How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?
Charles De Gaulle

How can I govern others, who can't even govern myself?
Francois Rabelais

I believe honor thy mother and father is not just a good commandment to live by, it is good public policy to govern by. That is why I feel so strongly about Medicare.
Barbara Mikulski

I believe in the America people's ability to govern themselves. If government would just get out of the way and allow them to lead their lives as they choose, they will succeed.
Jesse Ventura

I covered two presidents, LBJ and Nixon, who could no longer convince, persuade, or govern, once people had decided they had no credibility, but we seem to be more tolerant now of what I think we should not tolerate.
Helen Thomas

I find that I sent wolves not shepherds to govern Ireland, for they have left me nothing but ashes and carcasses to reign over!
Elizabeth I

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.
Thomas Jefferson

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.
Thomas Jefferson

I know General Grant better than any other person in the country can know him. It was my duty to study him, and I did so day and night, when I saw him and when I did not see him, and now I tell you what I know, he cannot govern this country.
Edwin M. Stanton

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.
Golda Meir

I shall ask no more than that you agree with Dean Inge that even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them.
Learned Hand

I share the anger, but, ultimately, to govern this country, it takes more than anger. It takes experience. It takes positions that reflect the best values of the American people.
Joe Lieberman

I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very much afraid.
Joan of Arc

I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.
Jefferson Davis

If we dismiss from our minds the prejudice we may have against the Indians we shall be able to more clearly understand the impulses that govern both races.
Nelson A. Miles

If we have only one that can govern, and we chose him... does that mean we're not democratic?
Ahmed Ali

If you look beyond the short term violence and instability, you do see significant activities on the part of the Iraqi people that indicate they understand the commitment necessary to govern themselves. It's not clear how they will do it, but it never is.
Bob Kerrey

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.
Napoleon Bonaparte

In the White House, you can be on the pitcher's mound or you can be in the catcher's position. Put points on the board. Show people you can govern. Deliver on what you said you were going to deliver on.
Rahm Emanuel