{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state", "heading": "Quotes about the state", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state.md", "quotes_count": 113, "authors_count": 55, "parent": { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics", "heading": "Quotes about politics" }, "children": [ { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america", "heading": "Quotes about America" } ], "quotes": [ { "id": "3001ae3e-88d6-4416-b17b-088dc4d69a7a", "slug": "crimes-are-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/the-story-of-b/crimes-are-what", "text": "Crimes are what the state defines as crimes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Quinn", "slug": "daniel-quinn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn" }, "book": { "title": "The Story of B", "slug": "the-story-of-b", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/the-story-of-b" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 265, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Quinn#The_Story_of_B_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:42" }, { "id": "5d4a1b97-bfaf-4e58-b90a-5949e26168da", "slug": "it-cant-be-an-easy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/damascus-gate/it-cant-be-an-easy", "text": "\"It can't be an easy thing,\" Lucas said, \"to make a country. It's tough enough to make a café. Or to make one be the way you imagined it. Unless you only let certain people in and keep the rest out.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert S. Stone", "slug": "robert-s-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone" }, "book": { "title": "Damascus Gate", "slug": "damascus-gate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/damascus-gate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 363, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Stone_(novelist)#Damascus_Gate_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:19" }, { "id": "d89adc93-98ea-45c0-83f5-3357905a479b", "slug": "the-better-organized", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas/the-better-organized", "text": "\"The better organized the state, the duller its humanity.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Mitchell", "slug": "david-mitchell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell" }, "book": { "title": "Cloud Atlas", "slug": "cloud-atlas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 61, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)#Letters_from_Zedelghem_(Part_1)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:56" }, { "id": "7ac3261d-8e83-49d7-a1b0-b998b92a5602", "slug": "unlike-every-other", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham/waiting-for-the-barbarians/unlike-every-other", "text": "Unlike every other other nation in the world, the United States defines itself as a hypothesis and constitutes itself as an argument.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lewis Lapham", "slug": "lewis-lapham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham" }, "book": { "title": "Waiting for the Barbarians", "slug": "waiting-for-the-barbarians", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham/waiting-for-the-barbarians" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 64, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_H._Lapham#Waiting_For_The_Barbarians_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:46" }, { "id": "8a85a150-26e5-411b-aaf4-da72fe73623a", "slug": "people-who-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis/the-fifth-risk/people-who-had", "text": "People who had lived without government were more likely to find meaning in it. On the other hand, people who had never experienced a collapsed state were slow to appreciate a state that had not yet collapsed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Lewis", "slug": "michael-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "The Fifth Risk", "slug": "the-fifth-risk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-lewis/the-fifth-risk" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 24, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "experience", "slug": "experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Lewis_(author)#The_Fifth_Risk_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:42" }, { "id": "d7a37a28-8eac-439a-9197-2f5b6cbf2c19", "slug": "all-systems-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner/grendel/all-systems-are", "text": "\"All systems are evil. All governments are evil. Not just a trifle evil. Monstrously evil.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Gardner", "slug": "john-gardner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner" }, "book": { "title": "Grendel", "slug": "grendel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner/grendel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grendel#Chapter_Eight", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:23" }, { "id": "5b2fc0c0-8198-4049-a820-bdb7ba78fcef", "slug": "whenever-government-assumes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/whenever-government-assumes", "text": "Whenever government assumes to deliver us from the trouble of thinking for ourselves, the only consequences it produces are those of torpor and imbecility.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Godwin", "slug": "william-godwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin" }, "book": { "title": "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "slug": "enquiry-concerning-political-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin#Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_(1793)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:09" }, { "id": "399d07cf-4f1b-4b3b-b473-6cc86ebdd948", "slug": "government-in-reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/government-in-reality", "text": "Government in reality, as has abundantly appeared, is a question of force, and not of consent. It is desirable that a government should be made as agreeable as possible to the ideas and inclinations of its subjects and that they should be consulted, as extensively as may be, respecting its construction and regulations. But, at last, the best constituted government that can be formed particularly for a large community, will contain many provisions that, far from having obtained the consent of all its members, encounter even in their outset a strenuous, thought ineffectual opposition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Godwin", "slug": "william-godwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin" }, "book": { "title": "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "slug": "enquiry-concerning-political-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin#Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_(1793)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:09" }, { "id": "0f31757f-7f14-44ac-a789-d4bb48ca9188", "slug": "government-was-intended", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/government-was-intended", "text": "Government was intended to suppress injustice, but it offers new occasions and temptations for the commission of it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Godwin", "slug": "william-godwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin" }, "book": { "title": "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "slug": "enquiry-concerning-political-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin#Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_(1793)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:08" }, { "id": "022e2b3b-29d1-4dc1-8876-f47e4eaa27a8", "slug": "government-was-intended-to", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/government-was-intended-to", "text": "Government was intended to suppress injustice, but its effect has been to embody and perpetuate it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Godwin", "slug": "william-godwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin" }, "book": { "title": "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "slug": "enquiry-concerning-political-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin#Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_(1793)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:08" }, { "id": "abe867b9-7ad5-411f-84f7-899bf4d275f5", "slug": "sounds-kind-of-long-term", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/accelerando/sounds-kind-of-long-term", "text": "“Sounds kind of long-term to me. Just how far ahead do you think?” “Very long-term—at least twenty, thirty years. And you can forget governments for this market, Bob; if they can’t tax it, they won’t understand it.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Accelerando", "slug": "accelerando", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/accelerando" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 14, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Accelerando_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:05" }, { "id": "9873b339-adf1-488b-a87b-22a729d8454a", "slug": "worlds-with-a-single", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/iron-sunrise/worlds-with-a-single", "text": "Worlds with a single planetary government aren’t meant to be peaceful and open and into civil rights! When I see a planet with just one government, I look for the mass graves. It’s some kind of natural law or something—world governments grow out of the barrel of a gun.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Iron Sunrise", "slug": "iron-sunrise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/iron-sunrise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 160, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Iron_Sunrise_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:05" }, { "id": "29bf8feb-ffa2-45f6-950b-bdc815c525e7", "slug": "as-every-secret", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/singularity-sky/as-every-secret", "text": "As every secret policeman knows, there is no such thing as a coincidence; the state has too many enemies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Singularity Sky", "slug": "singularity-sky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/singularity-sky" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 139, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Singularity_Sky_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:04" }, { "id": "edffc877-0ecc-4130-b7a9-4eef43f3cf07", "slug": "personally-i-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/personally-i-think", "text": "Personally, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build or you can use a hammer to destroy; there is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer itself. It is the purposes to which it is put and the skill with which it is used that determine whether the hammer's work is good or bad. (Introduction)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Molly Ivins", "slug": "molly-ivins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins" }, "book": { "title": "You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You", "slug": "you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Molly_Ivins#You_Got_to_Dance_with_Them_What_Brung_You_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:34" }, { "id": "2767afe5-f389-424f-b7f2-6eb17736f13a", "slug": "nations-are-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mcewan/solar/nations-are-never", "text": "Nations are never virtuous, though they might sometimes think they are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ian McEwan", "slug": "ian-mcewan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mcewan" }, "book": { "title": "Solar", "slug": "solar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mcewan/solar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 149, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ian_McEwan#Solar_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:00" }, { "id": "a7056398-dc4a-44d1-98d1-8fb53c90bd25", "slug": "nothing-the-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death/nothing-the-government", "text": "Nothing the government touches ever ends up looking just the way you thought it would before you started—you need to understand that right from the beginning, or else you start going crazy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "Settling Accounts: In at the Death", "slug": "settling-accounts-in-at-the-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 465, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "bureaucracy", "slug": "bureaucracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/bureaucracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#Settling_Accounts:_In_at_the_Death_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:56" }, { "id": "ead71efe-f460-4cd6-ab1d-aa77ed75ad5f", "slug": "w-e-must-make", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war/w-e-must-make", "text": "[W]e must make up our minds to look for our protection not to legal terrors but to careful administration.