Free Government Quotes

An efficient militia is authorized and contemplated by the Constitution and required by the spirit and safety of free government. ~ James Madison

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents. ~ Andrew Jackson

The United States has adventured upon a great and noble experiment ... of total separation of Church and State ... The offices of the Government are open alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgment of man set up as the sure and infallible creed of faith ... Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and ... our system of free government would be imperfect without it. ~ John Tyler

The object of every free government is the public good, and all lesser interests yield to it. That of every tyrannical government, is the happiness and aggrandizement of one, or a few, and to this the public felicity, and every other interest must submit. ~ Marcus Junius Brutus The Younger

Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free. ~ Harry Browne

After order and liberty, economy is one of the highest essentials of a free government. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Government is nothing more than the combined force of society or the united power of the multitude for the peace, order, safety, good, and happiness of the people ... There is no king or queen bee distinguished from all the others by size or figure or beauty and variety of colors in the human hive. No man has yet produced any revelation from heaven in his favor, any divine communication to govern his fellow men. Nature throws us all into the world equal and alike ...
The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation it is impossible they should be enslaved.
Ambition is one of the more ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable ...
There is a danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living wth power to endanger public liberty. ~ David McCullough

If it was wise, manly, and patriotic for us to establish a free government, it is equally wise to attend to the necessary means of its preservation. ~ James Monroe

The preservation of a free government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained; but more especially that neither of them be suffered to overleap the great Barrier which defends the rights of the people. The Rulers who are guilty of such an encroachment, exceed the commission from which they derive their authority and are Tyrants. The people who submit to it are governed by laws made neither by themselves nor by an authority derived from them, and are slaves. ~ James Madison

If any ask me what a free government is, I answer, that, for any practical purpose, it is what the people think so,and that they, and not I, are the natural, lawful, and competent judges of this matter. ~ Edmund Burke

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. ~ Patrick Henry

A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism. The distinguishing characteristic of small republics is stability: the character of large republics is mutability. ~ Simon Bolivar

By this action, the Government has proved that so long as it exists, none of us are truly free. Government and freedom are mutually exclusive. So if we value freedom, there's only one conclusion. It's time to get rid of this leftover relic we call Government. ~ Max Barry

Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power. ~ Thomas Jefferson

There is no such thing as a 'free' government benefit. Ask small-business owners who are footing skyrocketing bills for bottomless jobless benefits. ~ Michelle Malkin

In a despotic government, the only principle by which the tyrant who is to move the whole machine means to regulate and manage the people is fear, by the servile dread of his power. But a free government, which of all others is far the most preferable, cannot be supported without virtue. ~ Samuel Williams

I realized that the legal system was corrupt when I went to court and the judge imposed a very short time limit on my evidence submission before removing my legal rights to free speech. ~ Steven Magee

All free governments, whatever their name, are in reality governments by public opinion ; and it is on the quality of this public opinion that their prosperity depends. It is, therefore, their first duty to purify the element from which they draw the breath of life. ~ James Russell Lowell

Free government cannot long endure if property is largely in a few hands, and large masses of people are unable to earn homes, education, and a support in old age. ~ Rutherford B. Hayes

Large and permanent military establishments ... are forbidden by the principles of free government, and against the necessity of which the militia were meant to be a constitutional bulwark. ~ James Madison

Responsibility is a tremendous engine in a free government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?

{Letter to Thomas Jefferson, May 19, 1821} ~ John Adams

Learn to shrink yourself to the size of the company you are in. Take their tone, whatever it may be, and excell in it if you can;but never pretend to give the tone. A free conversation will no more bear a dictator than a free government will. ~ Lord Chesterfield

It is plain, therefore, that if, when the Constitution says treason, it means treason - treason in fact, and nothing else - there is no ground at all for pretending that the Southern people have committed that crime. But if, on the other hand, when the Constitution says treason, it means what the Czar and the Kaiser mean by treason, then our government is, in principle, no better than theirs; and has no claim whatever to be considered a free government. ~ Lysander Spooner

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. ~ George Washington

The war has proved moreover that our free Government, like other free governments, though slow in its early movements, acquires in its progress a force proportioned to its freedom, and that the union of these States, the guardian of the freedom and safety of all and of each, is strengthened by every occasion that puts it to the test. ~ James Madison

