Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

You can’t put democracy and freedom back into a box.

I pay attention to politics and technology.

Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.

It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.

I’m very type-A, and many things in my life are about control and domination, but eating should be a submissive experience, where you let down your guard and enjoy the ride.

Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.

To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.

Words are loaded pistols.

Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.

Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

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

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 have learned from personal experience that putting trust in God means there will be some unanswered questions. That was a hard lesson for me because I naturally want to understand everything… to know what’s going on so I can feel like I’m in control.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.

Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power.

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.

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

I don’t write policy for my government.

I’ve studied authoritarianism for a very long time – for 40 years – and they’re started by people’s attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory.

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

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.

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

The first duty of government is to see that people have food, fuel, and clothes. The second, that they have means of moral and intellectual education.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

It’s easy being a humorist when you’ve got the whole government working for you.

The IRS! They’re like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!

Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I’m the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out… without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

If social stability goes pear-shaped, you have a choice between anarchy and dictatorship. Most people will opt for more security, even if they have to give up some personal freedom.

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.

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.

It’s a good thing we don’t get all the government we pay for.

The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.

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

The government, whether state or central, is elected. That means we have a responsibility to elect the right kind of leaders.

All government, of course, is against liberty.

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.

Tyranny or slavery, born of selfishness, are the two educational methods of parents; all gradations of tyranny or slavery.

The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.

My relationship to power and authority is that I’m all for it. People need somebody to watch over them. Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

The point – the power to hurt – of all figures lies in the truthfulness of their application.

I think governments can’t do much.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That’s not going to happen if you care only about yourself.

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

I’m going to be a vice president very much like George Bush was. He proved to be a very effective vice president, perhaps the most effective we’ve had in a couple of hundred years.

It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.

It’s actually very easy for democracy to disappear.

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.