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thucydides", "slug": "thucydides", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides" }, "book": { "title": "History of the Peloponnesian War", "slug": "history-of-the-peloponnesian-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thucydides#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:36" }, { "id": "4bfffce3-8f30-4a94-9647-a50982afb115", "slug": "the-modern-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year/the-modern-state", "text": "The modern state appeals to morality, to religion, and to natural law as the ideological foundation of its existence. At the same time it is prepared to infringe any or all of these in the interest of self-preservation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. M. Coetzee", "slug": "j-m-coetzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee" }, "book": { "title": "Diary of a Bad Year", "slug": "diary-of-a-bad-year", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/diary-of-a-bad-year" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 17, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Diary_of_a_Bad_Year_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:33" }, { "id": "bab47b92-6c5e-4cc5-a8a5-a21d31588f0a", "slug": "ive-come-to-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor/ive-come-to-believe", "text": "I’ve come to believe, from experience and reading and what I’ve learned on the outside, that the Regime—I suppose really, one might say any regime—is rather like a pot of porridge. If vigorously stirred every now and then, it can be a nourishing if not always tasty staple, but if left on the heat unstirred for some time it becomes increasing stodgy. If left untended, it can char into an immovable solid, like coal. Thereafter, it is incapable of being stirred, incapable of providing nourishment. When a regime is like that, citizens have to resort to bribery or lawbreaking to do quite necessary things like digging wells or fixing roads, thus joining corruption to congealment.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Visitor", "slug": "the-visitor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 293, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "corruption", "slug": "corruption", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/corruption" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Visitor_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:27" }, { "id": "4ec66c25-cdeb-4658-b902-a1dc7762b9f0", "slug": "to-minimize-suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/to-minimize-suffering", "text": "To minimize suffering and to maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they became the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law — a perversion. Inevitably, then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites: maximum suffering and minimum security.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Walter M. Miller Jr.", "slug": "walter-m-miller-jr", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr" }, "book": { "title": "A Canticle for Leibowitz", "slug": "a-canticle-for-leibowitz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-m-miller-jr/a-canticle-for-leibowitz" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "safety", "slug": "safety", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/safety" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_M._Miller_Jr.#Fiat_Voluntas_Tua", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:41" }, { "id": "1de7c691-e2ed-4f32-b3d0-ba3f965c3ba9", "slug": "society-says-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/society-says-with", "text": "Society says with the authority of its police power how intercourse will and will not occur. Any act so controlled by the state, proscribed and prescribed in detail, cannot be private in the ordinary sense. Privacy is essentially a sphere of freedom immune from regulation by the state. In that sense, intercourse has never occurred in private.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Andrea Dworkin", "slug": "andrea-dworkin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin" }, "book": { "title": "Intercourse", "slug": "intercourse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "sex", "slug": "sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "privacy", "slug": "privacy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/privacy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrea_Dworkin#Intercourse_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:32" }, { "id": "bd477168-fbf1-46e3-aa72-8911df16c0fc", "slug": "justice-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers/justice-is-the", "text": "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society, under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign, as in a state of nature where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger: And as in the latter state even the stronger individuals are prompted by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the weak, as well as themselves: so in the former state, will the more powerful factions be gradually induced by a like motive, to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the more powerful.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexander Hamilton", "slug": "alexander-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Federalist Papers", "slug": "the-federalist-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton#The_Federalist_Papers_(1787%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:06" }, { "id": "406187f1-d87b-4c45-8fe5-08626f287c57", "slug": "why-has-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers/why-has-government", "text": "Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexander Hamilton", "slug": "alexander-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Federalist Papers", "slug": "the-federalist-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "passion", "slug": "passion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/passion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton#The_Federalist_Papers_(1787%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:06" }, { "id": "6d852036-e83b-4f1f-8bd0-90feb6c3f604", "slug": "the-rights-of-neutrality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers/the-rights-of-neutrality", "text": "The rights of neutrality will only be respected, when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexander Hamilton", "slug": "alexander-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "The Federalist Papers", "slug": "the-federalist-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexander-hamilton/the-federalist-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton#The_Federalist_Papers_(1787%E2%80%931788)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:05" }, { "id": "cf85a867-73e2-49c1-a478-b846aeaa1839", "slug": "wise-men-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-scott/guy-mannering/wise-men-say", "text": "Wise men say that we resign to civil society our natural right of self-defence only on condition that the ordinances of law should protect us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Walter Scott", "slug": "walter-scott", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-scott" }, "book": { "title": "Guy Mannering", "slug": "guy-mannering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-scott/guy-mannering" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Scott#Guy_Mannering_(1815)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:49" }, { "id": "125fbc0a-c0bd-409d-a7cc-7acfe9e7dc6f", "slug": "but-parz-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/flux/but-parz-was", "text": "“But Parz was better than nothing: it offered stability, regulation, a framework to live in. People gripe about their tithes—and nobody’s going to pretend that the Committee gets it right all the time—but most of us would prefer taxes to living wild. With all respect to you, my friend.” He bit into his cake. “And that’s still true today; as true as it ever was.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Flux", "slug": "flux", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/flux" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 497, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "taxes", "slug": "taxes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taxes" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Flux_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:23" }, { "id": "5f772a88-eade-4bae-aca2-ca517a4032e3", "slug": "modern-liberalism-suffers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/modern-liberalism-suffers", "text": "Modern liberalism suffers unresolved contradictions. It exalts individualism and freedom and, on its radical wing, condemns social orders as oppressive. On the other hand, it expects governments to provide materially for all, a feat manageable only by an expansion of authority and a swollen bureaucracy. In other words, liberalism defines government as tyrant father but demands it behave as nurturant mother. Feminism has inherited these contradictions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sexual Personae", "slug": "sexual-personae", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 3, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "feminism", "slug": "feminism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sexual_Personae:_Art_and_Decadence_from_Nefertiti_to_Emily_Dickinson_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:16" }, { "id": "fb8315a1-fdb6-4154-931f-1978cb5be73e", "slug": "as-there-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/scoop/as-there-was", "text": "As there was no form of government common to the peoples thus segregated, nor tie of language, history, habit, or belief, they were called a Republic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Evelyn Waugh", "slug": "evelyn-waugh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh" }, "book": { "title": "Scoop", "slug": "scoop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/evelyn-waugh/scoop" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh#Scoop_(1938)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:55" }, { "id": "d8533a01-6453-44a6-801b-bb59b0271128", "slug": "by-changing-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-e-stiglitz/whither-socialism/by-changing-the", "text": "By changing the locus of caring and responsibility from the individual to the government not only for the needy, but for oneself, one's parents, one's children we change society and we change ourselves. Here again we see a certain irony: Attempts to improve society by having the government undertake a greater role in redistribution, may ultimately through their effects on individuals and the nature of the social contract have more ambiguous consequences.