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 17, 2025
I want to see Ireland as an example to men and women everywhere of what can be achieved by living for ideals rather than fighting for them
February 26, 2025
[On Winston Churchill] Restless, almost intolerably so, without capacity for sustained and unexcited labour, egotistical,
March 29, 2025
Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
Page 39 of 63