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

If you work hard and play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything.

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.

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

Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

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?

I don’t live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free.

The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

That government is best which governs least.

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.

Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity, it must be respectable – even to observe neutrality, you must have a strong government.

A Christian who does not pray for those who govern is not a good Christian.

Obey the principles without being bound by them.

Governments will always play a huge part in solving big problems. They set public policy and are uniquely able to provide the resources to make sure solutions reach everyone who needs them. They also fund basic research, which is a crucial component of the innovation that improves life for everyone.

Democracy is the road to socialism.

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.

The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, ‚Gee, isn’t that wonderful?‘

The inquiry constantly is what will please, not what will benefit the people. In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expedient, fickleness, and folly.

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear – kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor – with the cry of grave national emergency.

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

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

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

The military can buy our diplomats some time.

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.

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

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

The U.S. immigration laws are bad – really, really bad. I’d say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government’s name.

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

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

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

Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.

The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule.

The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement, many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

What Washington needs is adult supervision.

Personally, I’d like to see more of our leaders take a technocratic approach to solving our biggest problems.

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.

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.

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.

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.

All religions and all communities have the same rights, and it is my responsibility to ensure their complete and total protection. My government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion.

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

Syntax, my lad. It has been restored to the highest place in the republic.

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

Politics have no relation to morals.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.

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

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

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

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.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists – to protect them and to promote their common welfare – all else is lost.

About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

I have rules for a lot of areas of my life. Love is not going to be one of them.

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.