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph E. Stiglitz", "slug": "joseph-e-stiglitz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-e-stiglitz" }, "book": { "title": "Whither Socialism?", "slug": "whither-socialism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-e-stiglitz/whither-socialism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz#Whither_Socialism%3F_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:50" }, { "id": "eeea837a-00cb-46bf-ab0a-3af3018e6173", "slug": "i-dont-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/i-dont-believe", "text": "I don't believe we need the government's help as much as some think we do. That belief sets me apart from the Democrats, since their way of dealing with everything is to tax and spend. I also believe that government has no business telling us how we should live our lives. I think our lifestyle choices should be left up to us. What we do in our private lives is none of the government's business. That position rules out the Republican Party for me. As the cliché says, \"I don't want Democrats in the boardroom and I don't want Republicans in the bedroom.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "d437a841-77ff-40f6-890f-922229319348", "slug": "there-are-a-lot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/there-are-a-lot", "text": "There are a lot of good causes out there, but they can't possibly all be served by government. The Constitution guarantees us our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's all. It doesn't guarantee our rights to charity. The government is not a parent. We can't expect the government to always be there, ready to bail us out. When we make decisions in life, we have to be willing to live with the consequences. We can't expect the government to help us get back on our feet every time we make a bad decision.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "9f474ea5-2598-40da-87c2-1a8266ad113e", "slug": "government-works-less", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/government-works-less", "text": "Government works less efficiently when it begins to grow out of control and takes on more and more of the responsibilities that belong to the citizens.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "764cfbd3-edbe-471b-946a-aded4e6de624", "slug": "our-government-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/our-government-has", "text": "Our government has the weirdest bias against cannabis. There's no reason for everybody to be so afraid of it. It's not the antichrist the DEA makes it out to be. Industrial hemp is a very useful plant. I challenged the attorney general to get rid of the criminal stigma associated with hemp so we can look at it in terms of how it might be useful. And government has no business telling us what we can and can't use for pain relief.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "drugs", "slug": "drugs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/drugs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "4965462d-58ca-41ad-a779-6019c1af8292", "slug": "governments-role-should", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/governments-role-should", "text": "Government's role should be only to keep the playing field level, and to work hand in hand with business on issues such as employment. But beyond this, to as great an extent as possible, it should get the hell out of the way.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "economy", "slug": "economy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/economy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "4317ea6c-2114-4343-9bd0-536a148acacf", "slug": "over-the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/over-the-past", "text": "Over the past few decades, we've gotten into the bad habit of looking to the government to solve every personal and social crisis that comes along. People have really come to misunderstand government's scope. There's only so much it can do. For one thing, it's a terrible social regulator. And morals and values aren't things that legislation can even touch. You can't legislate morality. It doesn't work.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "3bc0784a-51af-44de-ae57-b89e1520672c", "slug": "weve-gotten-into", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/weve-gotten-into", "text": "We've gotten into the bad habit of overlegislating. I believe in the America people's ability to govern themselves. If government would just get out of the way and allow them to lead their lives as they choose, they will succeed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "34ba37c4-4625-4bf6-8f0e-bb8206aa9acf", "slug": "remember-that-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed/remember-that-government", "text": "Remember that government doesn't earn one single dollar it spends. In order for you to get money from the government, that money must first be taken from somebody else.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jesse Ventura", "slug": "jesse-ventura", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura" }, "book": { "title": "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", "slug": "i-aint-got-time-to-bleed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jesse-ventura/i-aint-got-time-to-bleed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "taxes", "slug": "taxes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taxes" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#I_Ain't_Got_Time_To_Bleed_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:49" }, { "id": "e8326d8e-b666-48f7-a3a8-3b16f31f6413", "slug": "an-area-in-which", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-greenspan/the-age-of-turbulence/an-area-in-which", "text": "An area in which more rather than less government involvement is needed, in my judgment, is the rooting out of fraud. It is the bane of any market system.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alan Greenspan", "slug": "alan-greenspan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-greenspan" }, "book": { "title": "The Age of Turbulence", "slug": "the-age-of-turbulence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-greenspan/the-age-of-turbulence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 375, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "economy", "slug": "economy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/economy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Greenspan#The_Age_of_Turbulence_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:46" }, { "id": "15bbe44f-346c-4488-9fd8-e7c1904ac912", "slug": "in-general-corruption", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-greenspan/the-age-of-turbulence/in-general-corruption", "text": "In general, corruption tends to exist whenever governments have favors to extend, or something to sell.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alan Greenspan", "slug": "alan-greenspan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-greenspan" }, "book": { "title": "The Age of Turbulence", "slug": "the-age-of-turbulence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-greenspan/the-age-of-turbulence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 275, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "corruption", "slug": "corruption", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/corruption" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Greenspan#The_Age_of_Turbulence_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:46" }, { "id": "9cb02b43-574a-4ab9-8e9b-30e238f13ccc", "slug": "subsidiarity-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs/dark-age-ahead/subsidiarity-is-the", "text": "Subsidiarity is the principle that government works best — most responsibly and responsively — when it is closest to the people it serves and the needs it addresses. Fiscal accountability is the principle that institutions collecting and disbursing taxes work most responsibly when they are transparent to those providing the money.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Jacobs", "slug": "jane-jacobs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs" }, "book": { "title": "Dark Age Ahead", "slug": "dark-age-ahead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-jacobs/dark-age-ahead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs#Dark_Age_Ahead_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:48" }, { "id": "00d76307-a727-4de0-84da-06f4ba9f59be", "slug": "fascism-is-a-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-goldberg/liberal-fascism/fascism-is-a-religion", "text": "Fascism is a religion of the state. It assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people. It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common goal. It takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure. Everything, including economy and religion, must be aligned with its objectives. Any rival identity is part of the \"problem\" and therefore defined as the enemy. I will argue that contemporary American liberalism embodies all of these aspects of fascism... You can see why the Marxist left would resist the idea that Hitler was a revolutionary. Because if he was, then either Hitler was a force for good, or revolutions can be bad.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jonah Goldberg", "slug": "jonah-goldberg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-goldberg" }, "book": { "title": "Liberal Fascism", "slug": "liberal-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-goldberg/liberal-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonah_Goldberg#Liberal_Fascism_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:25" }, { "id": "a9287a5a-c074-49fd-922f-aab394c3142a", "slug": "the-only-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/the-only-way", "text": "\" […] the only way in which we can have any law at all is to have as little of it as possible. I see no ethical standard by which to measure the whole unethical conception of a State, except in the amount of time, of thought, of money, of effort and of obedience, which a society extorts from its every member. Its value and its civilization are in inverse ratio to that extortion. There is no conceivable law by which a man can be forced to work on any terms except those he chooses to set. There is no conceivable law to prevent him from setting them—just as there is none to force his employer to accept them. The freedom to agree or disagree is the foundation of our kind of society—and the freedom to strike is a part of it.