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

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.

One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.

Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

We can’t have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back.

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.

It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

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.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

That I be not as those are who spend the day in complaining of headache and the night in drinking the wine which gives the headache!

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.

I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior, for whose Kingdom it stands, one Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe.

Government’s first duty and highest obligation is public safety.

I think it’s important to vote.

Government can provide opportunity. But opportunity means nothing unless people are prepared to seize it.

Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.

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.

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.

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

I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth.

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.

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

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.

In a democracy, allegations will never improve situations. So, I’m against allegations, but I always welcome criticism.

Democracy as a system has evolved into something that Thomas Jefferson didn’t anticipate.

Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

I never smoke to excess – that is, I smoke in moderation, only one cigar at a time.

I have no doubt but that the misery of the lower classes will be found to abate whenever the Government assumes a freer aspect and the laws favor a subdivision of Property.

We need to understand that we as citizens and as a government in any community throughout this country have no more important obligation than to educate those who are going to replace us.

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

I have the space and liberty to create.

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.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

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.

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.

My education was the liberty I had to read indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes hanging out.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

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

I loved being Secretary of State, that’s probably evident to everyone who watched me.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

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.

Because of my parents‘ love of democracy, we came to America after being driven twice from our home in Czechoslovakia – first by Hitler and then by Stalin.

One of the peculiarities of Delhi is that the term ‚reform‘ is associated only with passing of laws in Parliament. In fact, the most important reforms are those needed, without new laws, at various level of the government, in work practices and procedures.

To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.

We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.

Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

I have been very happy in the House of Representatives.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‚Ich bin ein Berliner!‘

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.

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