I think whenever something is – whenever there’s something that affects the public good, then there does need to be some form of public oversight.

Anywhere in Latin America there is a potential threat of the pathology of caudillismo and it has to be guarded against.

Democracy is a daring concept – a hope that we’ll be best governed if all of us participate in the act of government. It is meant to be a conversation, a place where the intelligence and local knowledge of the electorate sums together to arrive at actions that reflect the participation of the largest possible number of people.

I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.

Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn’t enough and you have to go and get shot or something.

One of the peculiarities of Delhi is that the term ‚reform‘ is associated only with passing of laws in Parliament. In fact, the most important reforms are those needed, without new laws, at various level of the government, in work practices and procedures.

That government is best which governs least.

President Obama seems completely unaware of how many of the policies he is trying to impose have been tried before, in many times and places around the world, and have failed time and again.

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

In order to fulfill the aspirations of masses, we have to sharpen the tool called the government machinery: we have to make it keen, more dynamic, and it is in this direction that we are working.

The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.

When you work as a humanitarian, you are conscious that politics have to be considered. Because if you really want to make an extreme change, then you have a responsibility.

I consider the fact that thousands of children die each day from starvation and a lack of medicine a crisis for humanity and a problem we must collectively attempt to solve.

It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin it by bad laws.

An important priority for me is a business must get their own house in order. Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.

It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

You may be rich, but there is one thing you can’t afford – that is, if you are a good sort – you can’t afford to spend money on your own luxuries while there are people around you wanting the necessaries of life.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.

I do think that Magna Carta and international law are worth paying some attention to.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

These days there is a lot of poverty in the world, and that’s a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. We all have to think about how we can become a little poorer.

Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.

I don’t write policy for my government.

I just feel like, with rappers, there’s so much complacency. It’s like, ‚Oh, I’m a rapper. I’m successful. I make money. That’s all that matters.‘ But there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. Whether or not you’re aware of it, it’s happening.

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.

Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

I’m a singer, not a politician, and I think you don’t want the two to get confused. It’s not OK to be on CNN talking about people starving and then tell the interviewer that your new album is coming out in six months.

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.

It is pretty ironic that the so-called ‚least advanced‘ people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction.

I repeat… that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist.

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.

I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

Finality is not the language of politics.

In politics nothing is contemptible.

I do think there should be some regulations on AI.

Stay humble and be concerned for the less fortunate.

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.

In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.

Nobody is above the law. Imagine if there allegations against Modi and he is the Prime Minister. Should the case not be pursued just because he has become the PM. It should not be so that it should be stopped. I am not above the law.

I draw pleasure in governance, in doing new things and bringing people together. That pleasure is all I need from life.

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle.