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.

The government of Israel doesn’t like the kinds of things I say, which puts them into the same category as every other government in the world.

I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to exist, then it would choose the American system.

What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don’t like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don’t expect freedom to survive very long.

Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy – which many believe goes hand in hand with it – will be dead as well.

Our only real hope for democracy is that we get the money out of politics entirely and establish a system of publicly funded elections.

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the ‚Pilgrim’s Progress,‘ my first collection was of John Bunyan’s works in separate little volumes.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

Dickens is one of those authors who are well worth stealing.

I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.

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

When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.

I’ve loved reading all my life.

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments‘ plans.

If you believe that tax policy has nothing to do with the economy, then you’re pretty much like a rock, only dumber.

I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.

We don’t believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

Artists have a responsibility to speak and to act when governments fail, and if we don’t do that, we really deserve the world we get.

My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water.

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

We have to do more than just elect a new President if we truly want to change this country.

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.

There might be some serious fun in politics.

O God, O God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!

I like policy. It’s why I decided to enter government. The other thing I like about government – you have good days, you have bad days, but you never have a boring day, and that’s important to me.

I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire.

O Day of days when we can read! The reader and the book, either without the other is naught.

How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.

Concentration of executive power, unless it’s very temporary and for specific circumstances, let’s say fighting world war two, it’s an assault on democracy.

I don’t think generally politician come from democratic country. I think not that thinking. But sometimes little bit short-sighted. They are mainly looking for their next vote.

Democratic societies are unfit for the publication of such thunderous revelations as I am in the habit of making.

I think one of the great things about the United States has been our ability to maintain a distinction between our military and domestic law enforcement.

If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be ‚Citizens United.‘ I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can’t be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they’re not getting some other matter.

The wisest use of American strength is to advance freedom.

We can’t equate democracy with Christianity because the largest democracy on earth is India, which is primarily Hindu. The third largest democracy is Indonesia, which is Islamic. Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs.

It is a way to take people’s wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.

The U.S. immigration laws are bad – really, really bad. I’d say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government’s name.

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.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

Digital technology allows us a much larger scope to tell stories that were pretty much the grounds of the literary media.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I never will.

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

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

Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females).

The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.