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The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government has grown out of too much government.

Nothing can conduce more to the order and stability of a government than the simplicity of the laws, the proper definition of rights, and their impartial and consistent administration.

A government of, for and by the people, requires much from the people.

The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.

Government must continue to live within its means.

One must always keep one's government under control.

Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles.

Here, also, has been evolved the form of government consistent with the largest possible civil liberty.