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Notable quotes

“Earth governments in moments of stress are not famous for being reasonable.”
— Isaac Asimov, History (Originally published in Super Science Novels Magazine, March 1941)
“Rights come from a creator, not government. Government's purpose is limited to protecting natural rights, which is the standard we use to judge governments.”
— Thomas L. Krannawitter, "Racial Preferences Mean Big Government" (30 October 2006), Writings, The Claremont Institute
“A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned.”
— Shepherd Book, Firefly, episode "War Stories". (Shepherd is quoting Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
— Attributed to George Washington in the "Liberty and Government" by "WM", published in the Christian Science Journal vol XX no 8 (Nov 1902) p 465. This can be found with minor variations in wording and in punctuation (and with "fearful" for "troublesome,"), in Frank J. Wilstach, A Dictionary of Similes, 2d ed., p. 526 (1924) and in George Seldes, The Great Quotations, p. 727 (1966). Reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989). In his most recent book of quotations, The Great Thoughts (1985), Seldes says, p. 441, col. 2, footnote, this paragraph "although credited to the 'Farewell' [address] cannot be found in it. Lawson Hamblin, who owns a facsimile, and Horace Peck, America's foremost authority on quotations, informed me this paragraph is apocryphal."
“Excise, a hateful tax levied upon commodities.”
— Samuel Johnson, definition of excise in his Dictionary
“Wherever magistrates were appointed from among those who complied with the injunctions of the laws, he (Socrates) considered the government to be an aristocracy.”
— Xenophon, Memorabilia of Socrates, Book IV, Chapter VI

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.