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 110, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_I_(_Peter_Keating_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:08" }, { "id": "44dbb57d-6300-4ff3-993d-599e6b462215", "slug": "a-man-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/a-man-who", "text": "A man who doesn’t detest a bad government is a fool. And if there were such a thing as a good government on earth, it would be a great joy to serve it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Left Hand of Darkness", "slug": "the-left-hand-of-darkness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 213, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:53" }, { "id": "67488d76-6261-4dcc-9117-92dbc8abf619", "slug": "by-this-action", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-barry/jennifer-government/by-this-action", "text": "\"By this action, the Government has proved that so long as it exists, none of us are truly free. Government and freedom are mutually exclusive. So if we value freedom, there's only one conclusion. It's time to get rid of this leftover relic we call Government.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Max Barry", "slug": "max-barry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-barry" }, "book": { "title": "Jennifer Government", "slug": "jennifer-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-barry/jennifer-government" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 202, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Barry#Jennifer_Government_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:42" }, { "id": "e229e333-4c3b-47c8-b370-925721c1d30e", "slug": "from-the-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread/from-the-cradle", "text": "From the cradle to the grave all our actions are guided by this principle. Open any book on sociology or jurisprudence, and you will find there the Government, its organization, its acts, filling so large a place that we ome to believe that there is nothing outside the Government and the world of statesmen.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter Kropotkin", "slug": "peter-kropotkin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin" }, "book": { "title": "The Conquest of Bread", "slug": "the-conquest-of-bread", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 79, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin#The_Conquest_of_Bread_(1892)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:37" }, { "id": "c831dd7e-476c-4844-aa1f-3d5c9e401351", "slug": "accustomed-as-we-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread/accustomed-as-we-are", "text": "Accustomed as we are by hereditary prejudices an absolutely unsound education and training to see Government, legislation and magistracy everywhere around, we have come to believe that man would tear his fellow man to pieces like a wild beast the day the police took his eye off him; that chaos would come about if authority were overthrown during a revolution. And with out eyes shut we pass by thousands and thousands of human groupings which form themselves freely, without any intervention of the law, and attain results infinitely superior to those achieved under government tutelage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter Kropotkin", "slug": "peter-kropotkin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin" }, "book": { "title": "The Conquest of Bread", "slug": "the-conquest-of-bread", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-kropotkin/the-conquest-of-bread" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin#The_Conquest_of_Bread_(1892)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:37" }, { "id": "2102f1ee-84bb-4703-9b3a-cd6a3da7deac", "slug": "our-constitution-by-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendell-berry/citizenship-papers/our-constitution-by-its", "text": "Our Constitution, by its separation of powers and its system of checks and balances, acts as a restraint upon efficiency by denying exclusive power to any branch of government. The logic of governmental efficiency, unchecked, runs straight on, not only to dictatorship, but also to torture, assassination, and other abominations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wendell Berry", "slug": "wendell-berry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendell-berry" }, "book": { "title": "Citizenship Papers", "slug": "citizenship-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendell-berry/citizenship-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry#A_Citizen's_Response", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:23" }, { "id": "487333e2-5303-4d80-ab42-19ad4c79be8e", "slug": "when-the-possessions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendell-berry/the-long-legged-house/when-the-possessions", "text": "When the possessions and households of citizens are no longer honored by the acts, as well as the principles, of their government, then the concentration camp ceases to be one of the possibilities of human nature and becomes one of its likelihoods.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wendell Berry", "slug": "wendell-berry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendell-berry" }, "book": { "title": "The Long-Legged House", "slug": "the-long-legged-house", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendell-berry/the-long-legged-house" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "private property", "slug": "private-property", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/private-property" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry#The_Long-Legged_House_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:20" }, { "id": "4af82a41-794d-4e7b-8548-942f126250d1", "slug": "the-only-proper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/atlas-shrugged/the-only-proper", "text": "\"The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, acting as an agent of man's self-defense, and, as such, may resort to force only against those who start the use of force. The only proper functions of government are: the police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach and fraud by others, to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Atlas Shrugged", "slug": "atlas-shrugged", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/atlas-shrugged" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 1062, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged#Chapter_Seven:_%22This_is_John_Galt_Speaking%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:52" }, { "id": "ea3c2948-cde4-4cbf-8f37-fa826c3d2dc6", "slug": "theres-no-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/atlas-shrugged/theres-no-way", "text": "\"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kinds of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of lawbreakers—and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Atlas Shrugged", "slug": "atlas-shrugged", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/atlas-shrugged" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 436, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "guilt", "slug": "guilt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/guilt" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged#Chapter_Three:_White_Blackmail", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:51" }, { "id": "7c83698c-103a-4604-82fc-c1d27d4ece96", "slug": "generosity-is-a-virtue", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pd-james/the-children-of-men/generosity-is-a-virtue", "text": "Generosity is a virtue for individuals, not Governments. When governments are generous it is with other people's money, other people's safety, other people's future.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "P.D. James", "slug": "pd-james", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pd-james" }, "book": { "title": "The Children of Men", "slug": "the-children-of-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pd-james/the-children-of-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._D._James#The_Children_of_Men_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:42" }, { "id": "bfee0bc1-e915-4ddb-b672-51313fe3a9ec", "slug": "the-state-monopolizes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind/the-state-monopolizes", "text": "The state monopolizes violence by calling its critics “violent”. [...] Hence, we should be wary about those who claim that violence is necessary to curb or check violence; those who praise the forces of law, including the police and the prisons, as the final arbiters. To oppose violence is to understand that violence does not always take the form of the blow.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Judith Butler", "slug": "judith-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler" }, "book": { "title": "The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind", "slug": "the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/judith-butler/the-force-of-nonviolence-an-ethico-political-bind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Judith_Butler#Chapter_One", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:35" }, { "id": "8fa541fe-eb2f-439e-bb7b-6e703a4ab2a7", "slug": "i-guess-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/travels-with-charley-in-search-of-america/i-guess-this", "text": "I guess this is why I hate governments. It is always the rule, the fine print, carried out by the fine print men. There's nothing to fight, no wall to hammer with frustrated fists.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "Travels with Charley in Search of America", "slug": "travels-with-charley-in-search-of-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/travels-with-charley-in-search-of-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "bureaucracy", "slug": "bureaucracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/bureaucracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Travels_With_Charley:_In_Search_of_America_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:04" }, { "id": "ac3ab4ad-e85d-4685-b541-594470abbfd8", "slug": "slavery-was-a-central", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe/slavery-was-a-central", "text": "Slavery was a central concern of governance form the time of the first nation-state. The Code of Hammurabi, the earliest known set of laws for governing an empire, prescribed death for anyone who harbored a fugitive or otherwise helped a slave to escape. The relationship between the law and bondage goes back even farther: Indeed, the oldest extant legal documents don't concern the sale of land, houses, or even animals, but slaves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Derrick Jensen", "slug": "derrick-jensen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen" }, "book": { "title": "The Culture of Make Believe", "slug": "the-culture-of-make-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 60, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "slavery", "slug": "slavery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Derrick_Jensen#The_Culture_of_Make_Believe_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "85be1461-39b7-40f3-8e84-861d3c96d326", "slug": "how-precisely-do-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe/how-precisely-do-you", "text": "How, precisely, do you define a police state? Is it the number of police per capita? How about the number of prisons? Police use of machine guns or armored personnel carriers? The use of the police or the military to put down strikes, or to otherwise \"keep the trains running on time,\" as was Mussolini's specialty? Perhaps it's the use of the police or the military to halt civil unrest. Or maybe the widespread use of curfews. Arbitrary confiscation of private property. How about this: could a police state be defined, as in Nazi Germany, by the use of force to segregate members of a specific race into concentration camps or prisons?