American Government Quotes - Page 3

• [Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.

  Patrick Henry

  Government, People, Tyranny Founding Fathers

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• Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

  Patrick Henry

  Death, Sweet, Freedom

  Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, Va., 23 Mar. 1775.

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• How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Usa, Political

  Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Civil Disobedience: Resistance to Civil Government”, p.8, The Floating Press

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• So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then President Clinton lied about a relationship, and everyone was surprised! A little naive, I feel!

  Eddie Izzard

  Native American, Government, Years

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• Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.

  Samuel Adams

  Law, Government, People

  The Advertiser, 1748.

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• The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

  Benjamin Rush

  Bible, God, Religious

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.8

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

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life And Love, Government, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.19, Cambridge University Press

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• Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

  James Madison

  Country, Gun, Government

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• Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.

  Bruce Springsteen

  Country, Moving, Heart

  "Chords for Change". www.nytimes.com. August 5, 2004.

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• In the eyes of government we are just one race here. It is American.

  Antonin Scalia

  Eye, Race, Government

  Antonin Scalia (2016). “Scalia's Court: A Legacy of Landmark Opinions and Dissents”, p.47, Regnery Publishing

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• There'd never been a more advantageous time to be a criminal in America than during the 13 years of Prohibition. At a stroke, the American government closed down the fifth largest industry in the United States - alcohol production - and just handed it to criminals - a pretty remarkable thing to do.

  Bill Bryson

  Government, Years, America

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• The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature. . . . [In] the formation of the American governments . . . it will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven. . . . These governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.

  John Adams

  Simple, Government, America

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• The path to glory is rough, and many gloomy hours obscure it. May the Great Spirit shed light on your path, so that you may never experience the humility that the power of the American government has reduced me to. This is the wish of a man who, in his native forests, was once as proud and bold as yourself.

  Black Hawk

  Humility, Men, Light

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• One person's view is not to be sniffed at. Everybody is entitled to have their view and people are entitled to have a different view from the view the [American] Government has arrived at and they're entitled to express their view.

  Amanda Vanstone

  Government, Views, People

  Interview with George Negus, www.sbs.com.au. August 23, 2013.

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• The director of the FBI has been visiting Silicon Valley companies asking them to build back doors so that it can spy on what is being said online. The Department of Commerce is going after piracy. At home, the American government wants anything but Internet freedom.

  Evgeny Morozov

  Home, Government, Doors

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• The people who started the American government, the founders of the Constitution, didn't like political parties but they were forced to start them. Nobody ever created political parties in England, they evolved. And there do tend to be two general tendencies that focus around how much government you think you need.

  Barney Frank

  Party, Thinking, Government

  "The Political Scene: Barney's Frank Opinions". Interview with Michael Guerriero, www.newyorker.com. December 9, 2011.

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• The Second Amendment reveals a profound principle of American government - the principle of civilian ascendency over the military.

  William O. Douglas

  Military, Men, America

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• The economical policies that are instigated really makes you think that the American government is a bunch of evil bastards. So just because you're black, you're still representing that government, and when Obama came into office he enacted the same policies that we would critique other presidents for.

  Lupe Fiasco

  Thinking, Government, Evil

  "Lupe Fiasco supports Barack Obama but says he's not first black president" by Alvin Blanco, www.mtv.com. March 9, 2011.

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• The real struggle between an American government and the people was one of power, which was settled when they designed their Constitution, which conceded the sovereignty of the people when it came to politics, and the sovereignty of the consumer when it came to economics.

  Ndabaningi Sithole

  Wisdom, Real, Struggle

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• I am a Republican because I believe in the constitution, strength in national defense, limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility as the concrete foundation for American government. They reinforce the resolve that the United States is the greatest country in the world and we can all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the beautiful legacy they left us today.

  Martha Raye

  Beautiful, Country, Father

  "Take It from the Big Mouth: The Life of Martha Raye" by Jane Maddern Pittrone, (p. 220), April 8, 1999.

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• The American government is a rule of the people, by the people, for the bosses.

  Austin O'Malley

  Government, People, Boss

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• I am quite aware that a distinction must be drawn between the American government and the American people.

  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

  Government, People, Distinction

  "We Are Neither Obstinate nor Gullible". SPIEGEL Interview, www.spiegel.de. April 10, 2009.

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• As believers in democracy we have not only the right but the duty to question existing mechanisms of, say, suffrage and to inquire whether some functional organization would not serve to formulate and manifest public opinion better than the existing methods. It is not irrelevant to the point that a score of passages could be cited in which Jefferson refers to the American Government as an experiment.

  John Dewey

  Government, Organization, Democracy

  John Dewey, Jo Ann Boydston, Steven M. Cahn (2008). “The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1938-1939”, p.175, SIU Press

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• Patriotism is not 'my country right or wrong'; patriotism means loving the ideals for which America stands and having the courage to speak up when these ideals are distorted for personal or political gain. The American government was instituted to be the servant of the people, not our master.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Country, Mean, Government

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• I don't consider Americans bullies, but I do consider the American government bullying.

  George Michael

  Bullying, Government, Bully

  "George Michael video rages at US policy in Middle East and attacks 'poodle' Blair" by Tania Branigan, www.theguardian.com. July 2, 2002.

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