Quotes Library

April 25, 2025

Government…is simply not the channel through which men’s noblest impulses are to be realized. Its task, on the contrary, is largely to see to it that the ignoble ones are kept under restraint and not permitted to go too far.

George Kennan (1904–2005), American diplomat, historian. Around the Cragged Hill (1993), Jay p.203

Did you come to elective office to do good, or to do well? Have you sacrificed the former in the interest of the latter? Do you think Kennan read The Federalist as a student?

If you want to pursue a noble human impulse, join the NGO of your choice. *non-government organization.


More Quotes

April 4, 2025
To criticize one’s country is to do it a service…Criticism, in short, is more than a right
July 16, 2025
The model of a modern Prime Minister would be a kind of grotesque composite freak
November 30, 2025
Democracy encourages the majority to decide things about which the majority is blissfully ignorant.
Page 12 of 122