The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.

I know that a large part of my fan base is gay. They’ve shown me love from the start. I mean in this industry, everyone from my glam people to my dancers are gay. You can’t be homophobic in this line of work – I’m a pop star!

The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God – if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That’s what I think.

Our goal in the ’70s was to end the closed door era. There were so many things that were off limits to women: policing, firefighting, mining, piloting planes.

If people lose faith in their government, the result is the same whether or not the loss of confidence is justified.

People from all over the world come to London wanting to make their own mark on it, and they add to the energy and vitality of the capital. It’s got a bit busier since the ’60s, but the more the merrier!

A black person grows up in this country – and in many places – knowing that racism will be as familiar as salt to the tongue. Also, it can be as dangerous as too much salt. I think that you must struggle for betterment for yourself and for everyone.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

The world, as a rule, does not live on beaches and in country clubs.

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.

It’s always going to be a fight for anyone who isn’t an older white man. I want to fight for anyone who doesn’t have a fight.

The fact is: It’s true what they say about the United States. It is a land of opportunity. It is too various to get bored with it.

The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion.

If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don’t get wet you can keep.

Politically, the world is so confused right now – there’s so much suffering caused by various movements by various parties and people in power in government.

It’s not proper for the government to intrude too thoroughly into the domain of the family. It’s inappropriate.

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

I love it when Muslims go to war with each other, as I do when the Christians do, because it shows there’s no such thing as the Christian world and the Islamic world. That’s all crap.

There are websites that any government wants to block. The truth about the Internet is that it’s extremely hard to block anything – extremely hard. You’ll never get perfect blocking.

I am such a political person.

Rocks and waters, etc., are words of God, and so are men. We all flow from one fountain Soul. All are expressions of one Love.

What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.

Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

Many financial advisors recommend that you diversify for your own protection. What they fail to tell you is that it is also for their protection. Since most financial advisors cannot tell you exactly which stock or mutual fund is a great investment, they tell you to buy a bunch of them.

You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.

All impeachments, I guess, are political.

I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.

By what principle of original right is it that one-fiftieth or one-ninetieth of a great nation, by calling themselves a State, have the right to break up and ruin that nation as a matter of original principle?

The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.

Men are convinced of your arguments, your sincerity, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your death.

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.

The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement, many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

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.

You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.

Obamacare sucks, it can’t be fixed.

Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.

The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

It’s a tragedy, in a way, that Americans are brought up to think that they cannot feel for other people and other beings just because they are different. They think they’re different. It’s very limiting.

I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition.

I’ve found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them.

On the other hand, you have different fingers.

I belong to a gospel choir. They know I am an atheist but they are very tolerant.

Gold is good in its place; but loving, brave, patriotic men are better than gold.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.

No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offence.

Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the government. The government will not use force unless force is used against it.

To like an individual because he’s black is just as insulting as to dislike him because he isn’t white.

I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people’s trust in their government.

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

I notice that young men go to the universities in order to become doctors or philosophers or anything, so long as it is a title, and that many go in for those professions who are utterly unfit for them, while others who would be very competent are prevented by business or their daily cares, which keep them away from letters.

What women need to understand is that men don’t communicate. It’s not intentional or on purpose. We’re just not as emotional. You ladies feel like you have to express yourselves.

As long as you know men are like children, you know everything!