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

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

Obviously, I’m no fan of the radical left.

All respect for the office of the presidency aside, I assumed that the obvious and unadulterated decline of freedom and constitutional sovereignty, not to mention the efforts to curb the power of judicial review, spoke for itself.

I would rather drink weedkiller than support Obamacare.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot – and it’s only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.

I found that the corridors of power in Delhi were littered with lobbies of various kinds.

When Rumsfeld gets up on television and says we have definitive intelligence that al Qaeda is working with Iraq, how is an ordinary citizen supposed to react? They won’t tell you the evidence, and when anyone asks, they say, ‚Well, you know: It’s secret.‘

Men and women may form associations for and among themselves and be governed by stipulations that are mutually acceptable.

There’s some jerks. There’s some big egos. There are a few that think they’re one of the Founding Fathers… in both parties.

The truth of the matter is that Iran is a cancer.

Nothing could make me forget what the Reagan years had actually been like.

I have never really thought that the Left was much in ‚array‘ as far as political purposes were concerned.

We just seem to have lost all our morals and principles and values these days.

I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.

An individual’s refusal to carry out the criminal acts of his government sets the stage, in the most effective way possible, for the attempt to demonstrate the criminal nature of these acts.

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.

I am such a political person.

If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.

And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.

One of the roles of the Presidency is to lead a political party. Having a President in office is usually a huge advantage to a party because it gives the party a mouthpiece and an advocate at the highest level.

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.

You need to understand, if you take out a government, take out a regime, guess who becomes the government and regime and is responsible for the country? You are. So if you break it, you own it.

There’s no such thing as going to a soapbox and saying, ‚The government’s corrupt,‘ and not having the intelligence service see your face. In the digital world, that can be done.

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.

You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I’m innocent. You’ve got to believe I’m innocent. If you don’t, take my job.

The human being is in the most literal sense a political animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can individuate itself only in the midst of society.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

I don’t vote. I don’t do no voting.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.

Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

I’m glad I’m not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin. You never know if someone’s tape recording what you say.

Let me even say before I even get inaugurated, during the transition we are going to be having meetings all across the country with community organizations so that you have input into the agenda for the next presidency of the United States of America.

Government isn’t that good at rapid advancement of technology. It tends to be better at funding basic research. To have things take off, you’ve got to have commercial companies do it.

Everybody is entertained to death.

When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

People do not make wars; governments do.

I’m going to stay active as long as I can politically, and with the Carter Center primarily, and if I’m able mentally and physically, will continue to be quite active.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.

Humanity, you never had it to begin with.

Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom.

Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone – except God.

I do think there should be some regulations on AI.

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.

He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.

It sure is hell to be president.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that the men and women of our intelligence community put their lives on the line every day, and they do very dangerous work to keep our country safe.

I never accepted Communist dogma or theory.

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.