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Derrick Jensen", "slug": "derrick-jensen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen" }, "book": { "title": "The Culture of Make Believe", "slug": "the-culture-of-make-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 22, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "police", "slug": "police", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/police" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Derrick_Jensen#The_Culture_of_Make_Believe_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "0d0a00ce-f7c9-4d0e-85bb-62078fc3c210", "slug": "property-has-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe/property-has-always", "text": "Property has always been the central consideration of the United States government, but it has become even more so over time. Between the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, to provide just one obvious, and in some ways, silly, example (silly because all of the terms are seemingly obvious, yet in fact nearly impossible to adequately define) and the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868, the inalienable right with which men [sic] are self-evidently endowed by their Creator, and which may not be abridged by the State, changed from \"Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,\" to life, liberty, and property. The Fourteenth Amendment, passed during the KKK's maiden reign of terror, ostensibly to protect the rights of blacks from racist state governments, has been used far more often to protect the rights to property: Of the Fourteenth Amendment cases brought before the Supreme Court between 1890 and 1910, only nineteen dealt with the rights of blacks, while two hundred and eighty-eight dealt with the rights of corporations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Derrick Jensen", "slug": "derrick-jensen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen" }, "book": { "title": "The Culture of Make Believe", "slug": "the-culture-of-make-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/derrick-jensen/the-culture-of-make-believe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 92, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "private property", "slug": "private-property", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/private-property" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Derrick_Jensen#The_Culture_of_Make_Believe_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "bea05918-657f-41d3-8f20-75a4ff8bd05d", "slug": "people-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars/people-in-the", "text": "People in the streets, that’s the only thing governments are afraid of. Well, or term limits. Or free elections! Or assassination. Or being laughed at, ah, ha-ha-ha!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Mars", "slug": "blue-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 746, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Blue_Mars_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:46" }, { "id": "842be89e-4e75-4bac-8f85-4af2ae1cb6c7", "slug": "its-a-sorry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars/its-a-sorry", "text": "It’s a sorry excuse for a government anyway. It always gets back to the same old thing, power suckers sucking power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Mars", "slug": "blue-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 750, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Blue_Mars_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:46" }, { "id": "ea9185b9-db1a-4f51-adf0-8084648147d6", "slug": "besides-amy-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars/besides-amy-said", "text": "“Besides,” Amy said, “since when have treaties ever stopped governments from doing what they wanted to do?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Mars", "slug": "blue-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 349, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Blue_Mars_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:45" }, { "id": "57eed0f3-80b4-421d-867b-72e7c306b2ca", "slug": "even-if-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/green-mars/even-if-you", "text": "Even if you want no state, or a minimal state, then you still have to argue it point by point. Especially since most minimalists want to keep exactly the economic and police system that keeps them privileged. That’s libertarians for you—anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Green Mars", "slug": "green-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/green-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 370, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "anarchism", "slug": "anarchism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anarchism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Green_Mars_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:45" }, { "id": "4b607c8b-f95c-468e-8d73-e315f40e9ad7", "slug": "when-man-is-raised", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man/when-man-is-raised", "text": "When man is raised from his slumber in the senses, he feels that he is a man, he surveys his surroundings, and finds that he is in a state. He was introduced into this state, by the power of circumstances, before he could freely select his own position. But as a moral being he cannot possibly rest satisfied with a political condition forced upon him by necessity, and only calculated for that condition; and it would be unfortunate if this did satisfy him. In many cases man shakes off this blind law of necessity, by his free spontaneous action, of which among many others we have an instance, in his ennobling by beauty and suppressing by moral influence the powerful impulse implanted in him by nature in the passion of love.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Friedrich Schiller", "slug": "friedrich-schiller", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller" }, "book": { "title": "On the Aesthetic Education of Man", "slug": "on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller#On_the_Aesthetic_Education_of_Man_(1794)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:35" }, { "id": "46395d9d-4ff3-4dee-a955-3e57d859e087", "slug": "the-papers-exaggerate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/the-papers-exaggerate", "text": "\"The papers exaggerate. They exaggerate everything, just to sell papers. The government exaggerates, to keep our minds off what morons they are.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Rabbit at Rest", "slug": "rabbit-at-rest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Rabbit_at_Rest_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:30" }, { "id": "b944c035-7146-4579-8aa7-e29fd228fe31", "slug": "man-is-an-animal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/buchanan-dying/man-is-an-animal", "text": "Man is an animal, but a social animal. Society for its manifold blessings asks in exchange sacrifice and compromise. Concession is the world's walking gait. Fevers and hallucinations sweep over us, it is true; but be they permitted to infect the public body, slaughter shall result. Government is either organized benevolence or organized madness; its peculiar magnitude permits no shading.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Buchanan Dying", "slug": "buchanan-dying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/buchanan-dying" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "compromise", "slug": "compromise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compromise" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Buchanan_Dying_:_A_Play_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:28" }, { "id": "e8f3e409-350f-4ba4-a870-9dc1fa2758c7", "slug": "nations-it-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/under-western-eyes/nations-it-may", "text": "Nations it may be have fashioned their Governments, but the Governments have paid them back in the same coin.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Conrad", "slug": "joseph-conrad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad" }, "book": { "title": "Under Western Eyes", "slug": "under-western-eyes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/under-western-eyes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad#Under_Western_Eyes_(1911)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:12" }, { "id": "47d7ac1e-e45a-40ac-a399-c2843cc8a4cd", "slug": "therefore-i-must", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia/therefore-i-must", "text": "Therefore I must say that, as I hope for mercy, I can have no other notion of all the other governments that I see or know, than that they are a conspiracy of the rich, who, on pretence of managing the public, only pursue their private ends, and devise all the ways and arts they can find out; first, that they may, without danger, preserve all that they have so ill-acquired, and then, that they may engage the poor to toil and labour for them at as low rates as possible, and oppress them as much as they please; and if they can but prevail to get these contrivances established by the show of public authority, which is considered as the representative of the whole people, then they are accounted laws", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas More", "slug": "thomas-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more" }, "book": { "title": "Utopia", "slug": "utopia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-more/utopia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "social inequality", "slug": "social-inequality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/social-inequality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_More#Utopia_(1516)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:05" }, { "id": "10411bcc-4a6d-4f4a-8b80-cd97477ca993", "slug": "so-far-as-i-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/friday/so-far-as-i-have", "text": "“So far as I have listened, before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts.” “Elementary. Go on.” “Well…high taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that’s old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way—even though there are always endless attempts to wish it away by legislation.