As a tactic, violence is absurd. No one can compete with the Government in violence, and the resort to violence, which will surely fail, will simply frighten and alienate some who can be reached, and will further encourage the ideologists and administrators of forceful repression.

There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.

Our numbers have increased in Vietnam because the aggression of others has increased in Vietnam. There is not, and there will not be, a mindless escalation.

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.

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.

The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‚Present‘ or ‚Not guilty.‘

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.

I don’t follow politics much.

Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.

Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there’s no question about it.

Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing.

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.

All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.

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 am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government.

Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

Non-violence is the article of faith.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?

I’ve told Billy if I ever caught him cheating, I wouldn’t kill him because I love his children and they need a dad. But I would beat him up. I know where all of his sports injuries are.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

The government has completed the entire process to do away with interviews for lower rank jobs. There will be no requirement of interview for Group D,C and B non-gazetted posts in central government.

The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

Democracy don’t rule the world, You’d better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that’s better left unsaid.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Nowhere is it written that there must be conflict between the United States and China.

Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of communism.

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.

War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.

The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly.

If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.

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

The United States supports a strong, united Ukraine with productive and peaceful relationships with both the East and the West, with both Russia and Europe.

One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.

Good governance with good intentions is the hallmark of our government. Implementation with integrity is our core passion.

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

You beat him verbally. You beat him mentally, and then finally, you beat him physically. That’s the three ways to beat a man.

We need to understand that we as citizens and as a government in any community throughout this country have no more important obligation than to educate those who are going to replace us.

Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

As capitalism falters, the rich move their money out of the country, violence increases, and politicians promising prosperity are elected.

We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, ‚We, the people.‘

We can best help you to prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

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

Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.

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

Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.

Women have a certain sexuality, and I think their bodies are beautiful, and I’m not embarrassed to explore that in a film. But there are things you get offered that are vulgar and violent – just like there’s a side of me that’s vulgar and violent.

I don’t understand why or how we can bully each other.

We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.