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

January 4, 2025
…in politics you’ve got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.
June 18, 2025
It is no inglorious thing to have fear for the safety of our country, but to be turned from one’s course by men’s opinion
January 19, 2025
A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.
Page 50 of 63