The invisible government [bosses] is malign. But the evil doesn't come from the fact that it plays horse with the Newtonian theory of the constitution. What is dangerous about it is that we do not see it, cannot use it, and are compelled to submit to it.

No form of government matters nearly as much as the spirit and intelligence brought to the administration of any form of government.

It must be that to govern a nation you need a specific talent and that this may very well exist without general ability.

Virtue alone is not sufficient for the exercise of government; laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice.

It is very easy to accuse a government of imperfection, for all mortal things are full of it.

The art of governing consists in not letting men grow old in their jobs.

Governments arise either out of the people or over the people.

Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.

Governments exist to protect the rights of minorities. The loved and the rich need no protection: they have many friends and few enemies.