All legislation, all government, all society is founded upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these everything is based...Let him who elevates himself above humanity, above its weaknesses, its infirmities, its wants, its necessities, say, if he pleases, I will never compromise; but let no one who is not above the frailties of our common nature disdain compromises.
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
The essence of government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
Government, is the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. 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.
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government
So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill their.s
We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind of self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.
The government is unresponsive to the needs of the little man. Under 5'7", it is impossible to get your congressman on the phone.