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Friday", "slug": "friday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/friday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 240, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "revolution", "slug": "revolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/revolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Friday_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:02" }, { "id": "c304fa06-dd76-426f-94f9-cb85bd609450", "slug": "the-purpose-of-my-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/the-purpose-of-my-government", "text": "The purpose of my government is never to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 47, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:00" }, { "id": "f0f8f400-9852-4547-b1be-91f38f6a7052", "slug": "what-i-fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress/what-i-fear", "text": "What I fear most are affirmative actions of sober and well-intentioned men, granting to government powers to do something that appears to need doing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "slug": "the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "good intentions", "slug": "good-intentions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/good-intentions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:59" }, { "id": "bee9a405-97aa-4211-9313-8db2bde4af6e", "slug": "in-writing-your", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress/in-writing-your", "text": "In writing your constitution let me invite attention to the wonderful virtue of the negative! Accentuate the negative! Let your document be studded with things the government is forever forbidden to do. No conscript armies... no interference however slight with freedom of press, or speech, or travel, or assembly, or of religion, or of instruction, or communication, or occupation... no involuntary taxation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "slug": "the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:59" }, { "id": "326f597f-8e0f-44d8-95d6-13380f2c3ebd", "slug": "you-have-put", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress/you-have-put", "text": "You have put your finger on the dilemma of all government — and the reason I am an anarchist. The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it contains until it destroys. I was not joking when I told them to dig into their own pouches. It may not be possible to do away with government — sometimes I think that government is an inescapable disease of human beings. But it may be possible to keep it small and starved and inoffensive — and can you think of a better way than by requiring the governors themselves to pay the costs of their antisocial hobby?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "slug": "the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "anarchism", "slug": "anarchism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anarchism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:59" }, { "id": "2f0a23df-0a26-4198-aecc-a998f621b327", "slug": "the-road-to-socialism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism/the-road-to-socialism", "text": "The road to socialism lies through a period of the highest possible intensification of the principle of the state … Just as a lamp, before going out, shoots up in a brilliant flame, so the state, before disappearing, assumes the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the most ruthless form of state, which embraces the life of the citizens authoritatively in every direction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leon Trotsky", "slug": "leon-trotsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky" }, "book": { "title": "Terrorism and Communism", "slug": "terrorism-and-communism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leon-trotsky/terrorism-and-communism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 177, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "socialism", "slug": "socialism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/socialism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky#Terrorism_and_Communism_(1920)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:45" }, { "id": "82f06b66-edbc-4353-a86d-d4baf34919a8", "slug": "the-secular-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/unacknowledged-legislation/the-secular-state", "text": "The secular state is the guarantee of religious pluralism. This apparent paradox, again, is the simplest and most elegant of political truths.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "Unacknowledged Legislation", "slug": "unacknowledged-legislation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/unacknowledged-legislation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tolerance", "slug": "tolerance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Unacknowledged_Legislation:_Writers_in_the_Public_Sphere_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:05" }, { "id": "19d389bb-a6a0-427b-b371-a35c00ff4736", "slug": "the-office-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/the-office-of-the", "text": "The office of the sovereign, be it a monarch or an assembly, consisteth in the end for which he was trusted with the sovereign power, namely the procuration of the safety of the people, to which he is obliged by the law of nature, and to render an account thereof to God, the Author of that law, and to none but Him. But by safety here is not meant a bare preservation, but also all other contentments of life, which every man by lawful industry, without danger or hurt to the Commonwealth, shall acquire to himself. And this is intended should be done, not by care applied to individuals, further than their protection from injuries when they shall complain; but by a general providence, contained in public instruction, both of doctrine and example; and in the making and executing of good laws to which individual persons may apply their own cases.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "safety", "slug": "safety", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/safety" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_30", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:48" }, { "id": "04080c4c-9df2-4b42-b014-4833bac04a73", "slug": "and-whereas-many", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/and-whereas-many", "text": "And whereas many men, by accident unevitable, become unable to maintain themselves by their labour; they ought not to be left to the Charity of private persons; but to be provided for, (as far-forth as the necessities of Nature require,) by the Lawes of the Common-wealth. For as it is Unchariablenesse in any man, to neglect the impotent; so it is in the Soveraign of a Common-wealth, to expose them to the hazard of such uncertain Charity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 181, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "poverty", "slug": "poverty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_30", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:48" }, { "id": "eede6b94-e460-4d8e-907d-d9b7fd837d30", "slug": "art-goes-imitating", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/art-goes-imitating", "text": "Art goes... imitating that Rationall and most excellent worke of Nature, Man. For by Art is created that great Leviathan called a Common-Wealth or State, (in latine Civitas) which is but an Artificiall Man; though of greater stature and strength than the Naturall, for whose protection and defence it was intended; and in which the Soveraignty is an Artificiall Soul, as giving life and motion to the whole body; The Magistrates, and other Officers of Judicature and Execution, artificiall Joynts; Reward and Punishment (by which fastned to the seate of the Soveraignty, every joynt and member is moved to performe his duty) are the Nerves, that do the same in the Body Naturall; The Wealth and Riches of all the particular members, are the Strength; Salus Populi (the peoples safety) its Businesse; Counsellors, by whom all things needfull for it to know, are suggested unto it, are the Memory; Equity and Lawes, an artificiall Reason and Will; Concord, Health; Sedition, Sicknesse; and Civill war, Death. Lastly, the Pacts and Covenants, by which the parts of this Body Politique were at first made, set together, and united, resemble that Fiat, or the Let us make man, pronounced by God in the Creation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Introduction", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "20ae58f5-52ba-48a2-b335-07722a3e934e", "slug": "i-authorize-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/i-authorize-and", "text": "\"I Authorize and give up my Right of Governing my selfe, to this Man, or to his Assembly of men, on this condition, that thou that give up thy Right to him, and Authorise all his Actionsin like manner.\" This done, the Multitude so united in one Person, is called a COMMON-WEALTH, in latine CIVITAS. This is the Generation of that LEVIATHAN, or rather (to speake more reverently) of that Mortall God, to which we owe under the Immortal God, our peace and defence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 87, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "2cc4dfbe-a50d-4bec-816e-709bdbdc602e", "slug": "my-father-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/heartfire/my-father-always", "text": "My father always said that government is like watching another man piss in your boot. Someone feels better but it certainly isn’t you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Heartfire", "slug": "heartfire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/heartfire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Heartfire_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "0e8b0cf7-8286-4843-9097-9ff91d1af6fa", "slug": "every-coercive-monopoly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-voice-of-reason/every-coercive-monopoly", "text": "Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of competitors into a given field, by legislative action.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Voice of Reason", "slug": "the-voice-of-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-voice-of-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#The_Voice_of_Reason_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:53" }, { "id": "3d5fdca6-29c3-468e-9856-1a356291f9f1", "slug": "statism-is-a-system", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/capitalism/statism-is-a-system", "text": "Statism is a system of institutionalized violence and perpetual civil war. It leaves men no choice but to fight to seize political power -- to rob or be robbed, to kill or be killed. ... Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 36, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Capitalism:_The_Unknown_Ideal_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:52" }, { "id": "0b9b76e0-9abf-445e-aa16-28fd1a4c3e06", "slug": "every-government-interference", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/capitalism/every-government-interference", "text": "Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "capitalism", "slug": "capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Capitalism:_The_Unknown_Ideal_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:52" }, { "id": "fe076df2-8501-40d7-bdee-a197059a30fd", "slug": "the-only-proper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness/the-only-proper", "text": "The only proper, moral purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence—to protect his right to his own life, to his own liberty, to his own property and to the pursuit of his own happiness. Without property rights, no other rights are possible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Virtue of Selfishness", "slug": "the-virtue-of-selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "private property", "slug": "private-property", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/private-property" }, { "name": "human rights", "slug": "human-rights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-rights" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#The_Virtue_of_Selfishness_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:51" }, { "id": "e70f9cd0-ecd7-491b-9825-a83c072c206f", "slug": "the-end-result", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs/naked-lunch/the-end-result", "text": "The end result of complete cellular representation is cancer. Democracy is cancerous, and bureaus are its cancer. A bureau takes root anywhere in the state, turns malignant like the Narcotic Bureau, and grows and grows, always reproducing more of its own kind, until it chokes the host if not controlled or excised. Bureaus cannot live without a host, being true parasitic organisms. (A cooperative on the other hand can live without the state. That is the road to follow. The building up of independent units to meet needs of the people who participate in the functioning of the unit. A bureau operates on opposite principles of inventing needs to justify its existence.) Bureaucracy is wrong as a cancer, a turning away from the human evolutionary direction of infinite potentials and differentiation and independent spontaneous action to the complete parasitism of a virus. (It is thought that the virus is a degeneration from more complex life-form. It may at one time have been capable of independent life. Now has fallen to the borderline between living and dead matter. It can exhibit living qualities only in a host, by using the life of another — the renunciation of life itself, a falling towards inorganic, inflexible machine, towards dead matter.) Bureaus die when the structure of the state collapse. They are as helpless and unfit for independent existence as a displaced tapeworm, or a virus that has killed the host.