When the culture of the East, its chief characteristic, is added to the strength of body and the strength of mind of the agricultural center, its special contribution, and these two great characteristics are constantly imbued with the spirit of independence and love of liberty which lives in the hearts of the dwellers of the mountains, their main quality added to the national character, there is every reason to believe that we shall have a people and institutions such as will be permanent; with such wealth of resources, of such high education and intelligence, and of such vitality, of such longevity, of such devotion to freedom and hostility to centralization and tyranny as shall enable this Nation of ours to stand indefinitely; and to maintain in the future years its manifest destiny of leading the peoples and nations of earth in the principles of free government, constitutional security and individual liberty. Under these and under these alone, the faculties, the aspirations and inspirations of mankind may be unfolded into their full flowering to the fruition of an ever greater and more humane civilization. ~ Charles Edwin Winter

They think the government shows people everything - how to work, study, eat, sleep and that's it. They are afraid of change. They do not understand that if you want to do something, you should do it. You are free, people, free! ~ Anton Krotov

The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free Government, and as they become incorporated with national sentiment, counteract the impulses of interest and passion. ~ James Madison

I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free. ~ Abraham Lincoln

A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it. They are more or less unfit for liberty; and although it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it ~ John Stuart Mill

If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free. ~ Bhagat Singh

Who will show me any Constitutional injunction which makes it the duty of the American people to surrender everything valuable in life, and even life, itself, whenever the purposes of an ambitious and mischievous government may require it? ... A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men. ~ Daniel Webster

In vain shall Great Britain confer upon her colonies the free government and liberal principles of legislation, for which she is distinguished, if she do not carry with her the revelations of God. ~ John Strachan

Every dollar the federal government does not take from us, every decision it does not make for us, will make our economy stronger, our lives more abundant, our future more free. ~ Ronald Reagan

A government which requires of the people the contribution of the bulk of their substance and rewards cannot be classed as a free government ... ~ Calvin Coolidge

No free government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of partiotism. ~ Andrew Jackson

It is all the more necessary under a system of free government that the people should be enlightened, that they should be correctly informed, than it is under an absolute government that they should be ignorant. Under a republic the institutions of learning, while bound by the constitution and laws, are in no way subservient to the government. ~ Calvin Coolidge

We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. ~ Abraham Lincoln

The awakening of the people of China to the possibilities under free government is the most significant, if not the most momentous, event of our generation. ~ Woodrow Wilson

If people cannot limit government they will not for long be free. ~ Garet Garrett

We have, as all will agree, a free Government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reeactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free. ~ Thomas Jefferson

We have become the new american slaves: but there is a revolution coming. It is a revolution of individual liberty. It will free us without violence. It will begin with the self. It will spread to the workplace. It will turn our corporate masters into our servants. It will free us of government's tyranny. The revolution will spread to all corners of the nation, and at last, we shall be free. ~ Gerry Spence

In civilized communities, property as well as personal rights are the essential object of the laws, which encourage industry by securing the enjoyment of its fruits: that industry from which property results, and that enjoyment which consists not merely in its immediate use, but in its posthumous destination to objects of choice and of kindred affection. In a just and free government, therefore, the rights both of property and of persons ought to be effectually guarded. ~ James Madison

The two greatest things that all men aim at in any free government are liberty and permanency. We have had liberty enough - too much perhaps in some respects - but at all events, liberty to our hearts content. ~ Thomas D

Once everyone can enrich their souls for free, government subsidies for enrichment forfeit their rationale. To object, 'But most people don't use the Internet for spiritual enrichment' is actually a damaging admission that eager students are few and far between. Subsidized education's real aim isn't to make ideas and culture accessible to anyone who's interested, but to make them mandatory for everyone who *isn't* interested . . .

The rise of the Internet has two unsettling lessons . . . First: the humanist case for education subsidies is flimsy today because the Internet makes enlightenment practically free. Second: the humanist case for education subsidies was flimsy all along because the Internet proves low consumption of ideas and culture stems from apathy, not poverty or inconvenience. Behold: when the price of enlightenment drops to zero, remains embarrassingly scarce. ~ Bryan Caplan

The orders of society, in all well-constituted governments, are mutually bound together, and important to each other; there can be no such thing in a free government as a vacuum; and whenever one is likely to take place, by the drawing off of the rich and intelligent from the poor, the bad passions of society will rush in to fill up the space, and rend the whole asunder. Though ~ Washington Irving

In a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen. ~ John Marshall

The First Amendment provides the only kind of security system that can preserve a free government - one that leaves the way wide open for people to favor, discuss, advocate, or incite causes and doctrines however obnoxious and antagonistic such views may be to the rest of us. ~ Hugo Black

A free government is of all others the most energetic. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Some government expenditure actually makes a profit. Our theatre leads the world. Loads of tourists must be attracted by the fact that you could spend a week in London doing nothing but visit superb museums and galleries, free. ~ Simon Hoggart

