Misgovernment Quotes & Sayings

Among the several cloudy appellatives which have been commonly employed as cloaks for misgovernment, there is none more conspicuous in this atmosphere of illusion than the word Order. — Jeremy Bentham

How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the earth were it not for misgovernment and a diversion of his energies to selfish interests. — Thomas Jefferson

Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, ... whence it becomes expedient for promoting the publick happiness that those persons, whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue, should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens, and that they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth or accidental condition of circumstance. — Thomas Jefferson

Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils of misgovernment. — Thomas Jefferson

Misgovernment is of four kinds, often in combination. They are: 1) tyranny or oppression, of which history provides so many well-known examples that they do not need citing; 2) excessive ambition, such as Athens' attempted conquest of Sicily in the Peloponnesian War, Philip II's of England via the Armada, Germany's twice-attempted rule of Europe by a self-conceived master race, Japan's bid for an empire of Asia; 3) incompetence or decadence, as in the case of the late Roman empire, the last Romanovs and the last imperial dynasty of China; and finally 4) folly or perversity. — Barbara Tuchman

She didn't understand, I hope to God she never understands what I do, what I am. To be dammed by the darkness that lives inside me.
To be saved by her love.
No more half-truths. No more omissions. — Linnea Sinclair

We are bound to lose Ireland in consequence of years of cruelty, stupidity and misgovernment and I would rather lose her as a friend than as a foe. — William E. Gladstone

Wanting to change your handwriting may be an indication that you are ready, or wanting, to change a whole lot of other things in your life as well. You alone can decide what you wish to change and why. — Rosemary Sassoon

Misgovernment ... will often be reflected in oppressive or aggressive policies towards groups within the state or towards the state's neighbours. — Margaret Thatcher

My mother was a waitress in a Lyons Corner House, but she married up. She was keen on bettering herself. She taught me how to use the right knives and forks and behave properly. — Charles Dance

Revolution, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. — Ambrose Bierce

Sometimes bad is bad. — Huey Lewis

Should misfortune visit the Court, that can only be the result of its continued abuses. If the palace is attacked, that can only be the result of misgovernment. I can hardly be held responsible for the outcome. — Eiji Yoshikawa

Nevertheless, whether in occurrences lasting days, hours or mere minutes at a time, I have experienced happiness often, and have had brief encounters with it in my later years, even in old age. — Herman Hesse

They [Americans] augur misgovernment at a distance and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze. — Edmund Burke

We can't let the past be forgotten. — George Takei

The misgovernment of the American people is misgovernment by the American people. — Lincoln Steffens

You cannot fully wrap your mind around God, so better to fully wrap God around your mind. — James Randall Robison

The first thing that struck you about Claire's plate was its vast emptiness. Of course I'm well aware that, in the better restaurants, quality takes precedence over quantity, but there are voids and then there are voids. The void here, that part of the plate on which no food at all was present, had clearly been raised to a matter of principle.
It was as though the empty plate was challenging you to say something about it, to go to the open kitchen and demand an explanation. 'You wouldn't even dare!' the plate said, and laughed in your face. — Herman Koch

Our political experiment of democracy, the last refuge of cheap misgovernment. — George Bernard Shaw

When it comes to governments and corporations, we should demand that less is secret. That's where corruption flowers. — Alex Gibney

People of Baghdad, remember for 26 generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavoured to set one Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your dissensions. This policy is abhorrent to Great Britain and her Allies for there can be neither peace nor prosperity where there is enmity or misgovernment. Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. — Frederick Stanley Maude

My plan after office is to get up and spend that entire first day helping my wife move into her new senatorial office. — William J. Clinton

The way I work with my cinematographer is not based on general principles, but the ideas are triggered by the locations where we shoot. — Paolo Sorrentino

Sometimes good people have to do bad things. It's nothing personal. It's just life, — Belle Aurora