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William S. Burroughs", "slug": "william-s-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "Naked Lunch", "slug": "naked-lunch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs/naked-lunch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "bureaucracy", "slug": "bureaucracy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/bureaucracy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs#Naked_Lunch_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:46" }, { "id": "539cce6e-35a1-460f-887e-bf170dafe718", "slug": "a-functioning-police", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs/naked-lunch/a-functioning-police", "text": "A functioning police state needs no police.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William S. Burroughs", "slug": "william-s-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "Naked Lunch", "slug": "naked-lunch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-s-burroughs/naked-lunch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 31, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" }, { "name": "police", "slug": "police", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/police" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs#Naked_Lunch_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:46" }, { "id": "9d73eddc-756b-4d94-837e-0d2855bd98d4", "slug": "liberty-as-we-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited/liberty-as-we-all", "text": "Liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of central government.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World Revisited", "slug": "brave-new-world-revisited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world-revisited" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 14, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#Brave_New_World_Revisited_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:37" }, { "id": "947e64d6-0287-4c03-8894-efb9aa40070f", "slug": "thats-the-trouble", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/lies-inc/thats-the-trouble", "text": "That's the trouble with living in a police state, he said to himself; you think—you imagine—the police are behind everything. You get paranoid and think they're beaming information to you in your sleep, to subliminally control you. Actually the police wouldn't do that. The police are our friends. Or was that idea beamed to me subliminally? he wondered suddenly. “The police are our friends.” The hell they are!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Lies, Inc.", "slug": "lies-inc", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/lies-inc" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 6, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "police", "slug": "police", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/police" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Lies,_Inc._(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:09" }, { "id": "0d8f2278-e885-4122-90b6-ee3e2ddecd87", "slug": "it-was-evident", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/the-divine-invasion/it-was-evident", "text": "It was evident to Elias Tate that this was the government. First they shake hands with you, he thought, and then they murder you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "The Divine Invasion", "slug": "the-divine-invasion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/the-divine-invasion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#The_Divine_Invasion_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:08" }, { "id": "fc918e8e-272c-4b69-9195-0528b539bc8c", "slug": "once-they-notice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said/once-they-notice", "text": "Once they notice you, Jason realized, they never completely close the file. You can never get back your anonymity. It is vital not to be noticed in the first place.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said", "slug": "flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "privacy", "slug": "privacy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/privacy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Flow_My_Tears,_The_Policeman_Said_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:06" }, { "id": "4d0fa1b8-429e-4640-bbbe-8b3ae72b5512", "slug": "i-believe-in-limited", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-meaning-of-it-all/i-believe-in-limited", "text": "I believe in limited government. I believe that government should be limited in many ways, and what I am going to emphasize is only an intellectual thing. I don't want to talk about everything at the same time. Let's take a small piece, an intellectual thing.No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literary or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard P. Feynman", "slug": "richard-p-feynman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman" }, "book": { "title": "The Meaning of It All", "slug": "the-meaning-of-it-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-meaning-of-it-all" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#The_Meaning_of_It_All_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:01" }, { "id": "bc9de7ea-ce3f-4a50-afe6-4e314d251f3a", "slug": "the-real-question", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/what-do-you-care-what-other-people-think/the-real-question", "text": "The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity — and until they do (and find the cure), all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard P. Feynman", "slug": "richard-p-feynman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman" }, "book": { "title": "'What Do You Care What Other People Think?'", "slug": "what-do-you-care-what-other-people-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/what-do-you-care-what-other-people-think" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 90, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#What_Do_You_Care_What_Other_People_Think%3F_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:00" }, { "id": "bbcd98d9-e5db-4e0d-a483-57aaf7c48f39", "slug": "does-a-populace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/the-dosadi-experiment/does-a-populace", "text": "Does a populace have informed consent when a ruling minority acts in secret to ignite a war, doing this to justify the existence of the minority's forces? History already has answered that question. Every society in the ConSentiency today reflects the historical judgment that failure to provide full information for informed consent on such an issue represents an ultimate crime.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Dosadi Experiment", "slug": "the-dosadi-experiment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/the-dosadi-experiment" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 246, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert#The_Dosadi_Experiment_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "a55e25e3-0e31-42d2-a341-43ddae009cfa", "slug": "governments-always-commit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/the-dosadi-experiment/governments-always-commit", "text": "Governments always commit their entire populations when the demands grow heavy enough. By their passive acceptance, these populations become accessories to whatever is done in their name.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Dosadi Experiment", "slug": "the-dosadi-experiment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/the-dosadi-experiment" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 297, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert#The_Dosadi_Experiment_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:57" }, { "id": "524659ec-c6bd-4da6-8e0f-bbc259815f8d", "slug": "all-states-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/chapterhouse-dune/all-states-are", "text": "All states are abstractions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Chapterhouse: Dune", "slug": "chapterhouse-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/chapterhouse-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Chapterhouse:_Dune_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:55" }, { "id": "df8bb5c7-9a17-476d-b4bb-2586b299a9e7", "slug": "governments-can-be-useful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/governments-can-be-useful", "text": "Governments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "God Emperor of Dune", "slug": "god-emperor-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#God_Emperor_of_Dune_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:53" }, { "id": "9a1ad712-6cf4-4e72-a6b6-4e8ddd7c3e36", "slug": "i-assure-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/i-assure-you", "text": "I assure you from a God's Olympian perch that government is a shared myth. When the myth dies, the government dies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "God Emperor of Dune", "slug": "god-emperor-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "mythology", "slug": "mythology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mythology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#God_Emperor_of_Dune_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:53" }, { "id": "0705ca0c-e8a3-4ffe-bbf1-c0d09a06ff68", "slug": "governments-may-rise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune/governments-may-rise", "text": "Governments may rise and fall for reasons which appear insignificant, Prince. What small events! An argument between two women... which way the wind blows on a certain day... a sneeze, a cough, the length of a garment or the chance collision of a fleck of sand and a courtier's eye. It is not always the majestic concerns of Imperial ministers which dictate the course of history, nor is it necessarily the pontifications of priests which move the hands of God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Children Of Dune", "slug": "children-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Children_of_Dune_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:53" }, { "id": "bc576b78-2f43-4ea7-b450-7a8e3f8b2a18", "slug": "governments-if-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune/governments-if-they", "text": "Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class — whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Children Of Dune", "slug": "children-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Children_of_Dune_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:52" }, { "id": "b7dc5425-7708-4e45-9704-d4bc961b68f3", "slug": "what-religion-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/what-religion-and", "text": "“’What religion and self-interest cannot hide, governments can.’”