Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.

A Christian who does not pray for those who govern is not a good Christian.

I can’t really criticize the Tea Party people, because I came into the White House pretty much on the same basis that they have become popular. That is dissatisfaction with the way things are going in Washington and disillusionment and disencouragement about the government.

Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

Custom is our nature. What are our natural principles but principles of custom?

People forget… that we structured it so that the government, or the people, would be repaid with a really good rate of return. And as it turns out, that aspect of TARP, that’s what happened.

The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, ‚Gee, isn’t that wonderful?‘

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.

Every family should have the right to spend their money, after tax, as they wish, and not as the government dictates. Let us extend choice, extend the will to choose and the chance to choose.

The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.

There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail.

I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read ‚Democracy in America‘ by Alexis de Tocqueville. There can never be a better book than that one on the strengths and vulnerabilities inherent in our form of government.

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

Government’s first duty and highest obligation is public safety.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

Governments are supposed to lie to their citizens.

Our strategic dialogue with China can both protect American interests and uphold our principles, provided we are honest about our differences on human rights and other issues and provided we use a mix of targeted incentives and sanctions to narrow these differences.

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.

Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.

I think governments can’t do much.

I try to speak plainly so that my constituents who don’t follow the nuances of government like I do, because they’re too busy earning a real living, can understand the issues before me. None of this stuff is brain surgery.

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

Every President wants to do right.

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.

It’s a good thing we don’t get all the government we pay for.

While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.

The economy’s always been the engine for our national security.

Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we’ve got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon.

Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they have to be – protect themselves. That’s why you have state secret laws. Citizens are not supposed to know what their government is doing to them.

For success of any mission, it is necessary to have creative leadership. Creative leadership is vital for government, non-governmental organisations as well as for industries.

Governments are not representative. They have their own power, serving segments of the population that are dominant and rich.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.

But do I think that our actions in anyway violate the War Powers Resolution, the answer is no.

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

It’s actually very easy for democracy to disappear.

I am concerned about the whole man. I am concerned about what the people, using their government as an instrument and a tool, can do toward building the whole man, which will mean a better society and a better world.

I am such a political person.

Read my lips: no new taxes.

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

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

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

I love being in the United States Senate.

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

When you stand for something, you’ve got to stand for it all the way, not half way.

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.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.

Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing seems to me to be one of the most basic principles that you can adopt to contribute to individual and world peace.

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

My government is working for the common man. Our priority is the poor of the country. We want good governance through a dynamic and seamless government.

What I worry about would be that you essentially have two chambers, the House and the Senate, but you have simply, majoritarian, absolute power on either side. And that’s just not what the founders intended.