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.

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

When I was president, I announced and I still maintain that I can live with Roe v. Wade. I did everything I possibly could as president under that ruling, which I don’t think ought to be changed, to minimize the need for abortions. I think every abortion is a result of a horrible series of errors on the part of people involved.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

I pay attention to politics and technology.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

In many respects, the United States is a great country. Freedom of speech is protected more than in any other country. It is also a very free society.

The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy – the one that’s absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes.

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful.

For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people.

There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.

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.

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

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.

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

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.

A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.

Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

Politically, the world is so confused right now – there’s so much suffering caused by various movements by various parties and people in power in government.

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.

If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.

Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.

I believe that in every country the people themselves are more peaceably and liberally inclined than their governments.

Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends.

No man should be in politics unless he would honestly rather not be there.

The American people are bigger than any president. I suppose I have faith in my country and in what it is founded on and the values we hold dear.

In a country with millions of people and cars going everywhere, the enemy is going to get a car bomb out there once in awhile.

Read my lips: no new taxes.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

When I came to Delhi and noticed an insider view, I felt what it was, and I was surprised to see it. It seemed as if dozens of separate governments are running at the same time in one main government. It appeared that everyone has its own fiefdom.

There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.

I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.

In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the government. The government will not use force unless force is used against it.

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

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.

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.

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?

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.

All government, of course, is against liberty.

The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we – we own this country. We – we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.

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.

It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.

It’s very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth.

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.

Men feel that cruelty to the poor is a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is an injustice to equals; nay it is treachery to comrades.

I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.

I believe that a government has only one religion – India first. A government has only one holy book – our Constitution. A government has only one kind of devotion – towards nation.

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.

Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

For the mission’s sake, for our country’s sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division’s colors in past battles – carry out your mission and keep your honor clean.

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.

If you see oppression of the poor, and justice and righteousness trampled in a country, do not be astounded.