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune Messiah", "slug": "dune-messiah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:51" }, { "id": "924eab39-9e11-4f75-b1e6-a2e8e07dfe37", "slug": "government-cannot-be-religious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/government-cannot-be-religious", "text": "“’Government cannot be religious and self-assertive at the same time. Religious experience needs a spontaneity which laws inevitably suppress. And you cannot govern without laws. Your laws eventually must replace morality, replace conscience, replace even the religion by which you think to govern. Sacred ritual must spring from praise and holy yearnings which hammer out a significant morality. Government, on the other hand, is a cultural organism particularly attractive to doubts, questions and contentions. I see the day coming when ceremony must take the place of faith and symbolism replaces morality.’”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune Messiah", "slug": "dune-messiah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:51" }, { "id": "ce3d1950-2661-4af3-b7db-7876247caf8d", "slug": "it-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/it-is-not", "text": "It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune:_House_Corrino_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:49" }, { "id": "dcbb6408-11ef-4aac-b88b-a9e23039fc9f", "slug": "wikileaks-compromised-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/power-systems/wikileaks-compromised-the", "text": "WikiLeaks ... compromised the security that governments are usually concerned about: their security from inspection by their own populations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Noam Chomsky", "slug": "noam-chomsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky" }, "book": { "title": "Power Systems", "slug": "power-systems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/power-systems" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 109, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#Power_Systems", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:46" }, { "id": "0250722d-3b52-4bd0-b8b1-51558013b055", "slug": "man-as-a-social", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/man-as-a-social", "text": "Man, as a social animal, can no more escape government than the individual can escape bondage to his bowels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Stranger in a Strange Land", "slug": "stranger-in-a-strange-land", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land#Miscellaneous_quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:44" }, { "id": "d75aaafe-f245-49af-a46f-4fdb37c9ff7a", "slug": "every-central-government", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/every-central-government", "text": "Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "0de55102-1504-4fef-b5c5-68309a2f79d1", "slug": "after-having-thus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/after-having-thus", "text": "After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the government then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence: it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:39" }, { "id": "b76f589c-a829-477b-a186-ead5db6ccee7", "slug": "they-all-attributed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/they-all-attributed", "text": "They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "39c719f7-ac32-4259-a04a-fd332e6a59d5", "slug": "above-this-race", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/above-this-race", "text": "Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances—what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living? Thus it every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of equality has prepared men for these things: it has predisposed men to endure them, and oftentimes to look on them as benefits.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "tyranny", "slug": "tyranny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_II_(1840)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "05537586-8e80-454e-9ede-2ee5e90e0b3d", "slug": "justice-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/justice-is-the", "text": "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "27a35b58-8032-45a1-b3ca-ca25632a39d7", "slug": "laws-wisely-administered", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance/laws-wisely-administered", "text": "Laws, wisely administered, will secure men in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour, whether of mind or body, at a comparatively small personal sacrifice; but no laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. Such reforms can only be effected by means of individual action, economy, and self-denial; by better habits, rather than by greater rights. The Government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflex of the individuals composing it. The Government that is ahead of the people will inevitably be dragged down to their level, as the Government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up. In the order of nature, the collective character of a nation will as surely find its befitting results in its law and government, as water finds its own level. The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly. Indeed all experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a State depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men. For the nation is only an aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of the personal improvement of the men, women, and children of whom society is composed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Smiles", "slug": "samuel-smiles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles" }, "book": { "title": "Self-Help: With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance", "slug": "self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Smiles#Self-Help%3B_with_Illustrations_of_Character_and_Conduct_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:16" }, { "id": "723a9051-2c50-4c37-b2ff-28b9e059383e", "slug": "it-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/it-is-the", "text": "It is the great towns which exhaust the state and are the cause of its weakness; the wealth which they produce is a sham wealth, there is much money and few goods. They say the town of Paris is worth a whole province to the King of France; for my own part I believe it costs him more than several provinces. I believe that Paris is fed by the provinces in more senses than one, and that the greater part of their revenues is poured into that town and stays there, without ever returning to the people or to the king. It is inconceivable that in this age of calculators there is no one to see that France would be much more powerful if Paris were destroyed. Not only is this ill-distributed population not advantageous to the state, it is more ruinous than depopulation itself, because depopulation only gives as produce nought, and the ill-regulated addition of still more people gives a negative result. When I hear an Englishman and a Frenchman so proud of the size of their capitals, and disputing whether London or Paris has more inhabitants, it seems to me that they are quarrelling as to which nation can claim the honour of being the worst governed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "cities", "slug": "cities", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cities" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:38" }, { "id": "1ade135f-076b-4560-b892-3ec6519d9877", "slug": "if-the-prince", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/if-the-prince", "text": "If the prince or the state calls you to the service of your country, leave all to fulfil the honourable duties of a citizen in the post assigned to you. If you find that duty onerous, there is a sure and honourable means of escaping from it; do your duty so honestly that it will not long be left in your hands. Moreover, you need not fear the difficulties of such a test; while there are men of our own time, they will not summon you to serve the state.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "duty", "slug": "duty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/duty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:38" }, { "id": "1719b7cd-4686-47a1-a20b-5b171d55b5ca", "slug": "when-augustus-passed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/when-augustus-passed", "text": "When Augustus passed laws against celibacy, those laws showed that the Roman empire was already beginning to decline. Citizens must be induced to marry by the goodness of the government, not compelled to marry by law; you must not examine the effects of force, for the law which strives against the constitution has little or no effect; you should study what is done by the influence of public morals and by the natural inclination of the government, for these alone produce a lasting effect. It was the policy of the worthy Abbe de Saint-Pierre always to look for a little remedy for every individual ill, instead of tracing them to their common source and seeing if they could not all be cured together. They say that in England there are prizes for agriculture; that is enough for me; that is proof enough that agriculture will not flourish there much longer.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:38" }, { "id": "4ac36ac1-9b7f-44ac-a513-f814e73dc218", "slug": "one-must-choose", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/one-must-choose", "text": "One must choose between making a man or a citizen, for one cannot make both at the same time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:36" }, { "id": "0a676f97-1c14-4803-b38f-2cc093f7bd96", "slug": "i-am-firmly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy/i-am-firmly", "text": "I am firmly convinced, therefore, that to set up a republic which is to last a long time, the way to set about it is to constitute it as Sparta and Venice were constituted; to place it in a strong position, and so to fortify it that no one will dream of taking it by a sudden assault; and, on the other hand, not to make it so large as to appear formidable to its neighbors. It should in this way be able to enjoy its form of government for a long time. For war is made on a commonwealth for two reasons: to subjugate it, and for fear of being subjugated by it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niccolo Machiavelli", "slug": "niccolo-machiavelli", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli" }, "book": { "title": "Discourses on Livy", "slug": "discourses-on-livy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli#Discourses_on_Livy_(1517)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:24" }, { "id": "02040407-4b96-4ae2-b415-3f50b1e40fe7", "slug": "the-end-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy/the-end-of-the", "text": "The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niccolo Machiavelli", "slug": "niccolo-machiavelli", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli" }, "book": { "title": "Discourses on Livy", "slug": "discourses-on-livy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli#Discourses_on_Livy_(1517)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:24" } ] }