Quotes to inspire and reflect

The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler.

Nations it may be have fashioned their Governments, but the Governments have paid them back in the same coin.

In the long-run every government is the exact symbol of its people, with their wisdom and unwisdom.

Administration, n. An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president.

The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.

That rule is the better which is exercised over better subjects.

The divine science of government is the science of social happiness, and the blessings of society depend entirely on the constitutions of government.

As the happiness of the people is the sole end of government, so the consent of the people is the only foundation of it.

Another good thing about gossip is that it is within / everybody’s reach, / And it is much more interesting than any / other form of speech.

Gossip is an evil thing by nature, she’s a light weight to lift up, / oh very easy, but heavy to carry, and hard to put down again.

To create an unfavourable impression, it is not necessary that certain things should be true, but that they have been said.

The best loved man or maid in the town would perish with anguish / Could they hear all that their friends say in the course of a day.

I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world. Certainly the greatest harm they

Out of some little thing, too free a tongue / Can make an outrageous wrangle.

Living or dead, to a good man there can come no evil.

Yes, the idiot is indeed the good man, but only because he doesn’t know any better.

A good man will never suspect his friends of shady actions: this is part of his goodness. A good man will never be suspected by the public of using his goodness to screen villains: this is part of his utility.

Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.

Whatever harm the evil may do, the harm done by the good is the most harmful harm.

There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.

Loving-kindness is the better part of goodness. It lends grace to the sterner qualities of which this consists.

It is from reason that justice springs, but goodness is born of wisdom.

It’s easier to swoon in pious dreams / Than do good actions.

Good men are the stars, the planets of the ages wherein they live, and illustrate the times.

It is a hard thing for a man / to be righteous, if the unrighteous man is to have the greater right.

Jail doesn't teach anyone to do good, nor Siberia, but a man—yes! A man can teach another man to do good—believe me!

Seek not good from without: seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it.

A good man has more hope in his death than a wicked man in his life.

Goodness that preaches undoes itself.

It is very hard to be simple enough to be good.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey the laws too well.

Good is not good, unless / A thousand it possess, / But doth waste with greediness.

May the good God pardon all good men.

The only fault’s with time; / All men become good creatures: but so slow!

Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.

[Gjoodness that comes out of hiding and assumes a public role is no longer good, but corrupt in its own terms and will carry its own corruption wherever it goes.

A good-natured man has the whole world to be happy out of.

Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.

The best part of health is fine disposition.

I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as an habit of mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent.

Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or something which must bear its appearance and supply its place. For this reason mankind have been forced to invent a kind of artificial humanity, which is what we express by the word Good-Breeding.

A good thing which prevents us from enjoying a greater good is in truth an evil.

The question of good and evil remains in irremediable chaos for those who seek to fathom it in reality. It is a mere mental sport to the disputants, who are captives that play with their chains.

Saints cannot arise where there have been no warriors, nor philosophers where a prying beast does not remain hidden in the depths.

The apprehension of the good / Gives but the greater feeling to the worse.

Life in itself is neither good nor evil; it is the scene of good or evil, as you make it.

The common people, on the whole, are still living in the world of absolute good and evil from which the intellectuals have long since escaped.