The foundation of all free government and all social order must be laid in families and in the discipline of youth. Young persons must not only be furnished with knowledge, but they must be accustomed to subordination and subjected to the authority and influence of good principles. It will avail little that youths are made to understand truth and correct principles, unless they are accustomed to submit to be governed by them. ~ Noah Webster

The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern. ~ Lord Acton

Freedom for the government is enslavement for the people. When the government is free the people are enslaved. When the government is contained then the people are free. ~ Stefan Molyneux

We must settle this question now
whether in a free government the minority have the right to break it up whenever they choose. If we fail, it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I am for reformation by emigration. The emigration of the mind before the revolution of the state. The soul and mind must be free before one has a right to be a member of a free government. ~ Ameen Rihani

The Bible is the best of books, and I wish it were in the hands of every one. It is indispensable to the safety and permanence of our institutions. A free government can not exist without religion and morals, and there cannot be morals without religion. Especially should the Bible be placed in the hands of the young. It is the best school book in the world. I would that all our people were brought up under the influence of that holy book. ~ Zachary Taylor

Whether this has ever happened I know not, nor whether it ever can happen. For we see, as I have said a little way back, that a city which owing to its pervading corruption has once begun to decline, if it is to recover at all, must be saved not by the excellence of the people collectively, but of some one man then living among them, on whose death it at once relapses into its former plight; as happened with Thebes, in which the virtue of Epaminondas made it possible while he lived to preserve the form of a free Government, but which fell again on his death into its old disorders; the reason being that hardly any ruler lives so long as to have time to accustom to right methods a city which has long been accustomed to wrong. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it. ~ George Washington

If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws - the first growing out of the last ... A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. ~ Alexander Hamilton

It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free government can be permanent, where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape. The future experience of Christendom, and chiefly of the American states, must settle this problem, as yet new in the history of the world, abundant, as it has been, in experiments in the theory of government. ~ Joseph Story

The principle of the Constitution is that of a separation of legislative, Executive and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, it is clearly the spirit of the Constitution, and it ought to be so commented and acted on by every friend of free government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Among our neighbors of Central and Southern America, we see the Caucasian mingled with the Indian and the African. They have the forms of free government, because they have copied them. To
its benefits they have not attained, because that standard of civilization is above their race. Revolution succeeds Revolution, and the country mourns that some petty chief may triumph, and
through a sixty days' government ape the rulers of the earth. ~ Jefferson Davis

In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed. ~ Noah Webster

When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of free government. ~ Grover Cleveland

No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue. ~ George Mason

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. ~ Benjamin Franklin

If you want to learn about the whole government and how it operates, the Appropriations Committee is the best place to learn it. ~ John J. Rooney

Had the United States and the United Kingdom gone on alone to capture Baghdad, under the provisions of the Geneva and Hague conventions we would have been considered occupying powers and therefore would have been responsible for all the costs of maintaining or restoring government, education and other services for the people of Iraq. ~ Norman Schwarzkopf

The Pope would have an easier job than the President of the United States in adopting a change of course. He has no Congress alongside him as a legislative body nor a Supreme Court as a judiciary. He is absolute head of government, legislator and supreme judge in the church. If he wanted to, he could authorize contraception over night, permit the marriage of priests, make possible the ordination of women and allow eucharistic fellowship with this Protestant churches. What would a Pope do who acted in the spirit of Obama? ~ Hans Kung

Most people would look at an animal in a cage and instinctively feel that it should be set free ... It's a dangerous world out there, filled with predators ... What would you prefer? A comfortable, safe, warm, cosy life in a cage, or an uncertain life of freedom. ~ Scarlett Thomas

Despise The Free Lunch ~ Robert Greene

Pure Christianity and serious godliness fear not the scrutiny of a free thought, but despise the impotent malice of a prejudiced one. ~ Matthew Henry

When people believe that the local government and economy serve their needs. There is little desire to protest. ~ Auliq Ice

MacKinnon's treatment of the central issue of pornography as she herself poses it - the harm that pornography does to women - is shockingly causal. Much of her evidence is anecdotal, and in a nation of 260 Million people, anecdotes are a weak form of evidence. ~ Richard Posner

A free and stable Iraq will be a shining light against the shadow of Islamic extremism. ~ Jim DeMint

These unwritten amenities have been in part responsible for giving our people the feeling of independence and self-confidence, the feeling of creativity. These amenities have dignified the right of dissent and have honored the right to be nonconformists and the right to defy submissiveness. They have encouraged lives of high spirits rather than hushed, suffocating silence. ~ William O. Douglas

For life, good youth, hath never an illWhich hope cannot scatter, and faith cannot kill;And stubborn realities never shall bindThe free-spreading wings of a cheerful mind. ~ Martin Farquhar Tupper

