainly does not believe that he is making a prudent and productive investment of his money; on the contrary, he feels that he is being mulcted in an excessive amount for services that, in the main, are useless to him, and that, in substantial part, are downright inimical to him.

What Mencken most strongly objected to in religion was not the expression of nonsensical views—these could easily be combated by rebuttal from the other side—but the inveterate tendency of religion to seek the enforcement of its views by the power of the government.

All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him.

All it can see in an original idea is potential change, and hence an invasion of its prerogatives. 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.

If there had been any formidable body of cannibals in the country he [Harry Truman] would have promised to provide them with free missionaries, fattened at the taxpayers' expense.