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

March 18, 2025
It’s 90 per cent of the politicians who give the other 10 per cent a bad name.
October 20, 2025
Universal suffrage [i.e., votes for all adult men and women] is the government of a house by its nursery.
February 14, 2025
Whatever else may be shaken, there are some facts established beyond warring; for virtue is better than vice
Page 29 of 123