The White House doesn't create jobs. The government together - White House, Congress - creates policies that allow for greater job creation. ~ Jay Carney

Our people shall be free ~ Thomas Jefferson

A people who are intent on getting something-for-nothing from government cannot cavil over the infringement of their rights by that government; ~ Anonymous

The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Art is not a mirror but an icon. It takes the chaos in which we live and shows us structure and pattern, not the structure of conformity which imprisons but the structure which liberates,
sets us free to become growing, mature human beings. ~ Madeleine L'Engle

I lived in Paris when I was 20 and 21, and actually knew people that worked for the government there, that talked about terrorism in the country 20 years ago. ~ Andie MacDowell

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.

Soon or late the day is coming,
Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone.

Rings shall vanish from our noses,
And the harness from our back,
Bit and spur shall rust forever,
Cruel whips shall no more crack.

Riches more than mind can picture,
Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels,
Shall be ours upon that day.

Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its water be,
Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
On the day that sets us free.

For that day we all must labour,
Though we die before it break;
Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,
All must toils for freedom's sake.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken well and spread my tidings
Of the golden future time. ~ George Orwell

Ex-Presidents of the United States get state subsidies. Not so in Russia. You get no government support. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

All these small ideas that
I am a man or a woman,
Sick or healthy, strong or weak
Or that I hate or love or have little power,
are but hallucinations.

Stand up then!
Know that every thought and word
That weakens you in this world is the only evil that exists.
Stand as a rock; you are the Infinite Spirit.
Say, "I am Existence Absolute,
Bliss Absolute,"
and like a lion breaking its cage,
break your chains and be free forever.

What frightens you, what holds you down:
Only ignorance of your true nature,
of your blessedness; nothing else can bind you.
You are the Pure one, the Ever-Blessed.

Therefore, if you dare, stand on that--
mold your whole life on that.
You are the one with the Eternal Soul.
Know then that thou art He,
and model your whole life accordingly;
for those who know this
and model their lives accordingly,
will no more suffer in darkness. ~ Swami Vivekananda

A free and open Internet should not have to be weighed down by legal challenges - its dynamism is essential to our economy. ~ Anna Eshoo

Let your mind dance with me. Let it be, just for a moment, stress free. ~ Debasish Mridha

If there's to be damnation, she had said, let it be of my choosing, not theirs. He knew a little about damnation himself ... and he had an idea that the lessons, far from being done, were just beginning. ~ Stephen King

Firmly believe that the Lord is at all times everything to you. During prayer He is the power and the fulfillment in the Holy Spirit of each of your words. During pious conversation He is your living water, the ardent flow of your words at all times ? He is everything to you. Be free from care in the presence of your Lord. He has enclosed you with Himself upon all sides. He penetrates you wholly and knows all your thoughts, all your needs and inclinations, and if you live in Him with faith and love, then no evil shall befall you. 'The Lord is at hand; be careful for nothing' (Phil. 4:6). ~ John Of Kronstadt

When someone at peace and free from hurry enters a room, that person has a calming effect on everyone present. ~ Eknath Easwaran

The next generation should embrace their struggles. A butterfly develops only after a struggle to break free from its cocoon. A diamond can only emerge after taking in all the pressure that it can. Struggle hard and never ever give up! You are born to be a Hero. ~ Avijeet Das

I go of my free choice, with the blessing of obedience. ~ Mother Teresa

I sincerely believe that we not only have the right to know what is good and what is evil; we have the duty to acquire that knowledge if we hope to assume responsibility for our own lives and those of our children. Only by knowing the truth can we be set free. ~ Alice Miller

The East Timorese government does not believe that we should consider compensation for the victims because there are tens of thousands of people who were, in one way or another, affected by the violence either directly or indirectly. ~ Jose Ramos-Horta

depression is stupid and not a thing that makes me a better writer. one time i went a whole year without writing and i stayed in bed and drank. fuck your bukowskisms. i want sunlight and love and running down some street i've never been on where it's warm and cool at the same time and i'm smiling. i want nothing to ever be bad again- and i don't mean that i want a life free of conflict, i mean that i want a life free of meaningless conflict. not being able to will oneself to take a shower or leave the house is meaningless. there is nothing to be gained, no lesson to be learned from that kind of life. my heart is stale, my prose is stale. give me fire if you want to hurt me. give me something i can taste. there's nothing romantic or mysterious about where i am. there's nothing here worth holding onto. ~ Joshua Espinoza

The illusion that power lies within the hands of the common man is more important than legitimate efficiency within the government. ~ Evan Meekins