I think whenever something is – whenever there’s something that affects the public good, then there does need to be some form of public oversight.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.

An important priority for me is a business must get their own house in order. Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

I don’t think any country is perfect. It’s our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don’t like. I think that’s part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way.

The example that America knows how to govern itself is one of the compelling aspects of our national security.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

The answer to the problem of inequality is for the people who are fortunate enough to either have been gifted or deserved more to do everything they can to make the communities around them as strong as they possibly can.

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.

Nobody is above the law. Imagine if there allegations against Modi and he is the Prime Minister. Should the case not be pursued just because he has become the PM. It should not be so that it should be stopped. I am not above the law.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.

I am opposed to the accumulation of executive power anywhere.

I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good.

I think the first duty of society is justice.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

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

I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.

It is pretty ironic that the so-called ‚least advanced‘ people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

To be safe at the expense of the liberty of other people is a difficult equation.

Philanthropy should be voluntary.

States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

I repeat… that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.

Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa – and it’s about getting a balance.

I draw pleasure in governance, in doing new things and bringing people together. That pleasure is all I need from life.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business.

This country is being managed to death, being public related to death.

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can’t solve the equations, directly in the abstract.

I do think there should be some regulations on AI.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

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.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

In the 21st century, the countries that thrive will be the ones where citizens know their voices will be heard because the institutions are transparent.

Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.

A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself, so that those who govern can govern. But what is the best that we can offer to those who govern? Prayer!

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.

There is a moral obligation that those who have should give to those who don’t.

President Obama seems completely unaware of how many of the policies he is trying to impose have been tried before, in many times and places around the world, and have failed time and again.

In politics nothing is contemptible.

Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

I just feel like, with rappers, there’s so much complacency. It’s like, ‚Oh, I’m a rapper. I’m successful. I make money. That’s all that matters.‘ But there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. Whether or not you’re aware of it, it’s happening.

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.

My first big mission for UNICEF in Ethiopia was just to attract attention, before it was too late, to conditions which threatened the whole country. My role was to inform the world, to make sure that the people of Ethiopia were not forgotten.

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

I consider the fact that thousands of children die each day from starvation and a lack of medicine a crisis for humanity and a problem we must collectively attempt to solve.

Unless a president can protect the privacy of the advice he gets, he cannot get the advice he needs.

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.

If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end.