The question really is, are you improving the world? And you can do that in many models. You can do that in government, you can do that in a nonprofit, and you can do it in commercial enterprise.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.

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.

If the government ever imposes a tax on books – and I wouldn’t put it past them – I’m in dead trouble.

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.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

I think that if all kids aspire to reach a point where they could feed themselves and a few of their friends, this would be good for the world surely.

When I started Virgin from a basement in west London, there was no great plan or strategy. I didn’t set out to build a business empire… For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

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

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.

If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.

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.

An individual’s refusal to carry out the criminal acts of his government sets the stage, in the most effective way possible, for the attempt to demonstrate the criminal nature of these acts.

Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.

I think that there’s no doubt that as I see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that has an impact on how I think about these issues.

I try to speak plainly so that my constituents who don’t follow the nuances of government like I do, because they’re too busy earning a real living, can understand the issues before me. None of this stuff is brain surgery.

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

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.

The idea that you encourage companies to take their innovative thinkers and think about the most needy – even beyond the market opportunities – that’s something that appropriately ought to be done.

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

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

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

The biggest problem that we have is that California is being run now by special interests. All of the politicians are not anymore making the moves for the people, but for special interests and we have to stop that.

The time has come for us to draw the line. The time has come for the responsible leaders of both political parties to take a stand against overgrown Government and for the American taxpayer.

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.

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.

Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we’ve got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon.

No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

For a successful entrepreneur it can mean extreme wealth. But with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. And the responsibility for me is to invest in creating new businesses, create jobs, employ people, and to put money aside to tackle issues where we can make a difference.

Political necessities sometime turn out to be political mistakes.

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

The government argues that First Amendment rights are outweighed by the need to prosecute those who transmit classified information and documents.

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.

If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.

Democracy is a daring concept – a hope that we’ll be best governed if all of us participate in the act of government. It is meant to be a conversation, a place where the intelligence and local knowledge of the electorate sums together to arrive at actions that reflect the participation of the largest possible number of people.

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.

Politics is not bean bags. It’s serious, tough stuff.

There has to be a global mission of human progress.

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

Governments are supposed to lie to their citizens.

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.

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.

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

Scientists are not delinquents. Our work has changed the conditions in which men live, but the use made of these changes is the problem of governments, not of scientists.

Where there is a free government, and the people make their own laws by their representatives, I see no injustice in their obliging one another to take their own paper money.

What I like to do is try to make a difference with the work I do.

Some people will have to be afraid. Those who plunder the nation, deliver injustice, will have to feel scared of me. And I am not afraid of admitting this. Government cannot be so lenient that it forgives them.

This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power.

By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

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.

When governments rely increasingly on sophisticated public relations agencies, public debate disappears and is replaced by competing propaganda campaigns, with all the accompanying deceits. Advertising isn’t about truth or fairness or rationality, but about mobilising deeper and more primitive layers of the human mind.

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

Experience praises the most happy the one who made the most people happy.

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.

Any government that supports, protects or harbours terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.

You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.