government Quotes

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.

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.

Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.

If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.

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

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