“Real swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Self RulePower
Government Quotes
200 FAMOUS QUOTES · GOVERNMENT
Government Quotes
Read the best government quotes on democracy, law, leadership and liberty from Madison, Jefferson, Mencius, Kautilya, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Plato and more.
“Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.”
B. R. Ambedkar
DemocracySociety
“All men are my children.”
Emperor Ashoka
LeadershipCompassion
“Search out, to no one favour show; with heart that justice loves consult, then act: this is the rule of right.”
Thiruvalluvar
JusticeFairness
“Who holds the sceptre, loving all his folk, the world will cling to him.”
Thiruvalluvar
LeadershipLove
“Not lance gives kings the victory, but sceptre swayed with equity.”
Thiruvalluvar
JusticePower
“If the people have no faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state.”
Confucius
TrustLeadership
“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
Plato
ResponsibilityLeadership
“Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, cities will never have rest from their evils.”
Plato
WisdomLeadership
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.”
Aristotle
EqualityDemocracy
“Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a few but of the whole people.”
Pericles
DemocracyPeople
“Laws are like spider's webs; they catch the weak and small, but the rich and powerful break through them.”
Anacharsis
LawJustice
“In times of war, the laws fall silent.”
Cicero
WarLaw
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”
Tacitus
CorruptionLaw
“That which is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bee.”
Marcus Aurelius
Common GoodSociety
“And the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Thomas Hobbes
Human NaturePhilosophy
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Samuel Johnson
PatriotismPolitics
“Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.”
Oscar Wilde
DemocracyFunny
“Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.”
George Bernard Shaw
DemocracyFunny
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.”
The Bible (Romans 13:1)
AuthorityFaith
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”
The Bible (Proverbs 29:2)
LeadershipRighteousness
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
The Bible (Proverbs 14:34)
NationRighteousness
“The king by judgment establisheth the land.”
The Bible (Proverbs 29:4)
JusticeLeadership
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.”
The Bible (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
PrayerPeace
“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.”
Aristotle
LeadershipDiscipline